A more integrated DMEscripts powers ‘right DME at right time’

PHOENIX – Pankaj “PJ” Likhmania says one of his main goals as the new CIO of DMEscripts is “providing a very strong integration technology through all our APIs” so the e-prescribing platform can be used on a wider scale to the benefit of providers and patients. 

“DMEscripts doesn’t need to be the front experience for everyone,” he said. “In many instances, we just assume to be in the background, ensuring there is a digital connection that’s transparent, compliant and efficient.” 

As a result of Likhmania coming on board, for example, DMEscripts is now integrated with Rovicare, a transitional care management platform that he co-founded that’s used mainly by skilled nursing facilities but also health plans and physician offices. Earlier this year, DMEscripts also announced a planned integration with Northwood’s supplier portal and third-party administrator technology. 

Despite an increasingly crowded market that has seen DMEscripts and Parachute Health joined by companies like Tomorrow Health and Synapse Health, which have created their own e-prescribing platforms, Likhmania says “it’s a healthy competition.” 

“We’re just scratching the surface of this kind of automation and using this technology,” he said. “We still have a long way to go for full adoption. We’ve transformed roughly 10% or 15% of the market. It’s still up for further innovation.” 

Likhmania has his money on DMEscripts to make the biggest inroads in e-prescribing adoption for DME in the next few years, because it’s the platform that’s most directly connected to the industry. The company is backed by national providers like Owens and Minor, AdaptHealth, Lincare and Quipt Home Medical, as well as AAHomecare and The VGM Group. 

“(DMEscripts) isn’t just sitting there in the middle – it actually supports the suppliers, and the model is to lower costs and increase efficiencies for the industry,” he said. 

It was a personal experience that made Likhmania aware of the importance of good communication to good care. When his second child was born, the baby’s and his wife’s discharge were delayed for hours due to additional paperwork. He knows that’s nothing compared to an 80-year-old who has had a stroke whose care will transition from a hospital to a SNF to a rehab facility to a primary care physician to a specialist to a physical therapist. 

“It’s not just the care and medication that helps a patient – it’s the communication,” he said. “That’s where (a combined Rovicare and DMEscripts) comes in. It doesn’t have to be this way.”