DME Management Partners: The Key to Hospice Success in 2023

Discover the 6 reasons why Qualis is a leader in DME management and how a partnership can help support your hospice care operations and goals.

As hospice agencies continue to experience worker shortages and staff retention challenges, there’s an increasing demand for specially trained, transition-of-life healthcare workers. As we look further into the reasons for the shortage, many experts point to the pandemic as one of the main drivers.

Let’s face it: technology and digital solutions are evolving at an enormously rapid pace, and oftentimes it can be daunting for organizations to keep up with the latest and greatest offerings.

When it comes to DME and its daily workflows, hospice professionals face challenges that could be solved with a single software solution that’s tailored to their unique needs and goals. Frequently, businesses delay in finding the right solution for their team due to the overwhelming number of options in their reach, as well as the upskilling and retraining that comes with employing a new product or service.

With new modern technologies emerging every day to help organizations tackle challenges and address pain points, it’s important for the hospice industry to follow suit and keep up with the pace of transformation.

Contrary to popular belief, hospice is not just for end-of-life care. While many families begin to consider hospice when their loved one’s passing is forthcoming, many of them express that they wished they had known about the benefits of hospice earlier.

As hospice leaders know, providing the best quality of care for their patients is every agency’s mission. Those who enter hospice care need our help in maintaining a quality of life that they couldn’t reach independently. These patients often require assistance from medical equipment to address any issue or ailment they’re facing. In the hospice world, this equipment is referred to as Durable Medical Equipment, or DME. 

At the end of the day, every health organization has the same mission: to provide exceptional care to each one of their patients. Patients who enter hospice or home health care are often in need of help when it comes to sustaining a high quality of life that they wouldn’t be able to achieve independently.

In the hospice industry, there are normally two parties: the renter of the medical equipment (the hospice agency), and the provider of that equipment (the DME vendor). Seems pretty straightforward, but what about these DME management companies that we keep seeing and hearing about? What purpose do they serve?

Hospice is the longest captivated at-risk model in all of healthcare. As healthcare in general is exploring various models of evolving into increased continuum of care (in which hospice and palliative care will be components), it is critical for all such care to be of the highest quality and as seamless as possible. Matrix capturing quality of care will become integral. So, it is of vital importance that hospices today can not only say they are providing great quality of care, but also prove it.

At the end of the day, every health organization has the same mission: to provide exceptional care to each one of their patients. Patients who enter hospice or home health care are often in need of help when it comes to sustaining a high quality of life that they wouldn’t be able to achieve independently. 

As healthcare operations continue to evolve, hospices are increasingly relying on software and cutting-edge technology to deliver advanced patient care and manage DME workflow. Hospice professionals depend on technologies like Qualis’ DME management software to ensure that all moving parts are taken care of and efficiently managed.

Team collaboration and cohesion are among the most challenging yet vital dynamics in any workplace. Working in hospice, the stakes are even higher because our patients depend on us to deliver world-class care, to help them sustain life every day. Hospice teams must learn to work together and provide the best care possible for every patient day in and day out. 

How many invoices does your hospice process every month? Anyone working in the hospice industry for any time will tell you about the excessive and sometimes strenuous invoicing process.

Hospices are constantly looking for ways to cut costs and save money every month. With rising costs pressing the bounds of hospice’s pocketbooks daily, organizations must learn to adapt during pressing times. Unfortunately, trying to adapt to the constantly changing world means you must reevaluate every area of your business. Additionally, saving money doesn’t always require having to make harsh cost cuts that send a negative ripple effect on the team. 

Clinical tools and accreditations are constantly evolving as hospice processes continue to improve. The intent is always the same, find new ways to execute more tasks in one step and deliver higher quality results. These new findings are helping hospices improve overall output and quality of patient care. Hospices that don’t embrace change are missing out on the long list of improved potential. 

Hospices are critical organizations responsible for ensuring patients are comfortable as they navigate their way through their end-of-life phases. This field can present some challenging moments due to the sensitive nature of this type of patient care.

How far does your hospice DME management company go for your hospice organization? Hospices need as much help as possible to remain highly efficient in their day-to-day tasks.

Technology continues improving how we run hospice organizations by introducing simple solutions to everyday problems. The individuals from the medical provider level of care to the administrators are forced to handle multiple responsibilities simultaneously. 

When was the last time you evaluated your DME processes? Managing and improving the efficiencies of your logistics will bring a host of benefits that can simultaneously improve the overall patient care bottom line. Your hospice’s DME operations are an ongoing process and, when done correctly, can lower costs, increase productivity, and create an overall thriving environment. 

How much would it benefit your team to save handfuls of time every day? The highly dynamic hospice environment has become even more demanding on its workers than ever before. The rapidly developing healthcare industry is constantly changing, all with the same intent: to save time and deliver better patient care. There just never seems to be enough time in a day to get everything done and catch your breath in the same shift. 

Healthcare operations have significantly evolved throughout history to track patient activity and statuses accurately. Over the years, medical professionals have grown to rely on various software to deliver better patient care and manage logistics. Since there are so many moving parts in healthcare, technology makes managing daily operations more accurate and accessible than ever. 

The digital world provides businesses with many solutions that help solve pain points in their operations. Specifically, in hospice, there are many pain points that providers are forced to overcome every day that can be resolved with single source software. Unfortunately, it’s common for people to push off finding the right solutions due to the overwhelming amount of options available. 

The key to streamlining your hospice’s operations starts with investing in the right resources to get the job done. Working in today’s healthcare industry, managers and owners are bombarded with what feels like unlimited resources. There’s an answer for every pain point that hospices and other healthcare providers may experience. 

A hospice is a highly dynamic environment that requires keeping track of many different moving components at one time. Hospice teams carry the weight of so much responsibility for their patients and the organization itself. Promoting a highly efficient team requires that hospices remain open to testing new strategies and approaches to strike the right balance of energy output and time management. 

Providing hospice patients care is a non-stop process that keeps staff on their feet. Between managing DME orders, providing hands-on care, and many other responsibilities, staff need help lifting the weight off their shoulders. 

The healthcare industry is full of different equipment to serve one primary purpose: to help people! Medical equipment helps doctors diagnose patients and provides other healthcare workers with the means to care for their patients. 

Finding a DME solution for your hospice care can turn stressful once you start scrolling through the never-ending list. It almost seems impossible to know who will follow through on their word and who is too good to be true. 

A hospice’s DME operations are often non-stop and can quickly overwhelm teams unprepared to handle persistent volumes. Tracking down DME orders, staying in close contact with vendors, and having different DME options available are hard to manage without a centralized platform. 

Providing the best possible hospice care is every organization’s ultimate goal at the end of the day. Patients who enter hospices need help maintaining or even sustaining a higher quality of life they can’t attain independently. 

The world of durable medical equipment is highly dynamic for hospice professionals and DME providers. Hospice organizations can quickly be overwhelmed with tracking multiple monthly invoices to find the right vendor and ensure prompt delivery for their patients. 

Working in hospice, medical professionals are constantly looking for ways to streamline services. As the industry evolves, finding new ways to optimize systems will become more of a focal point for hospice providers. DME trackers fill a necessary hole many hospice providers don’t even realize exists.