Orthopaedic practices know how difficult billing for Durable Medical Equipment (DME) can be. In the midst of a busy workday, braces get sized and walk out the door quickly. By the time the physician documents their work, they may have forgotten what size it was, or even that they gave a brace at all. Inventory control can be a nightmare, and missed DME charges over time add up. One of our clients, OrthoNY, recognized this problem in their own practice. They were proactive to seek out a solution, and now they are able to ensure correct billing for DMEs. 

Background: Large Orthopaedic Practice with DME Problems

OrthoNY is a large orthopaedic practice in upstate New York. Since 2015, they have utilized White Plume products to automate charge entry and streamline their revenue cycle processes. The team at OrthoNY are excellent at improving their revenue cycle. They constantly look for new ways to automate their process in order to be as efficient as possible. OrthoNY knows that there is always opportunity for improvement, and there is always a way to be more productive in your revenue cycle.

Because of their diligence and dedication to improving their revenue cycle processes, the leaders at OrthoNY recognized that they had a DME problem. Inventory control and properly billing for DMEs was something that they struggled with, and they knew they needed a better solution if they wanted to maximize their revenue.

DME inventory control is a major problem for orthopaedic practices. These pieces of equipment walk out the door with patients, and it can be difficult to keep track of who received what. This information is crucial for billing correctly, and without it, orthopaedic practices can lose massive amounts of revenue over time. The problem is that the time it takes a coder to track down the right encounters and search for DME billing errors is not worth the money they save in the moment. Practices let these errors slide, but they are losing more revenue than they know as those missed charges add up.

Automate DME Charge Capture & Improve Coding Outcomes

It was important for OrthoNY to find a solution for preventing their DME billing errors. They wanted the ability to automate DME charge capture, combine those DME charges with office charges into a single encounter, and then streamline the coding process. 

The team at OrthoNY brought this problem to their partners at White Plume. They were already using AccelaCAPTURE to automate charge capture, and AccelaSMART to maximize coding productivity and outcomes. They wanted to find a way for White Plume to interface with Breg, their DME supplier, so that they could include their DMEs in our software. Since White Plume had previously solved a similar problem with a client who uses DonJoy, they knew how to approach it with Breg. 

Working with Breg, they were able to include DME charges directly in AccelaCAPTURE. Providers can capture DME charges at the point of service and include them on the same ticket as their clinical charges. Combined in a single encounter, these charges are then run through AccelaSMART to automate coding. Coders no longer have to look through every single encounter to find the one with a DME billing error. AccelaSMART will simply flag them on the ones they need to review. Searching for missing DMEs does not have to slow down their process or derail their day. They can continue following the industry best practice of exception-only coding.

The excellent revenue cycle staff at OrthoNY are able to process encounters even more quickly, and they no longer have to worry about the number of DME billing errors they might be accruing. They can rest easy and know that they are maximizing their revenue.

Orthopaedic practices, DMEs can be challenging. But they don’t have to be a source of missing revenue. Learn from our friends at OrthoNY, and solve your DME woes with software that provides world-class revenue cycle outcomes. For more information on AccelaSMART schedule a free demo today.