Meet the Team: Jeffrey Reses, R.Ph., HDDP
Posted: July 28, 2025
Jeffrey Reses, R.Ph., HDDP has been with ACHC since 2011, first as a surveyor and now as a Senior Pharmacy Clinical Liaison. He has over 43 years of experience as a pharmacist in a variety of settings including retail, infusion, specialty, compounding, and home medical equipment.
Jeffrey sat down with us to discuss his love of pharmacy accreditation, tips for compliance, and how he became a jack (ahem, or a “Jeff?”) of all trades.
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INTERVIEWER:
Jeffrey, why did you become a pharmacist?
JEFFREY:
I’m a fourth-generation pharmacist. It’s part of my DNA There are 13 pharmacists in the Reses family.
INTERVIEWER:
Wow.
JEFFREY:
When I was thirteen years old, I worked at my father’s pharmacy after school, making unit-dose blister packs for nursing homes. Still, as a kid I thought I would break away from tradition and do something different. I even attempted a week of undergrad with a pre-dental focus. That didn’t last.
At that time, I went to pharmacy school because it felt like an easy path. After I graduated, I worked full-time in the family business. I soon came to realize that being a pharmacist was about being a part of a community.
Everybody in town knew me. They’d see me out and about and say, “Hey, Doc Reses! Thanks for helping my mom.” People liked the consistency of knowing everyone working in that pharmacy. We treated our patients with respect and kindness. We made deliveries at 2 a.m. To this day, I’ll answer emails in the middle of the night. I still have that “on-call” mentality.
We were more than a traditional pharmacy. We had a cleanroom for IV therapies, and we compounded for hospice patients. We received infusion referrals from a local children’s hospital. We supplied full-line DME from basic walkers to power wheelchairs. I even took a couple of classes so I could fit custom lymphedema stockings. We were a “one-stop shop,” we did it all.
INTERVIEWER:
How did you go from being a pharmacist on the floor to working at ACHC?
JEFFREY:
My pharmacy was seeking accreditation before it was mandatory, so I researched and found this place called ACHC in North Carolina. I called them up, and their customer service was very impressive.
We had our first ACHC survey in 2003 and I thought, “Well, this is interesting.” The whole process was fascinating, especially performance improvement. I thought, “This is great, because I have 56 staff members working for me, there’s all these things going on, and it’s hard to figure out where the issues are.” Having a Performance Improvement Program was a game changer for me.
Fast forward—ACHC was hiring surveyors, and I knew I wanted in. After I conducted my first survey in the fall of 2006, I was hooked. I was offered a full-time position at ACHC in July of 2011, and I never looked back. In April 2020. I stopped going on the road as a surveyor and moved into our senior pharmacy clinical liaison position. Less travel, but still fun.
This is the longest I’ve ever worked anywhere. It’s the best.
If there’s a question about pharmacy accreditation, I’ve probably heard it!
INTERVIEWER:
As a clinical liaison, you still talk to pharmacists every day, right?
JEFFREY:
All day, every day!
I answer questions about standards, I help figure out what services they need, we talk about payor requirements and state requirements… If there’s a question about pharmacy accreditation, I’ve probably heard it!
INTERVIEWER:
Let’s talk about common questions. What do most pharmacies seeking accreditation ask you?
JEFFREY:
I answer a ton of questions about how the new CMS rules (DMEPOS) could affect the pharmacy. For example, a pharmacy may start out billing “Part B non-accredited items only” and then they decide to start supplying infusion pumps/supplies or nebulizers. And they don’t always realize they have to be compliant with an entirely new set of requirements. They need guidance on the Medicare Supplier & Quality Standards, the PTAN, and the 855S.
INTERVIEWER:
So why is billing Medicare for DMEPOS different from billing for a drug?
JEFFREY:
Okay, let’s say you’re a pharmacist. The pharmacy receives a prescription for a medication. The drug is in the system, you pull it up, pick the strength, fill the order… You have the quantity, the strength, and the directions… Great.
But you also have a prescription for a nebulizer that goes along with the drug.
Before you do anything else, you need to look up the local coverage determinations (LCDs) on the Medicare website. And you’ll see that the nebulizer is only covered for a specific list of drugs and diagnoses. If a doctor wants to prescribe an experimental drug and nebulize it for administration, you have to know if the medication is on that list.
If you don’t look up the LCD and you still bill for that nebulizer—sure, it might get reimbursed initially. But if Medicare conducts an audit, finds the mistake, and recoups the money for every nebulizer you’ve billed incorrectly, this could cost the pharmacy.
That’s my number one piece of advice to our pharmacy customers getting into the DME world. Know the LCD rules for the equipment you’re dispensing.
INTERVIEWER:
I’m guessing they don’t teach this in pharmacy school.
JEFFREY:
Nope. And many pharmacies use a third party DME billing company, which is absolutely fine, but they might think that billing company is handling every aspect of DMEPOS compliance. And that’s not always the case. Our standards require the pharmacy to maintain oversight on subcontractors.
INTERVIEWER:
So, what’s the best way for pharmacists to learn the ins and outs of Medicare Part B (DMEPOS)? Got any tips?
JEFFREY:
Let me preface my answer. Pharmacists wear so many hats these days. They may not even have the luxury of a “compliance team.” The staff might consist of two people. Pharmacists and techs are stretched thin. I get that. But this type of knowledge can’t be gained overnight. Learning this stuff is a time investment, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Here’s what I recommend:
- As I already mentioned, look up DMEPOS items to determine the LCD requirements.
- Read the Medicare Integrity Manual. Yes, the entire thing.
- Sign up for the MLN Connects® Newsletter for Providers, Suppliers, Billers & Coders.
- Get familiar with the Pharmacy Exemption Fact Sheet.
- Read through the 855-S. I can’t stress this enough. Yes, it’s a long form, but when you fill it out, you’re essentially signing a contract with the federal government. There’s so much information in that one form. Make sure you understand the DMEPOS Supplier Standards, whether you’re with NPEAST or NPWEST, and which products you’re supplying. Know the difference between supplying non-accredited products vs products requiring accreditation.
I could say more, but those are my top five.
INTERVIEWER:
That’s a good list! Any other insights for pharmacies seeking accreditation?
JEFFREY:
You know, one thing we do learn in pharmacy school is, we’re never going to know all the answers. But we do need to know where to look.
Accreditation is the same way. It’s investigative. You have to dig in.
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