Research Proposal Compile the revised mini projects assignments from Unit I, Unit II, Unit IV, Unit V, Unit VI, and Unit VII to formulate a complete 8-10 page research proposal. Please include the appropriate headings for each section of the proposal to

Current Situation

Company ABC in the Durable Medical Equipment (DME) industry is current facing a decrease in

sales and profitability. The situation is focused around recent and governmental proposed regulations

surrounding Medicare reimbursement rates on reimbursable products, which offers less of a

reimbursement payment to our current customers and requires bidding contracts on the business segment,

defined as Group 2 products within the industry (Mobility Management, 2015). The symptoms of the

problem include past fraudulent activity carried out by the Scooter Store and other companies within the

industry, which has resulted in changes within the organization to help meet the needs of our current

customers (Washington Post, 2014). The scam conducted by the scooter store has led to billions of dollars

in payments being paid out by the government for fraudulent claims. The second symptom is that new

regulations have resulted in less of our customers order power chairs through patient prescriptions in fear

of being audited or not being reimbursed by the government for the product provided to the customer.

Problem Statement

It is unknown if the reduced Medicare funding and new regulations is resulting in a decrease of

sales and profitability for company ABC.

Research Objective

The research objective would be to generate quantitative data by identifying customer accounts

that are currently down in sales after the new regulations have went into place and to determine what if

any price reductions were giving to the account to help cope with the new mandates. Furthermore, the

gathering of qualitative data on the down accounts determined above in regards to how the new

regulations have impacted each identified account. Through the use of this research information a

hypothesis can be formulated and tested to help provide insight to the actual reason why company ABC is

experiencing declining sales and profits. Thus, the research objective would be to determine what has

caused the decline in sales and profitability at Company ABC?

Research Questions

The following research questions will need to be addressed.

 What accounts are currently down after the new regulations were passed?

 Were any price reductions given to these accounts?

 How did the new regulations impact these accounts?

Hypothesis

Null Hypothesis – The government imposed regulations has resulted in Company ABC to

experience a decline in sales and profits after the new regulations were implemented

Alternate Hypothesis - The government imposed regulations did not impact Company ABC to

experience a decline in sales and profits.

Research Test

The data gathered from the research questions will be used to calculate the prior 12 months of

sales for all accounts impacted with the new regulations and also be used to calculate the profit dollars

earned by all accounts against that of the following 12 months of sales and profit dollars for each account.

If the results of the research indicate that there has been a decrease in sales on these accounts and a

decrease in profits then the null hypothesis must be accepted. Additional assumptions can be made on

exactly how the decrease came about by reviewing the qualitative data obtained in research question 3. If

the test indicates that the sales and profits are static or have increased then the alternate hypothesis needs

to be accepted, and further research will be required to determine what sales and profits are down for

Company ABC. If mixed results are obtained indicating that sales are down and profits are up, or sales

are up and profits are down then the alternate hypothesis must be accepted, and further research will be

required on company ABC to determine why sales and profits are both down.

Conclusion

The results of the research test will offer guidance into what if any additional actions need to be

taken by Company ABC to determine exactly what has resulted in their current problem. If no further

research is needed and the null hypothesis is accepted the study of this research can help offer

explanations as to how government imposed regulations impact private business within the DME

industry.

References

Mobility Management. (2015). Reimbursement -- Mobility Management. Retrieved from

https://mobilitymgmt.com/articles/list/reimbursement.aspx

Washington Post. (2014). A Medicare scam that just kept rolling | The Washington Post.

Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/08/16/a-medicare-

scam-that-just-kept-rolling/