Technology is Your Solution for Making Deliveries Run Smoothly
The job of an HME technician or delivery person isn’t always easy. In fact, sometimes the bumps they face on the road and in a patient’s home are rough. So, how can you best prepare your team for the most common delivery issues? Many HME businesses say the game changer is technology.
1. Missing, incomplete, or damaged paperworkHow many times has paperwork been returned to the office with that infamous coffee ring front and center? More than once, I’m guessing. Paper has incredible potential to get shuffled, smudged, or—worst of all—flat out lost. These misplaced documents cost you valuable time to find or replace.
The solution? Going paperless. By investing in a mobile tool that gives your team access to the materials they need no matter where they are, and then syncing that tool with your core business system, you can lighten the load for technicians to help them stay organized and reduce redundancy. TIMS Delivery, for example, provides enough flexibility that your team can do things like create electronic prompts, access and edit checklists, submit forms, and capture patient signatures for proof of delivery—all digitally from a tablet or smartphone.
What happens right now in your business if a customer has an unexpected need? Maybe they decide to try out a CPAP accessory, or maybe they need sheets for their hospital bed. If the opportunity to upcare your clients happens when your service rep isn’t at the office, they’ll need to make adjustments on the go. Rather than having to arrange changes through your team at home base, a solid mobile electronic delivery tool provides the opportunity to easily add to the order—including adjusting quantities and noting serial numbers and lot numbers—and recalculate the costs. In addition, with TIMS Delivery, the technician can check inventory availability and pricing, and update order changes with the core TIMS system in real-time.
3. Taking patient payments at the point-of-delivery
You’re most likely to get paid on time if you collect co-pays and other patient fees upfront, so save a stamp and get payment out of the way during delivery. A complete mobile delivery solution can help by enabling your technician to securely and easily process credit cards onsite—no fumbling with old school carbon credit card sliders, manually filling out paper forms, or mailing the patient a bill days later. Plus, TIMS Delivery is equipped with EMV technology, making you better equipped to deter fraud.
4. Undeliverable or urgent orders
You knocked and…nothing. The customer isn’t home for your scheduled delivery. This usually means the team will follow up with the patient, once the paperwork makes it back to the office at the end of the day. With TIMS Delivery, a technician in the field can access patient information and reach out to the customer directly, verifying their address and clearing up any miscommunication about delivery date or time. Often this means the technician can complete the delivery while they’re still in the area, avoiding fuel waste and the need to unload/reload the truck on a future date. In addition, mobile access allows you to add urgent same-day deliveries, like oxygen, to the delivery route without first returning to the office.
5. Traffic jams and tough-to-find locations
If time (and fuel) is money, you don’t want to waste any of it sitting in traffic or driving in circles. Since you’re already paying the high costs for vehicle maintenance and insurance, it’s important to make sure your driver also stays on course. TIMS Delivery optimizes delivery routes and provide turn-by-turn directions, access up-to-the-minute traffic data to give you a clearer view of what is happening on the roadways, and project and record arrival and departure times for accountability and safety.
Your software solution should give your team the mobile tool they need to seamlessly link the patient experience from order to delivery, no matter where the road takes you. Just as intuitive as the core TIMS Software system, TIMS Delivery has the flexibility to put the power of TIMS at your fingertips on a smartphone or tablet, so there’s no expensive handheld devices to buy.
This article was originally written by Patty Harrison of Computers Unlimited. Published 2018-04-10. Modified 2024-02-01
