What Does a DME Do - My Perspective

mattman wrote:So with all of the talk of what DME providers do and don't do...do they have a place or not and all the related talk (flame, accusations and occasional compliment!) I thought I might jot down a view from the other side of the issue.

2) There is NO substitute for crappy customer service. Ever.

Very sincerely and with true respect,

mattman

elg5cats wrote:

mattman wrote:So with all of the talk of what DME providers do and don't do...do they have a place or not and all the related talk (flame, accusations and occasional compliment!) I thought I might jot down a view from the other side of the issue.

2) There is NO substitute for crappy customer service. Ever.

Very sincerely and with true respect,

mattman

Thanks Matt for your explanation of some of the services you have observed/provided as a DME representative. My brain is hung up on #2 "There's NO substitute for crappy customer service, Ever." I have read, re-read, and read again.....granted I have a head full of mucus (suction machine might be nice, can you deliver?) I think of a grocery store in a town I once lived, had a tombstome like rock at the door inscripted, 1. Customer is always #1 2. Customer is always #1 3. Customer is always #1. When I read "There is no substitute for crappy service, ever.....I think the goal is crappy customer service.........shouldn't it be there is no substitute for excellent customer service.....again, I could be missing the point due to brain fatigue....not trying to be offensive, just trying to stop the brain swirls!

mattman wrote:So with all of the talk of what DME providers do and don't do...do they have a place or not and all the related talk (flame, accusations and occasional compliment!) I thought I might jot down a view from the other side of the issue.

A couple of things right off the bat:

1) In case it's not been already very clear I have spent close to 15 years in the DME business working with a wide variety of providers. I've held pretty much every position from
cleaning used equipment to being in charge to working with manufacturers and distributors. I've worked in businesses with 2 employees and others with thousands.

2) There is NO substitute for crappy customer service. Ever.

3) I am going to do my best to keep this limited only to personal descriptions of what a DME company is and/or does. I'm deliberately trying to keep politics out of this if you
know what I'm trying to get at. My intent is to be positive.

4) I already know this is too long for some of the most anti-DME people to read. Which is a shame. But yeah, I know that already and I've not even gotten started.

5) Oh, and I'm adding a #5 as I go along. When I am referring to DME in all of this, I'm talking about a brick and mortar traditional DME company.

Okay... so... what does a DME actually do?

Well the first answer as it applies directly to most people reading this is... nothing.
Yep, I came right out and said it.

The thing is, xPaP equipment is really only the tiniest fraction of what a DME provider does.

There is another factor that I touched before in another thread and it's a concept I picked up from a long time poster here and it amazed me how true it was:
There are 2 primary types of medical patients in the world.
The first type has little to no ability or desire to take charge of their own treatment. A lot of you really have no idea. I'd say 90% if not more of the patients I've dealt with had absolutely ZERO and I mean ZERO interest in their own treatment. I've actually been told verbatim "Would you stop trying to tell me how to clean it? I don't care. Just turn it on and leave."
The second type of patient wants full or nearly full control. Most of the regular users of this message board are generally this type of patient.

A DME company is designed to best serve the first type of patient. So the primary target audience of this message board is using a tiny fraction of a system that's not really designed with them in mind to begin with!

NOW that being said what does a DME company do?

A DME company provides: Oxygen, xPAP equipment, infant apnea monitors, nebulizers, ventilators,diabetic supplies, tracheostomy supplies, skin care supplies, ostomy equipment, suction equipment, hospital beds, custom orthotics, custom back braces, pediatric specialty seating, wheelchairs, walkers, light therapy, cold therapy, hot therapy, specialty sleep surfaces, crutches, enteral nutrition, IV medications, daily living aids (shower seating, commodes, etc), the list goes on and on.

These items are provided 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year.

I think the best way for me to really explain this is to just relate a few things from my personal experience where I really got to do what I love doing: help patients.

We once got a call from a hospital about a patient being discharged after a motorcycle accident. His injuries weren't awful all things considered but the problem was his right arm,left leg and clavicle were all fractured. That meant he couldn't use crutches or a wheelchair. He also lived alone and had no family. The hospital could arrange for nursing care but the patient had no idea how he was going to get his home setup. So we spoke to him and got information on a neighbor he knew. Then we got both he and his neighbor to agree to let us go to the hospital, pick up his housekeys and go to the house. The neighbor let us in while myself and 2 other employees basically rearranged most of his house to accomodate a specialty bed and moved his computer, TV and music into the room and setup remote control systems so that he could access everything from his bed. We had to take apart a door and dismantle an entertainment center but we got it all done and put back together. Then we built a ramp so that when he moved to a wheelchair he'd still be able to get in and out. Reimbursement for that: 0.

I can't count the number of times I left at 1, 2, 3 or 4 in the morning to go drive to a terminally ill patients house because they were dying and needed something like a suction machine or a trach system or high-level oxygen to make their last few hours more comfortable. I can tell you it flat out sucks to drive 3 hours round trip to deliver a piece of equipment at 3am that you then drive back out at 10am to pick up. It doesn't suck because of the work, it sucks because I walk in and everyone knows I'm there because someone is about to die. And there's not a damn thing I can do but still have to be as pleasant as possible as I explain to someone how to care for their husband or wife as they die. Easily done that hundreds of times in my life. Reimbursement: usually 20 bucks or so total. Those are also memories that REALLY stay with you. Trust me on that one.

We sit for a few extra minutes with the lady who called with a "problem" and really was just lonely and wanted someone to talk to.

We ease the the parents who are freaking out on their first day home with thier newborn infant on heart monitor and help them realize it's ok and yes they really can do this.

We drive to the patients house on Christmas morning to deliver a nebulizer kit because her cat just ripped apart the last one she had and she forgot to call us when she was running low.

We arrange for specialty respiratory equipment all across the country for a young boy so his family can drive to the other coast so he can meet his grandparents for the first and most likely last time. 14 different providers from coast to coast.

Hurricanes, tornadoes and blizzards. Not a single patient ever went without an item. Even when we had to work 24 hours straight to deliver oxygen to patients who didn't evacuate.

We do our damndest to help ease the patient who is completely ashamed for having soiled the bed while we were out there. How do you give the guy who built a multi-million dollar business back his dignity when he feels he's completely lost it?

There are all kinds of little things that a DME company can do.

A statement I've made before here: I truely and honestly hope that most of you are never in a position to really find out how and why a DME provider can shine because it means you are going through an awful and usually life-changing event.

The really funny thing too is that out of all the DME companies I've worked with every single last one of them does these sorts of things day in and day out. They aren't reimbursed for them, it's just a part of doing business.

I hope that maybe provides you just a little bit of insight into myself and this business. And forgive me if sometimes I get a little proud of the field I love and maybe even a little defensive if someone catagorizes me as a crook. I take a lot of pride in knowing I've touched a lot of lives over the years and sometimes I let my pride and my love for the field get the better of me.

Very sincerely and with true respect,

mattman

Kiralynx wrote:Just as a FYI -- my Mom died today. The DME associated with the hospice company was out and had all the end-of-life equipment picked up within four hours of the hospice calling them. This was a blessing to my Dad, who was just sitting there, looking at the empty bed, and wanting to cry.