The evening shift is just beginning. A patient is being discharged home with hospice orders. The family is anxious. The nurse is already behind.
The bed was supposed to arrive by 5.
But now it’s 7. And it’s not there.
What happens next depends entirely on the DME model in place.
7:00 PM
The nurse calls the DME vendor’s number — it routes to voicemail. She doesn’t have a direct contact. She texts the ops lead.
7:15 PM
Ops gets involved but can’t get through to anyone either. The on-call nurse is now trying alternate vendors but isn’t sure who’s contracted.
7:30 PM
The patient is still waiting. The family is upset. The nurse files a report. She’ll follow up over the weekend.
No one’s sure when the bed will actually arrive.
7:00 PM
The nurse opens the DME portal and sees the delivery was marked "delayed due to inventory."
7:03 PM
She flags it. The DME support line (not a call center) responds within minutes with a reroute to a backup vendor.
7:25 PM
A replacement bed is dispatched with ETA confirmation. Nurse updates the family. Tension drops.
It’s not ideal but the issue is being handled. Without escalation. Without confusion. And without the nurse chasing down answers.
In both cases, the equipment wasn’t there on time. But what defined the difference wasn’t the mistake.
It was the system.
Most DME models look similar during standard business hours.
But hospice isn’t standard.
The real test happens:
When urgency is high and internal support is thin — that’s when you see what a DME system is really built for.
These models often cost less up front and more in stress, rework, and compromised patient experience.