Medtrade Spring preview: Mobile technology pays off

LAS VEGAS - Mobile technology is changing the way HME providers do business with their patients every day, from placing orders at intake, making deliveries at the home or in a facility, or collecting co-pays.

At Medtrade Spring in Las Vegas, in “Mobile Technology Integration: Improving Workflow and Operational Logistics,”attendees will hear first-hand from a panel of providers who implemented a mobile strategy, and subsequently increased efficiencies and drove down costs.

HME News recently sat down with Wilma Sosa-Bartelli, vice president of sales & services at Continued Care of Long Island in Farmingdale, N.Y., a company that has successfully made mobile technology work for them.

HME News: How have you incorporated a mobile strategy at Continued Care?

Wilma Sosa-Bartelli: We started with our technicians first, then worked outward to our respiratory and delivery staff.

HME: How much of an investment was it in both time and money?

Sosa-Bartelli: It took a little while to stock up with iPads, but the payoff was quickly apparent because the work of ordering and closing out a case is much faster.

HME: How has mobile increased your organization's efficiencies and driven down costs?

Sosa-Bartelli: We are able to confirm almost in real time, or at least within the day, as soon as the patient signs. And we're able to close our books much faster on both a monthly and yearly basis.

HME: What were the biggest barriers to incorporating a mobile strategy and how did you overcome them?

Sosa-Bartelli: The learning curve with the staff. But once we taught some of the staff, their co-workers had someone to help them through the process. It's really just a couple of clicks of some buttons, so it was only a matter of sitting down with the staff.

HME: If attendees take away one thing from this session, what should it be?

Sosa-Bartelli: With mobile, you get efficiency, a clean, billable order and every tab is completed before you go on to the next patient.