Hospice DME isn’t just “DME with a different payor.” The workflows, timelines, contracts, and compliance demands are different. DME Engine was designed by people who deliver to hospice agencies every day — and the software handles every part of the workflow that hospice contracts demand.
The unique requirements of hospice DME delivery
Hospice patients have urgent equipment needs: a hospital bed within hours of admission, an oxygen concentrator before the next nightfall, a wheelchair before discharge from a hospital to a residence. Every hospice agency negotiates its own contract, with its own rate sheet, its own approval thresholds, and its own preferred contacts. And every delivery has to be documented to a higher standard than commercial DME because hospice agencies are tightly audited by Medicare.
Generic DME software treats every customer the same. DME Engine treats every hospice agency as a distinct contract relationship.
Built for hospice workflows
Per-hospice rate sheets and contract pricing
Every hospice agency you serve gets its own pricing in DME Engine — per item, per item category, or both. When a hospice signs a new contract, you import the rate sheet (or clone it from a similar agency and adjust). When you bill that agency, the system uses the right rate automatically. No more manual lookups, no more billing errors.
Approval workflow with per-agency thresholds
Most hospice contracts include an approval-required threshold — orders over $X must be approved by a named contact at the agency. DME Engine lets you set this threshold per agency and route approval requests to the right approver by email. The order is held until approval comes back, and the approval is recorded as part of the delivery audit trail.
STAT and after-hours delivery
Hospice deliveries are often STAT. DME Engine flags STAT orders, can bypass the standard approval queue (or route to an after-hours approver), and dispatches the driver immediately through the mobile app. Every timestamp — order, dispatch, arrival, signature — is captured automatically for compliance.
Living-facility tracking
Hospice patients live in many places: a private residence, a nursing home, an assisted-living facility, an inpatient unit. DME Engine tracks living facilities as first-class entities so drivers know exactly where they’re going, billing knows which facility was the delivery point, and patient profiles reflect care-setting changes over time.
Mobile proof of delivery
Drivers use the DME Engine mobile app to capture digital signatures (patient, caregiver, or facility staff), timestamps, GPS, and optional photos at every delivery. POD documents are stored permanently and are available instantly for RAC, UPIC, MAC, and hospice agency audits. Drivers can work offline — data syncs automatically when they return to coverage.
Patient discharge and equipment pickup
When a hospice patient is discharged or passes, DME Engine handles the equipment pickup workflow: scheduling, driver assignment, pickup signature capture, return-to-warehouse, sanitation tracking, and inventory re-shelf. Lost or unreturned equipment is tracked through a dedicated research workflow so nothing falls through the cracks.
Audit-ready by default
Hospice agencies are audit magnets, and so are the DME companies that serve them. DME Engine keeps the documentation auditors want:
- ✓ Timestamped signature at point of delivery
- ✓ GPS-tagged delivery location
- ✓ Optional delivery photos
- ✓ Driver identity (PIN authentication)
- ✓ Full item movement history per serial / lot number
- ✓ Approval audit trail (who approved, when, dollar amount)
- ✓ Patient living-facility at time of delivery
HIPAA-aware multi-tenant architecture
Every DME Engine customer gets a dedicated SQL database. Hospice patient data from one DME company is never co-located with another’s. Combined with role-based permissions, PIN-based driver authentication, encrypted transmission, and audit logging, this is the architecture hospice compliance officers expect to see. Business Associate Agreements (BAA) are available.
What hospice DME providers tell us they need
If you serve hospice agencies, you’ve probably needed all of the following at some point. DME Engine handles all of them:
- ✓ Same-day rate-sheet updates when a hospice renegotiates
- ✓ A clean per-agency invoice every month
- ✓ A way to give each hospice their own online ordering portal
- ✓ Driver routing that can re-optimize when a STAT comes in
- ✓ Maintenance schedules for rental equipment (oxygen, beds)
- ✓ Discharge / pickup tracking when a patient passes
- ✓ Reports the hospice can use to verify their bill
Ready to see DME Engine for hospice?
Start a free 30-day trial — no credit card required — or schedule a demo. We’ll walk you through hospice-specific workflows with your real agency contracts and pricing.