OVERLAND PARK, Kansas—Breathe, LLC, a Medicare independent diagnostic testing facility based in Overland Park, Kansas, announced the availability of BREATHElink, a mobile platform that puts overnight oximetry data download directly in the hands of the patient.
With BREATHElink, patients can complete their overnight study and transmit the results from their own home.
“The biggest shift with BREATHElink is that the patient performs the data download from the oximeter themselves, right from their own phone—the DME (durable medical equipment) no longer has to send a tech out or bring the device back in to pull the data,” said Amber Yeager, owner of Breathe, LLC. “Our pilot DME location told us they’ve cut 75% of their overnight oximetry overhead because of that
one change. And because they're referring physicians are getting test data back faster than what the physicians see from competing DMEs, they’re expecting more orders to come their way. That’s the whole point—faster turnaround turns into more referrals and more revenue.”
Before building BREATHElink, Breathe said it spent time talking with its DME provider partners about where the overnight oximetry process was breaking down. The same theme came up repeatedly: turnaround time on results was creating real downstream pressure.
"DME providers operate under a 30-day window from the date of the overnight oximetry test to set the patient up on oxygen therapy," the company said. "Within that window, the provider needs to receive the test results, obtain an oxygen order from the physician, and complete the patient setup. When a patient sits on a device before returning it or when result delivery is slowed by manual processes, every additional day cuts into the time the provider has to get the patient on therapy before the window closes."
BREATHElink is available now to all Breathe DME clients and is compatible with both Apple iOS and Android devices.