A New Platform for DME E-Prescribe

A new venture from leaders in the durable medical equipment (DME) industry is looking to increase the use of e-prescribe across the DME space. The American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare), VGM & Associates, Ltd., AdaptHealth, LLC., Apria Healthcare Group LLC, Lincare Inc. and Rotech Healthcare Inc., have joined to form an independent e-prescribe company DMEscripts. 

But getting providers to use platform may not be easy. Adoption of new technologies has historically been slow across the industry, with only a 5% adoption rate of e-prescribe, according to Dan Starck, CEO at Apria. 

“We tried to get the industry to essentially coalesce around one platform and try to make sure that there is a shared a shared message from an opportunity perspective,” Starck, who is also chairperson of the DMEscripts board of directors, said in a recent interview with HomeCare. “We also believe the patients will get better care this way.”

DMEscripts will combine the resources of all founding members to administer an industry-owned, operated and managed e-prescribe platform. The platform will use proprietary e-prescribe software to operate an open network for any DME supplier to join at no cost to prescribers or patients. The leadership team at DMEscripts is hopeful for a 20% adoption rate in the next two years.

“There’s great inefficiencies in the fax and the telephone. And we need to progress as an industry to be more accepting of technologies,” said Clint Geffert, president at VGM & Associates. “Our thought behind getting on board was that e-prescribe would improve [providers’] current order-to-delivery process and it will help to accelerate adoption of electronic ordering.”

It’s up to DME providers, Starck said, to push for their referral sources to use the platform, which is made easier since DMEscripts can be accessed via web browser. DMEscripts is also currently available on the Epic App Orchard and Cerner’s App Gallery, and is in the process of integrating with Brightree. 

“We’re two weeks into [the partnership]. And we’re still getting people used to the idea that the four majors that have been at war with each other for years are actually partnering in this process,” said Starck. “But it’s more than a single provider. It’s the whole industry.”

Steve Griggs, CEO at AdaptHealth believes the partnership is a good start for the industry to participate in the electronic exchange of health data. 

“We need to make sure that we’re investing in that, and we want to have a seat at the table,” he said.

The founding investors also expect to welcome investment by other industry participants in ownership of the platform, but investing is not required to participate. 

“Anybody and everybody can participate in this product, whether you’ve got one referral or a million referrals, it really doesn’t matter. So everybody can participate and they should participate,” said Griggs.

AAHomecare President and CEO Tom Ryan said that he’s seeing excitement from the industry around the platform. He’s been bullish around e-prescribe adoption since it helps keep technology investment in the industry. A marketing plan for the platform is key to adoption, he said.

“People need to look for some of the lower hanging fruit, maybe sleep labs, in the beginning to get momentum. And then continue to work with the major health systems,” Ryan added.

Providers can learn more and sign up at dmescripts.com.