Most DME owners walk the fine line between scaling without increasing overhead and needing a bigger team. Can you relate?
Unfortunately, we see many DMEs stuck in this precarious position, uncomfortably pressured by an increasing demand for services and an increasingly difficult hiring market.
In the day to day - juggling managing patient orders, insurance claims, and compliance concerns - it’s easy to get buried under tedious, repetitive tasks that eat away at productivity and profits.
Yikes. A bit of a grim picture.
The good news? Many of these repetitive, manual tasks can — and should — be automated.
The result? DMEs can reduce errors, speed up billing cycles, and free up staff to focus on higher-level tasks, ultimately allowing for real, profitable scaling.
How?
Start here with four DME tasks you should be automating.
1. Order Intake and Documentation
Ah, order intake. Collecting patient documentation, verifying prescriptions, and entering data manually can take hours and hours, and (unfortunately) small errors can lead to costly delays or denials.
Digital intake changes the game.
The goal of automation in the intake process is to capture, validate, and organize documentation instantly. For example, integrated eFax and OCR (optical character recognition) tools can extract data from prescriptions and attach it to patient profiles, ensuring every order is complete before it reaches billing.
Why automate order intake and documentation?
Expediated order processing and fewer manual errors - resulting in faster deliveries and happier patients.
2. Insurance Verification and Eligibility Checks
Manually checking insurance eligibility for every order can slow your team, creating unnecessary bottlenecks.
DMEs can implement automated eligibility verification tools that connect directly with payer databases to automatically confirm patient coverage and policy limits in real time.
Why automate insurance verification and eligibility checks?
Instant verification, fewer denied claims, and a smoother workflow from intake to billing.
3. Claims Submission and Tracking
Manually submitting claims - and, of course, following up on rejections - is one of the most tedious parts of DME billing.
Enter DME billing automation, stage left.
Automated billing software can protect revenue, reduce burnout, and allow teams to focus on what matters most: delivering excellent patient care.
Why automate claims submission and tracking?
DMEs often see reduced A/R days, higher clean-claim rates, and a decrease in spent chasing payments.
4. Inventory Management
Let’s be honest. Tracking stock manually (or with outdated spreadsheets) can easily lead to overstocking, shortages, and wasted resources. None of these options will help a DME grow and thrive within the market.
Once again, automation can help.
Automated inventory systems may integrate with your order and billing platforms to track stock levels in real time, potentially even triggering reorders when supplies run low and forecasting demand based on historical data.
Why automate inventory management?
The answer is fairly straightforward: less manual counting, fewer stockouts, and better cash flow management.
Before You Go…
We must note, automation isn’t about replacing people. Properly implemented into your workflow, automation gives your team the tools to do more.
By automating these time-consuming, error-prone DME processes, you can streamline operations, reduce denials, and free up staff - ultimately leading to REAL opportunity for scaling.
Where Could DME Flow Fit?
At DME Flow, our team consistently chats with DMEs to identify where automation could make the biggest splash in their workflows - and we’ve got some awesome results.
If you’re ready for a conversation, get in touch today! If you’re simply looking to explore further, check out our service pages or additional blogs.
Thanks for reading!
