Are You Doing Your DME Manager's Job? 5 Signs It's Time for a Change

Noticed reduced morale in hospice staff? Are they spending more time on the phone tracking down equipment, which takes away from caring for patients? If so, you may have an ineffective DME management system.

Durable Medical Equipment (DME) Managers oversee the use, maintenance, and replacement of durable medical equipment. However, some DME managers pass their responsibilities on to hospice staff, which increases staff workload and reduces the time and energy they can give to caring for patients.

If you are not sure if the DME manager is the problem, here are a few signs to consider.

Sign 1: Staff Spends Too Much Time on DME Tasks

DME management is highly administrative. The role requires managers to handle things such as securing and tracking down vendors, fixing issues with billing, and coordinating the delivery of DME. When a DME management company or internal staff fails to perform these tasks, hospice field staff are left to pick up the slack.

This means that instead of spending time caring for patients, staff members spend their time stuck on the phone or filling out paperwork for DME. As a result, patients aren’t getting the care they need, and staff are burned out and frustrated.

A proactive DME partner alleviates these issues by taking on the administrative duties involved in coordinating the facility’s DME. This frees up the staff to focus on their job duties: taking care of patients.

Sign 2: Equipment Delays Disrupt Patient Care

Another sign of ineffective DME management is that the equipment isn’t available when patients need it. 

For example, a patient who doesn’t have access to mobility devices can’t move around freely. While this is a major inconvenience, delays in deliveries of things such as oxygen equipment or blood glucose monitors can set patients back in their healthcare plan and lead to severe medical complications. 

There’s no need to put up with DME partner failings like this. A responsible DME partner offers centralized reporting, so it's easy to order and track the status of the equipment. They should also provide active assistance if there are any delays or if anything goes wrong, and they should actively work to reduce recurrence.

Sign 3: The DME Partner Offers Limited Vendor Options

One of the more common hospice DME challenges is a lack of vendor options. When this happens, hospices are left dealing with slow response times, lack of equipment availability, and often a lack of qualified technicians to deliver and pick up equipment. Part of a DME manager's job is to provide clients with strong vendor options. Some hospices are limited by geography for their number of vendor choices; however, if you feel stuck or limited to one DME vendor, that may be a sign your DME management company is not doing its job.

One option is to have a DME partner like Qualis that provides a robust DME vendor network. Qualis works arm-in-arm with great DME vendors to serve clients in a manner that augments patient care goals, and we believe vendor choice is a central tenant of how we serve.

Sign 4: Billing Errors Add to Administrative Workload

Fixing errors in billing should not be the job of hospice staff. However, if there are ongoing issues with billing integrity errors from DME management partner failings, there may be no choice but to add this to the staff’s administrative workload.

Frequent billing errors are another sign your current DME management company is not serving you transparently. Look for partners that provide comprehensive business management services, including accurate billing audits, billing integrity, and automated invoicing.

Sign 5: There’s No Proactive Issue Resolution

The true test of a good DME provider is how they react to problems. DME managers who deflect or assign blame or act ambivalent are not true partners.

A good DME manager is proactive, predicting and planning for challenges before they happen. They also handle challenges themselves, without leaving them to others.

If your hospice has problems resolving issues, and problems recur without improvement, then Qualis’ DME evaluation can help determine exactly what is needed from a DME provider. We work with DME vendors in a manner that helps fix problems when they occur and create action plans to reduce recurrence. If your current DME management company is not active in serving you, it's a sign it may be time for a change.

Working with a True Partner Solves Problems

DME management partner failing can lead to stressed staff and reduced patient care. An effective DME manager should provide a variety of vendor options, handle DME administrative tasks, and be proactive about fixing problems. To sum it up — your DME management partner is either a true partner serving your staff, patients, and caregivers, or they are not.

As the nation’s first DME management company, Qualis focuses on helping hospices provide quality care, with the testimonials to prove it. Ready to stop doing the DME manager’s job for them? Learn how Qualis can simplify DME management and give the team more time for patient care. Contact Qualis today.