DMEconnected: Are you connected?

ATLANTA - The need for DMEconnected, a new online “cheat sheet” for referral sources with information on DME providers and the equipment and services they provide, has taken on new meaning amid the COVID-19 pandemic, says CEO Courtney Richards.

The company took its website live in February, right before the pandemic took hold in the U.S.

“Sales reps (for DME companies) can't really walk into medical offices anymore,” said Richards, who worked in sales for a national DME provider and medical device company before starting DMEconnected with two web developers last year. “They have no way to get their marketing information to (referral sources). That's an incentive for them to be a part of this - it serves as a digital rep for them and a way to still be front-facing.”

DME providers, as well as manufacturers, that register with DMEconnected are able to upload their information into a number of portals for order forms, locations and sales reps for an annual fee that's “affordable,” Richards says.

Even without a pandemic, DMEconnected serves an important purpose, he says, by putting all of this information in one place at the fingertips of referral sources and their staffs.

“I was a territory manager,” Richards said. “I'd leave my information with them and two days later, they'd call saying, 'I don't have the order form; I must have left it somewhere.' Now they can just download it from DMEconnected.”

In addition to selling DMEconnected to DME providers, Richards has been busy recruiting referral sources to use the platform at no cost.

“Some larger health systems have some of this built into their EHRs, but they don't have the level of detail,” he said.

The biggest benefit of DMEconnected to both DME providers and referral sources might be the efficiency it injects into the ordering and fulfilling process, Richard says.

“(Ultimately), we're all trying to help patients get their equipment in a timely manner,” he said. “If we can focus on this one particular part of the process and make it more efficient, it will trickle down to other parts of the process.”