Centralizing DME Across Five Hospice Offices: A Conversation with Interim HealthCare of the Great Lakes Region

A Conversation with Interim HealthCare of the Great Lakes Region

Meet Shinae Reynolds, Regional VP for Hospice
Shinae oversees five hospice programs across Wisconsin, Indiana, and Minnesota. She has lived through both worlds: managing DME without Qualis, and now leading operations with Qualis in place.

The History

When Shinae first joined Interim, each office operated independently. Vendor relationships were fragmented, communication was inconsistent, and everything—from orders to invoices—looked different depending on the location.

“At our Wausau office alone, we were working with four different vendors. Some sent invoices by mail, others by email, and none of it was online. It was nearly impossible to keep track, let alone calculate what we were actually spending,” Shinae explained.

This lack of standardization meant more than just messy reporting. Nurses and social workers routinely lost 30 minutes a day chasing down equipment updates, directors were pulled into investigating service failures, and families sometimes waited longer than they should for admissions to begin.

The Challenge

As Interim grew, the cracks in the system became more painful:

• Service Failures: Deliveries arrived late or not at all, leaving nurses scrambling and families frustrated.

• Lost Staff Time: Clinicians and intake coordinators spent hours each week on the phone, instead of with patients.

• Fragmented Oversight: Each location’s invoices stood alone, with no unified way to see or compare spend.

• Administrative Burden: Directors carried the weight of investigating failures and fielding complaints, distracting from leadership priorities.

“It was crazy,” Shinae recalled. “None of it was consistent. And when issues came up, our directors had to dig into every investigation themselves.”

The Results

Interim turned to Qualis to bring order across their five hospice offices. The impact was immediate:

• Predictable Equipment Delivery
  Nurses now know when equipment will arrive and can share timelines with families before leaving the hospital. Same-day and urgent discharges became smoother to manage.

• Staff Time Reclaimed
  With ordering and updates centralized, nurses and social workers no longer burn time on the phone. “We’ve been able to take more admissions because we’re not wasting time chasing equipment,” Shinae shared.

• Clearer Financial Oversight
  Invoices are consolidated across locations, and leadership finally has a unified view of per-patient spend. When anomalies surface, Qualis provides data and recommendations immediately.

• Customer Service That Feels Like Partnership

  
  “Your customer service reps are the best I’ve ever worked with,” Shinae emphasized. “Everybody is so helpful, so nice, and they follow up quickly. You never get someone in a bad mood.”

The Outcome

Today, Interim’s hospice teams save hours each week, admissions move forward without unnecessary delays, and leadership has visibility across all five locations. Even when adding a new office, implementation is smooth.

“Working with Qualis has been night and day,” Shinae said. “It’s not just about equipment—it’s about being able to focus on care.

For Interim, the move to Qualis didn’t just fix broken processes—it gave their staff the space to focus on why they’re here in the first place: providing care without distraction.

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