Minimize Financial Drain: Financial Best Practices to Follow For Your DME

Completing claims and submitting them on time are important contributing factors that ensure DME/HME businesses get paid. Efficient record-keeping and documentation are vital to successful claim applications and are part of financial best practices for DME/HME businesses. Following-up on documentation is critical because information may need updating, or changes and modifications may be in order. When these are not carried out on time, it can lead to a backlog of missing data and information. This can prove difficult to locate when required and hurt payment prospects for the business.

• Tracking patient documentation

To avoid payment delays, whether the Certificate of Medical Necessity, doctor’s advisory, or product authorization, DME/HME businesses must ensure documentation is in order and the information within it accessible. The best way to do this is by ensuring all necessary and relevant documents are complete and provided by the patient. Missing or incomplete information provided on claim applications is a reason for claim delays and denials.

Patient documentation also needs to include authorizations for ongoing medical necessity. This means any new notes or authorizations must be pursued and filed away for the future. This exercise helps cover re-evaluation needs and continued usage of medical equipment by the patient.

• Switching to electronic document management

DME/HME businesses may need to face audits. Responding to audits is faster when information is accessible. In the case of paper records, a high volume of paper attached to a patient can become overwhelming; documents often have to be stored separately. Locating everything when required can be challenging, leading to the possibility of claims being delayed or even denied.

Switching records to electronic management systems allows businesses to access information when needed. It also helps protects information, as electronic systems can be secured with the help of multiple layers, including passwords and authorized access.

Receiving professional assistance

For a startup or small DME/HME business, it can be challenging to manage both attending to equipment needs and performing operational and documentation tasks. Equally challenging, the prospect of inadequate understanding of documentation can result in errors and gaps in data. Professional assistance such as a DME Partnership can help lighten workloads, especially administrative, record-keeping, and secure data management. Without professional assistance, your DME is deprived of the benefits of expert bookkeeping and accounting practices. Maintaining up-to-date accounts are part of financial best practices for your DME and can be outsourced to support business survival and growth. Accounting services, even when selectively outsourced, can help small businesses and startups manage their time and streamline their financial management.

Next Steps

• A DME partnership can provide the right assistance and expertise to reliably manage DME/HME billing requirements such that the business can continue to focus on providing quality healthcare.
• Email us at sales@analytix.com or call 781.503.9002 for a free session.
• Engage with us on LinkedIn and Twitter.