The Future of Bio-cleaning
By Don M. McNulty
July 30, 2012
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The bio cleaning industry was formed in the early 1990s. The industry, and the companies that have taken on this type of work, may be seeing unprecedented pressures to drastically reduce pricing.
Although we''ve been cleaning up our dead since Cain and Able, until just a few years ago there were very few companies who would take on this work on a regular basis.
In the past, some companies would step up to do the work if they had no other work available, or if they had an employee who had "the stomach" for the work.
This is why the crime and trauma scene (CTS) industry has grown.
The industry has enjoyed the benefit of being few in number, and its leaders throughout the years have made sure that the most legitimate companies followed the same rules as the medical industry to protect themselves and its employees from the potential of disease.
Pricing issues
Since this work was perceived as being unique and had the potential to be dangerous to those engaged in the work, the charges for the work reflected the scarcity and uniqueness ranking up into the hundreds of dollars per man-hour.
As with mold remediation throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the "high stakes" money attracted some unscrupulous people forming unscrupulous companies to take advantage of the confused and grieving. Add to this the ignorance of these families, preying on their fears of blood borne diseases that came to public enlightenment due to HIV and AIDS, and you have a problem.
These companies have sought to expand this ignorance through fraud-making statements as "odor contaminates," meaning that odor from a dead body can spread disease.
These companies routinely convince the insured''s family into removing all the furniture and appliances, thus racking up exorbitant invoices that reach into the tens of thousands of dollars.
Scare tactics
Another untrue assertion made by many of these companies is that methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) and other resistant diseases are very hard to kill, meaning it takes much more work (which translates to more cost) to eradicate these types of diseases from our environment.
The problem with this fraudulent statement is that these diseases are not hard to kill outside the body. They are resistant to antibiotics only after they have attacked a person. These diseases are disposed of readily with the use of any hospital grade disinfectant using the appropriate dwell times.
Another tactic used by these companies is applying disinfectant to gross contaminate, and then waiting the alleged dwell time, which translates to more cost, before starting the work. It is widely known throughout our industry that disinfectant becomes neutral against gross contaminate. Disinfectant labeling plainly states that it is to be used on clean, hard surfaces. Disinfectants only works on a microbial level because the PPM (parts per million) level is neither high enough to disinfect gross filth, nor is it able to penetrate these substances to work against the whole.
Bait and switch
Last but certainly not least, these companies use the tried-and-true art of "bait and switch," claiming initially that they can do the job sight unseen (many times over the telephone) for $3,000 to $5,000 — only to turn in a claim to the insurance company for $30,000 to $40,000.
This is a repeated tactic among these companies and now, because of the increased greed with even higher invoices we see in certain states, the families are fighting back by reporting the fraudulent action to their state prosecutors. This comes with plenty of television coverage.
The insurance angle
As the industry is seeing these higher invoices — which would normally be $6,000 to $8,000 but going as high as $25,000, $50,000 and more — there is some pushback by the insurance industry.
Naturally, they are refusing to pay these exorbitant invoices when there are other companies (now ranking in the hundreds) that are willing to do this work for much less.
It is well known among restoration companies who deal with the rebuilding of structures after disasters, such as fire and flood, that there is pricing and estimating software used extensively by insurance companies. They then force restoration companies to use them.
Although belief in capitalism calls this nothing short of "price fixing," it also acts as a deterrent against the unscrupulous contractor who would take advantage of unsuspecting clients.
Falling prices
As of late 2011, and now 2012, we are seeing the pricing for CTS fall for the first time in its short history to be more in-line with the restoration pricing software.
Independent and large franchise companies are now more willing to do this work for $80 to $130/man-hour and the ancillary charges such as waste disposal are coming down considerably as well.
This move to a lower cost factor has been anticipated for some time. Seeing what had taken place in the mold remediation field and the need for the insurance industry to control cost, it makes sense that it would react the same way to the trauma cleaning industry.
What''s next? As with mold, we''ll see the bait and switch operators and the fraudulent companies fall by the wayside because the money train has dried up.
The good companies remaining will figure out how to do the work profitably as a great add-on business.
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Don M. McNulty was the founder of Bio Cleaning Services of America Inc. known now as MAC Signature Group Inc. McNulty currently teaches The Basic Bio Technician Course™ to the public and has now certified more than 1,000 technicians in the U.S. and Canada since 2002. If you wish to contact McNulty or find out more about the Basic Bio Technician Course, please visit www.BioTechnicianCourse.com.
