Smart Talk

Q. How can automation reduce administrative burdens and enable business growth?  A. In the DME industry, necessary administrative tasks consume valuable time and resources. Automation is emerging as a powerful strategy to improve patient care and drive business growth.  Routine tasks like billing, patient follow-up, and compliance checks strain the operational capacity of DME suppliers and their medical record review teams. Manual handling of these tasks often leads to costly errors...

Q. Where does the biggest opportunity exist for HME suppliers to support clinical continuity of wound care in the landscape of value-based care models?   A. HME suppliers must first understand their individual customer markets and the specific wound care needs that must be met. It is also critical to understand the mission of value-based care payment models: The patient needs to be at the center of everything we do, their good outcomes and satisfaction are paramount, and that means being...

Q. What is the future of hospital-at-home, beyond serving patients with acute illness, and how might that impact HME?  A. The data is clear – we know hospital-at-home can improve patient outcomes, reduce unnecessary health care spending and lead to fewer readmissions. These successes will undoubtedly drive the demand to offer hospital-at-home services to patients in rural and underserved areas who may be far from a physical hospital facility. Telehealth, AI and remote monitoring technology...

Q. Does my accreditation prohibit me from outsourcing some of my operational tasks?   A. The short answer is no, your accreditation does not prohibit you from outsourcing some of your operational tasks, but you’ll need to review your accreditor’s guidelines, as well as the tasks you are planning to outsource, to ensure that you are outsourcing the correct ones.  There are several operational tasks that you should not consider outsourcing. The first is your sales staff....

Q. Why is implementing modern digital solutions essential for industry efficiency?  A. Our industry faces a critical efficiency challenge: the continuous mountain of time-consuming, error-prone administrative tasks. Traditionally, medical record review, patient eligibility verification against intricate and ever-changing payer rule sets, and claims submission required manual performance. Such operational inefficiencies lead to delays in care, financial loss and increased frustration by suppliers...

Q. What can HME companies do to differentiate themselves to payers in terms of supporting value-based care?  A. Remember: Value-based care is generally defined as a shift from traditional fee-for-service payment models to a provider payment system that supports quality improvement and cost-effective care to ensure successful health outcomes and experiences for patients. Various iterations of this model are already in effect in some market segments, while others are still actively updating...

Q. How are hospital-at-home supply chain logistics different than in brick-and-mortar health care?    A. In a traditional hospital setting, large trucks make deliveries to facility loading docks on routine schedules. These products are then stored all over the hospital in patient rooms and storage closets. If a patient needs a product and it is not already in the hospital room, a nurse can easily walk down the hall to a supply closet to get what they need.   With hospital-at-home...

Q. Am I able to ship refills or supplies to my current patients if they temporarily relocate out of my service area for the summer or winter?   A. You can only ship items to patients where you have a state issued license for DME. Your clients who temporarily relocate may need to get refills, but unless you have an out-of-state license in that state, you cannot ship their refills to them.   You can avoid this problem by asking the client if they have someone who is forwarding...

Q. AI is all the buzz right now. How can we address concerns about AI replacing human jobs in DME?  A. In the world of DME operations, AI gets a lot of hype for its flashiness rather than its real benefits. But it’s not about replacing jobs – it’s actually a powerful tool that enhances human skills and boosts how efficiently we can work.  AI excels in automating the tedious, repetitive tasks that bog down the DME review process. It quickly detects errors and...

Q. How is the shift to value-based care payment models impacting HME companies?  A. The better question is, "How will it not?"  With clinical providers focused now more than ever on patient outcomes and satisfaction, it means they must maximize resources, they must aim to treat patients more effectively and efficiently in shorter time frames, they must work under tighter insurance reimbursement margins, and they must make every effort to reduce the overutilization of products...