[bostonorthorespllc]

So we are a new DME in the Boston area. We are moving at a nice pace and seem to be doing well regardless of the changing market. Anyways, we have been working through the accredit process with HQAA and suffice it to say we are tired and stressed from the process. Originally we enjoyed our first visit as we realized all of our weak points and were able to fix them immediately which has made us better as a company.

However, we now had a second visit which left us with the initial stamp of approval but we needed a focus visit to get our cert.

Has anyone gone through this as of recent? that could share their experience.

We had out sourced for our billing but realize we may now need a more efficient system like Brighttree but this is a bit of over head we really need to think about until we are able to obtain our provider numbers. We do well on our wholesale cash side but until then BT is a bit hefty. Any systems out there that everyone is using with regards to a full billing service with inventory?

Any experiences or tips are most welcome.

[gdseas]

We are looking at software as well, we are also a startup DME in Maryland. Here is a summary of our impressions thus far. All of this of course is very subjective so take it for what is worth.

All of the packages seem to be doing billing and inventory, some with greater attention to one feature rather than the other. So your mileage may vary:

Brightree -- great billing tool, cloud-based, outrageously expensive (for us)

QS/1 -- seems to be more pharmacy-oriented, many features for billing/inventory, very good support and sales, moderately priced (too bad we are not a pharmacy)

MPMSoft -- very billing specific, don't recall being impressed by inventory (cheap)

Bonafide Software -- outrageously expensive, did not proceed on demo due to price

MedAct -- both cloud and server-based options, good overall, moderately priced

TMS -- outrageously expensive, did not proceed on demo due to price

Lytec -- seems billing focused, cheap

CPR+ -- many features, billing and inventory descent price

Hope this helps!
Gregory

PS: You mention that you are not accredited yet by DMEPOS, are you already billing insurances out of network or you only sell retail?

[alan944]

AND if you want to trouble yourself even more try using Fastrack. We used them for 4 months.

Even our account rep said the executives only care about the bottom line and there were many internal infrastructure issues and fighting among departments. The support was the worst. I sometimes didn't get calls back on issues for weeks!!! I got a call from tech support 3 weeks after we already switch to another billing company.

Sometimes when we submitted claims to Medicare Fastrack would send a report stating the claims were submitted. Two weeks later we never received funds only to find Medicare never even got the claims. This happened a few times.

Other times Fastrack would just pull out codes and our claims were rejected.

I was an IT director for 16 years prior to getting into the DME biz and have never dealt with a software package as bad as this.

[HAD]

Alan - I heard the same of Fastrack and was wondering what program you switched to and whether you're happy with it?
Thanks.

[alan944]

HAD- We switched to a light software package called CortexEdi. The billing costs are probably the lowest in the industry and we get exceptional support.

[JoeyGraham]

Do yourself a favor and check out TIMS by CU. In my humble opinion it's the best, most complete software package out there for the DME industry. We switched about 1.5 years ago from MedAct. It was a smooth transition - CU was very thorough with our implementation. Now our company is doing better than ever before.

I'm willing to discuss this with any company on the HME Talk forum, just shoot me an email to Joey@Gulfmed.com.

Sent from my iPhone

On Sep 14, 2011, at 8:12 AM, "HME Talk Forums" wrote:

> Alan - I heard the same of Fastrack and was wondering what program you switched to and whether you're happy with it?
> Thanks.
>
>
>
>

[DeeDee]

Although some of you may find my response biased; I would like to offer an opinion/input regarding this thread.

I am a current employee of Fastrack Healthcare Systems and also a previous user - not just with 1 but 2 clients of Fastrack and I pursued them to join their team.

In 8 total years of using their software, I never experienced any of this:

AND if you want to trouble yourself even more try using Fastrack. We used them for 4 months.

Even our account rep said the executives only care about the bottom line and there were many internal infrastructure issues and fighting among departments. The support was the worst. I sometimes didn't get calls back on issues for weeks!!! I got a call from tech support 3 weeks after we already switch to another billing company.

Sometimes when we submitted claims to Medicare Fastrack would send a report stating the claims were submitted. Two weeks later we never received funds only to find Medicare never even got the claims. This happened a few times.

Other times Fastrack would just pull out codes and our claims were rejected.

I was an IT director for 16 years prior to getting into the DME biz and have never dealt with a software package as bad as this.

I will tell you that with any software, you will receive out of it - exactly what you put into it. Fastrack has many clients both old and new are extremely happy and satisfied with the software.

If you are/were strictly looking for a "billing company" as the poster above suggests then I would want to direct you to Fastrack Billing Service as that is exactly the service they offer. They are a well trained staff and have employees who previously worked as fraud investigators with Medicare and very experienced in the industry. If you want to build your database to suit your needs, your products, your business plan and not use a "cookie cutter" software then Fastrack is perfect for you. While it may take a little more time in the beginning, the benefits in the end will provide exactly what you are looking for. Fastrack is already 5010 compliant and approved, constantly taking the requests and suggestions of their clients into account and releasing regular updates to meet the ever-changing needs of both the industry and their clients.

After 18 years in the industry, I would not have pursued a career with them if I did not believe in them or their product! If anyone would like further information, please feel free to message me and I will be happy to discuss it with you.

[Mike Kuller]

I guess it should be very encouraging to see two new DME start-ups posting here - welcome.

Are you seeing some market potential in this Competitive Bidding environment I'm missing?

Oh, we switched to Brightree two years ago and use MedForce for imaging.