DMEscripts Formed by Industry Leaders
New alignment with some of the largest HME providers, as well as AAHomecare and VGM, will help drive the adoption of e-prescribing for home medical equipment.
A collection of HME industry leaders have formed DMEscripts LLC, a healthcare technology e-prescribing company that provides a platform for prescribers to electronically transmit HME/DME orders to any participating provider.
The alliance of investors forming DMEscripts includes the American Association for Homecare, VGM & Associates, AdaptHealth LLC, Apria Healthcare Group LLC, Lincare Inc. and Rotech Healthcare Inc. The venture combines the leadership and resources of all founding members, as well as leverage other insights of digital health experts, to administer an industry-owned, operated and managed e-prescribe platform. The founding investors also expect to welcome investment by other industry participants.
The ultimate aim of DMEscripts is to improve the current order-to-delivery process by empowering and accelerating the widespread adoption of an electronic ordering application for DME. To accomplish that, DMEscripts will utilize proprietary e-prescription software to operate an open network for any DME supplier to join at no cost to prescribers or patients.
“Healthcare is transforming rapidly, and digital access to care is becoming increasingly important,” said Dan Starck, Apria’s chief executive officer and chairperson of the DMEscripts board of directors. “Digital technology has implications for every aspect of healthcare, from the clinical to the operational. Collaborating with our founding partners will help deliver leading-edge expertise and assistance to our members as they advance on the digital journey ahead.”
According to the company, DMEscripts’ proprietary e-prescribe software results in greater than 95 percent of providers’ orders being accepted the first time. It also helps:
- Remove the rework of the current fax-based ordering process.
- Track orders from submission to delivery.
- Integrate with both electronic health records and billing systems.
- Securely message between prescriber and supplier.
“I am thrilled at the collective energy of fellow industry leaders in embracing this digital transformation, with an industry-owned platform for electronically prescribing, tracking, and fulfilling DME orders,” said Crispin Teufel, CEO of Lincare. “This has tremendously positive implications, particularly for the patients we serve.”
“This is an important step forward for the DME community, as well as for the clinicians and referral sources we work with every day,” said Thomas Ryan, president and CEO of AAHomecare. “The wide-scale adoption of e-prescribe can provide for considerable efficiency improvements for all DME suppliers, thereby strengthening the industry as a whole.”