Do you spend much time auditing your monthly durable medical equipment (DME) invoice for billing integrity, feel the DME isn't always fresh and new, or are concerned about late deliveries and pickups? If your answer was an emphatic yes to any of these questions, your DME management approach might be the problem. Using a single-vendor DME solution makes your hospice susceptible to these challenges. In contrast, opting for a vendor-flexible one can enable you to overcome these issues.
Unlike single-vendor solutions, vendor-flexible ones won't tie you to a specific supplier, allowing you to utilize the DME provider best suited for your hospice's needs and budget. And, since vendor quality can change over time, the answer is to have a platform that accommodates vendor choice.
Vendor-flexible DME management refers to an approach where a hospice partners with a company that doesn't depend on a single supplier. This approach allows you to acquire DME from multiple vendors based on your particular needs rather than restricting you to one.
Using a single-vendor DME approach can tie you to a provider that limits your organization's ability to choose the most competitive supplier(s). With DME management flexibility, you can avoid this issue. It's no wonder nine out of ten organizations use multiple suppliers.
From lowering equipment costs to preventing delays, vendor flexibility offers many benefits. While we mention the term vendor-flexibility includes being vendor agnostic, a core aspect of having vendor choice is creating true vendor partnerships with those best positioned at any given time to represent your hospice in the manner you desire.
Bearing that in mind, here are three reasons why your hospice should adopt the strategy.
Adopting a vendor-flexible approach allows you to choose suppliers that best fit your hospice's and patients' DME needs—for instance, having the right DME provider technicians that represent your hospice well.
Using a single-vendor DME strategy can make your hospice susceptible to delayed deliveries and pick-ups. If your DME provider has financial constraints, quality control issues, or production challenges, you might not receive your medical equipment on time.
Furthermore, if a DME provider knows you do not have flexibility of choice and are stuck, your hospice may be on the bottom end of their priority list.
For instance, labor shortages are a huge production challenge affecting many DME providers and hospices. In fact, nearly four out of ten hospices and DME providers report experiencing high workforce shortages, resulting in hindered services.
The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Hospice Survey asks caregivers to evaluate their experiences with a hospice. About half of the survey focuses on DME service and quality. This means your DME provider can significantly impact your CAHPS scores, which are publicly reported as part of Care Compare on the Medicare website (including Medicare-approved DME vendors).
Low CAHPS scores taint your hospice's reputation and cause patients and caregivers to choose another hospice.
Working with a vendor-flexible DME partner like Qualis can significantly enhance patient and caregiver satisfaction. Let us show you how!
Consider these key factors when choosing a DME provider:
Selecting the right DME management partner is vital to the success of your hospice. With the right partner, you retain greater control over your operations, improve equipment quality, access equipment deliveries and pickups faster, and improve patient and caregiver satisfaction.
Partner with Qualis and see for yourself. But don't take our word for it. Check out our testimonials and case studies to see how our solutions helped hospices streamline operations.
Ready to improve patient care? Contact us to learn how Qualis can provide flexibility in vendor-flexible DME management.