How One Payer Improved Patient Flow Through O2 Discharge Streamlining

Recently, one of our payer clients was able to utilize VectorCare in order to efficiently order oxygen deliveries for patients upon discharge. This solution drastically improved bed turnaround time, shortened the oxygen request process to 3-5 minutes, and improved member experience.

The Problem

In the United States, over 1.5 MILLION ADULTS utilize oxygen therapy for a variety of respiratory disorders and conditions. Yet despite it being a commonly prescribed treatment, the order and delivery process for oxygen (as well as other DME), can be “VERY TEDIOUS AND CONFUSING” for physicians, case managers, and discharge planners. Oxygen can be a critical component of recovery for many patients, and delayed oxygen deliveries lead to the patient remaining in-facility longer than required or necessary.

The oxygen order process is also rife with extra work, delays, and paperwork. Because oxygen is designated as a prescription drug, oxygen orders require an extremely detailed level of information (amount, duration, delivery device, etc) which leads to many incomplete oxygen orders. Orders often also require a completed Certificate of Medical Necessity to document medical necessity and other coverage criteria.

When the oxygen order/delivery process is delayed, patient turnaround time suffers. Some patients may spend an extra day or two inpatient facilities while waiting for oxygen therapy to arrive to their homes before discharge. Additionally, case managers must work directly with DME providers to place the O2 order, deliver to the patient’s home in time, and set-up and train users in its operation.

Each day that patients remain at a facility waiting for discharge costs payors greatly, and delays the patient’s at-home recovery process.

Recently, one of our payer clients was able to utilize VectorCare in order to efficiently order oxygen deliveries for patients upon discharge. This solution drastically improved bed turnaround time, shortened the oxygen request process to 3-5 minutes, and improved member experience.

The Solution

This payer started by leveraging VectorCare's Trust and Hub products to create a network of local, credentialed transportation DME providers qualified to deliver oxygen. Using Trust, each provider was properly credentialed and cleared to meet all state and local regulatory requirements.

Next, they used Hub to create a scheduling schema specifically for oxygen discharge orders. The schema could be accessed by any nurse, case manager, dispatcher, or DME crew member with access to that particular oxygen request. This provided a HIPAA-Secure way for all care team members to view delivery information and collaborate without phone calls or faxing.

Nurses and case managers could now schedule discharge oxygen deliveries and broadcast to local providers within 3-5 minutes, accommodating for each patient’s specific medical needs and benefits plan.

Once scheduled, oxygen deliveries were executed seamlessly by the agreed-for providers. Hub’s communication tools, realtime tracking, and delivery workflows ensured transparency and efficiency. This eliminated the risk of billing fraud, and reduced costs by improving patient flow.

Measuring Success

Next, our customer defined metrics for measuring success within the oxygen delivery process in order to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs.

A few ways they accomplished this are:

• Including data collection points within the transportation workflow such as creating a rating question for patients to rate their delivery experience and provide a signature, or requiring crew members to upload a photo of the oxygen tanks properly set-up in the patient’s home. This allowed them to find any timing discrepancies, track member satisfaction, and identify providers offering a poor standard of care.
• Utilizing VectorCare’s built-in timestamps from our Open API and Hub apps
  Hub automatically tracks on-time ratings, every timestamp along the request process, message response times and more. This client leveraged these data points to determine DME provider performance as well as quality of patient care.
• Accessing additional reporting and dashboards
  Management was able to use VectorCare’s dashboards to view agent and provider performance at-a-glance, without having to download .csv files and sort through data. VectorCare's Reporting features allow for complete configurability, so admins were able to build and download any kind of report on the fly.

Want to read more from the Patient Care Logistics Journal? Check out our latest podcast episode with Tom Foley, VP of Growth at AMD Global Medicine.