How HME resupply is evolving with AI
While historically it has been a mostly manual, paper-based business model, the home medical equipment (HME) industry is changing significantly. And artificial intelligence is driving the shift.
From predictive patient billing preferences to adherence forecasting for CPAP devices, operational automation and revenue cycle management (RCM), AI is changing the business significantly for those providers that have adopted technology and have adapted to automation-based models of business management.
“In practice, AI in resupply should focus on the places where it can remove friction and make teams more effective,” says Mike Lorenz, VP, Resupply for national HME/DME and pharmacy business management solution Brightree. “That can mean helping identify which patients are most likely to need outreach, determining the best time to contact them or handling repetitive workflows that were previously too complex to automate with traditional software alone.”
For nationally-accredited HME provider Hart Medical Equipment, this shift presented a big problem. The company had a solid resupply partner, yet they did not feel as if that partner was helping them attack the future.
“While our resupply partner helped us achieve some nice things, it was evident that we needed someone with more muscle, and we needed to lean into the technology that was coming down the pike,” says Allen Hunt, President, Hart Medical Equipment. “Even with the technology that our partner was giving us, we couldn’t keep up with the industry and our customers’ needs.”
Or, to put it even more simply: “We needed to be prepared for what’s next,” he says.
To put themselves onto what’s next, Hart Medical turned to Brightree Resupply, the leading HME software that minimizes errors, maximizes efficiency and gives providers the inside track on tomorrow’s trends. Hunt and his team have seen immediate gains. Under their previous provider, they were averaging just under five items sold per CPAP supply order.
After about a month and a half with Brightree Resupply’s SNAP system, their customers were purchasing two additional items, driving an increase of $50-$100 per order.
“It was pretty significant,” Hunt says.
The term “artificial intelligence” is everywhere in health care today. A vendor says, “We bring AI to the process!” and providers might not necessarily know how it drives ROI or how to use it. Hart Medical’s experience with Brightree reveals those answers and shows what AI can deliver: better outreach, meeting patients where they are and continuing to free up staff to be more effective.
Here is a look at four pillars around which AI is reshaping HME resupply, and how Brightree is helping providers like Hart Medical reach the future.
1. Engaging patients when, where and how they want to be engaged
Where can HME providers apply AI? One place is communication. The pillars of AI in resupply begin with automated patient outreach, helping providers connect with patients in a personalized way that is right for them. Sometimes that’s an email. Sometimes a text. Sometimes a phone call.
Brightree’s app does the work to optimize that communication, in part by using AI voice agents, which can handle predictable, high-volume interactions such as order status questions and other routine requests. That virtual work, done especially during peak periods or outside business hours, is a huge load off the staff — and a benefit to patients.
“Different patients respond better to different channels of communication, and this gives us the ability to modulate the channels seamlessly,” Hunt says. “We’re not having to decide how to best reach patients. So we’re lowering our activity cost while improving our targeted response.”
2. Generating larger orders
One of the biggest advantages of an automated resupply system is its ability to increase order size. When providers have the option to max out orders, patients can receive everything they need at once rather than ordering items piecemeal.
“The system makes people more sales-oriented,” Hunt says. “They say, ‘We see that you get all of these supplies — do you need your complete order?’ When you phrase it that way, patients say, ‘Well, yes.’ This is suggestive selling and scripting, with agents able to talk through the health benefits of keeping fresh supplies and continuing to use your device.”
By encouraging more complete orders, providers can better anticipate patient needs and reduce one-off requests, while guiding patients into a more consistent, system-driven process.
“Not only does this save a lot of money for providers, it actually increases the velocity of orders because you’re not playing phone tag with these patients,” Lorenz says. “Patients get a text with a link, they click the link and a minute later they’ve said yes and they’re off to the races. They don’t have to try and remember business hours.”
Lastly, those automations ensure that providers are seeing better adherence and outcomes. In turn, better outcomes support resupply, leading to a virtuous circle for the business.
3. Audit- and payer-ready documentation
With all this customized communication, a compliance advantage emerges.
“If Blue Cross Blue Shield changes their rules today, we can reach out to SNAP and update those rules,” Hunt says. “So compliance concerns, and audit concerns, drop significantly. That is golden for us. Yes, there is still some effort that’s involved, but we’re able to fine-tune and adjust on the fly.”
And if there is an audit?
“I know that I have the documentation behind me,” he says. “I have that information that I can produce in an audit. That goes a long way.”
4. Embedded AI across the workflow
In the standard resupply process, different providers are likely to notice different painpoints. No matter what area is causing a given provider the most challenges, Brightree’s end-to-end AI across the entire workflow ensures an easier process.
The key is that rather than a provider asking one of its teams to bolt AI onto a given process, they can instead turn to Brightree where AI is already embedded throughout the workflow. Hunt calls it “pretty seamless.”
“We didn’t have to burden the staff with the decision of how to deploy AI in their process — they became that process,” he says. “That made that culture change piece easier for us. It helped produce ROI almost instantly.”
How providers are gaining predictable performances for their resupply needs
When Hunt and his team were looking for a new resupply partner, they spent a lot of time on the search.
“We spent over a year doing our due diligence,” he says. “Brightree Resupply was exactly what we were looking for: adaptability to the future.”
They got it and then some.
“That kind of support helps sleep teams close gaps faster without adding more staff,” Lorenz says. “It reduces routine workload, improves responsiveness and gives patients a more convenient experience. The opportunity with AI is not replacing people. It’s using technology to handle repetitive, time-sensitive work so teams can stay focused on the parts of the process where human judgment matters most.”
Brightree enables out-of-hospital care organizations to improve their business performance and deliver better health outcomes. As an industry-leading cloud-based healthcare IT company, Brightree provides solutions and services for thousands of organizations in home medical equipment and pharmacy, home health, hospice and home infusion. To learn more, visit www.brightree.com.
