HME providers should decrease touch points and move towards paperless systems.

Via AAHomecare, WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 4, 2018)—At their recent meeting at Medtrade Spring in Las Vegas, AAHomecare’s Executive Committee approved plans to go forward with a project to examine electronic prescription (e-prescribing) platforms and to help promote adoption and acceptance of e-prescribing within the home medical equipment community.

“It’s time for the HME community to move away from the fax machine and individual paper prescriptions and fully embrace e-prescribing,” declared Steve Ackerman, AAHomecare chairman and president of Spectrum Medical. “Companies that invest in e-prescribing will be able to fill orders more efficiently to the benefit of patients and caregivers, while also reducing documentation errors and audits.”

"At Spectrum Medical, we are constantly trying to reduce the number of touches involved in an order while still maintaining regulatory compliance," added Ackerman. “This should be a goal for all HME suppliers."

AAHomecare staff and leaders will study e-prescribing platforms in terms of their suitability for the HME sector with the end goal of recommending the best solutions to its membership and the industry at large.  AAHomecare will subsequently work with companies supplying these platforms to provide additional guidance related to e-prescribing for HME and will also promote the industry’s utilization of this technology.

“The health care field is rapidly moving towards increased usage of electronic communications and record keeping, and HME suppliers need to keep up,” noted Ackerman. “While our companies will always rely on dedicated professionals to make sure that our patients are receiving a high standard of care, we also need to automate processes wherever it makes sense to do so.”

Visit aahomecare.org for more information.