Don’t be afraid to ask your neighbor

Jennifer Leon
March 31, 2020
Covid 19

Hospital discharges

Families of nursing facility patients have started asking for their loved ones to be discharged. They’re concerned over COVID-19 visitor policies. Because of these discharges, HME providers are seeing more requests for oxygen. They’re also experiencing a higher sales volume for stairway lifts and C-lift chair lifts due to bed shortages.

What you can do:

Take advantage of the ePrescribe integration Brightree offers to connect with hospital referrals.
Participate in emergency requisitions for PPE including face shields, gloves, surgical masks and N95 masks.
Bring in and prep the team that will be going to the patient’s home post-discharge.

Patient care models

Virtual setups have been the main shift in patient-care models. Providers are using the healthcare version of Zoom to conduct a telehealth setup for CPAP and DocuSign for all documentation signatures. Providers say DocSeeMe is another platform that works well.

What you can do:

Engage with your referral sources via virtual setups.
Discover the validation rule in Brightree that instructs the order to be sent to a manager if there is a COVID-19 diagnosis. This notification allows the manager to alert the operations team to make sure they understand the necessary PPE and other safety precautions needed to see the patient.

As we continue to provide resources to aid you during this crisis, let us know if there’s a question or topic you’d like to explore further by chatting it on the Brightree Community resource page

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Equipment ramp-up

Are you feeling the strain to maintain the current ventilation patient census? Many providers must protect needed inventory if any life-sustaining equipment goes down, which restricts the ability to take on new ventilator patients.

What you can do:

Instead of disposing of nonfunctioning oxygen concentrators, send them out to be repaired.
Take advantage of the Brightree integration that tracks inventory sent out for repair at no additional cost.

Frontline employees

By now you’ve probably moved your employees out of the office to work from home. But remote work can disintegrate the daily face-to-face communication you’re accustomed to.

What you can do:

Monitor the health of every employee daily by logging symptoms, tests and quarantines to avoid spreading COVID-19.
Consider hazard pay for frontline, ED, clinical nurses, home care staff, respiratory therapists and nurses who collect COVID-19 test specimens in the community.
Study your data carefully and adjust your workforce accordingly.

Whether it’s referral trends and hospital discharges or patient-care models and frontline employees, be prepared to help or accept help from your peers as we navigate the current landscape together.

Request a demo today for a closer look at Brightree.

See what Brightree can do for you

Jennifer Leon

Jennifer Leon is the Vice President of Brightree Patient Collections, where she leads a team of experts in helping providers collect and retain more private pay.

Jennifer has held a succession of positions enabling her to develop a deep understanding of the private pay collection process, including the best practices for optimal operational performance.

She serves on the Medtrade Education Advisory Council and is a frequent contributor to HME News’ Smart Talk and HomeCare Magazine and to the speaking circuit at national and state shows.