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Products & Technology
out there around adoption and the ability for the industry to move off of the old fax paper- based system and adopt it at a much higher level and a faster rate,” Starck says.
“Ultimately, it’s a shorter time allotment for somebody sending a referral,” he continues. “And it’s a shorter timeframe for the supplier to process and qualify a patient. Both of those things mean the patient gets their equipment faster, and there’s less rework. So, all those things align and begin, I think, to build that business case.”
And that efficiency helps considerably in terms of providing care. Increased care and service make a big difference in an increas- ingly outcomes-oriented reimbursement environment.
“When we talk about eprescribe, we’re talking about getting any type of order or documentation over from the referral sources that is going to help the HME take care of a patient or obtain reimbursement,” Knowlton explains. “And in our industry, a lot of times taking care of the patient and being able to obtain reimbursement go hand in hand.”
Since the data coming from the referral source has to be entered properly,
eprescription helps on the claims processing and audit mitigation fronts as well. There, too, care is improved.
“All the eprescribe platforms basically have edits around requirements for orders to be processed, which largely meets all the compli- ance needs,” Starck explains. “So, when a DME supplier receives a complete and accu- rate order, they can move as quickly as they possibly can to make sure that the patient gets what they need as soon as they can.”
“Being able to collect all the information, being able to have rules-driven workflows, and being able to get the right documenta- tion upfront is tremendously powerful for HMEs dealing with reimbursement chal- lenges,” Knowlton says.
“And that has, I think, a direct impact also on patient care,” he adds. “If an HME isn’t sure whether they’re going to get reimbursed, patients can very quickly fall through the cracks. So, it’s the right thing to do on a lot of different fronts for an HME.”
PREPARING FOR EPRESCRIBE
Implementing eprescription starts with thinking strategically. Brightree’s Knowlton
suggests providers think a little strategically at the outset of the process to determine how far they want to take the implementation.
Providers should start by assessing their business lines, their geography, and what their referral sources are already doing with eprescription, Knowlton advises.
“A good first recommendation is always talking with your referral sources, in terms of where eprescribe for HME is on their radar,” he says. “Do they understand the benefits? Do they know that they have the ability to move forward with eprescribe now?
“I’d also ask if they have the right tech- nology underpinnings to take advantage of eprescribe,” he continues. “Depending on business lines and geographies, you could be dealing with many different referral sources with different choices and technology. So, making sure that you as an HME are first and foremost, ready to deal with that, that would be a quick checkbox for beginning the journey of how to implement an eprescribe strategy.”
The next step in the process depends on how deeply the HME provider wants to implement eprescribe into their business and their software systems. So, let’s look at that.
26 HMEBusiness | March/April 2022 | hme-business.com Management Solutions | Technology | Products Untitled-1 1 8/23/21 2:14 PM