Brightree taps customer input

ATLANTA - When CMS rolled out competitive bidding pricing nationwide in 2016, Brightree leadership spent much of the next year on the road to see and understand firsthand the challenges their provider customers were facing.

“This challenge magnified the urgency of our mission and compressed the timetable we had set for ourselves for meeting with customers and developing needed solutions,” said CEO Matt Mellott, who replaced Dave Cormack as CEO in July of last year, just as the second and last wave of cuts were going into effect. “With our customers' need to more efficiently serve their patients and the impact on their own financial health, we are moving fast.”

Much of where Brightree has made moves this year is in the area of CPAP resupply. In June, the company announced it had integrated with VGM Fulfillment to allow providers to drop-ship supplies directly from VGM Fulfillment's warehouse. In September, it announced it had launched an automated resupply enrollment program for patients who are managed by both Brightree and ResMed's Airview.

In between, in July, Brightree announced it had bought Joliet, Ill.-based AllCall Connect, adding live calling solutions for CPAP resupply to the mix.

“We're really proud of Brightree's renewed focus on CPAP resupply,” Mellott said. “We've seen how important successful resupply is in improving patient care and outcomes, while also benefiting providers. The AllCall acquisition punctuates our commitment to helping providers operate a successful CPAP resupply program.”

Brightree leadership plans to continue information gathering, as well as facilitate information exchanging between customers, at its upcoming Brightree Summit at Medrade in October.

“With the current market challenges, we see the sharing of best practices and innovative ideas among providers like never before, and we want to encourage it,” Mellott said. “At the upcoming Summit, we have more customers participating on panels and sessions than ever before.”

Looking ahead at Mellott's second year at the reins, Brightree has plans for an increased focus on data.

“The Brightree platform contains an incredible amount of data that can be harnessed for providing operational insights to customers,” Mellott said. “Our solutions for the upcoming year and beyond are targeted at improving the financial health of Brightree's customers as they continue to drive for positive patient outcomes. We want our customers to move beyond surviving and begin thriving again.”