Clinic-quality supplies at home: enhancing workers’ recovery experience

While the medical care an injured worker receives immediately following a workplace accident can make all the difference, the bulk of the recovery process happens in the employee’s home. Supporting injured workers with clinically appropriate medical supplies and equipment is essential to their safety and quality of life. Providing the best care, improving employees’ experiences and controlling costs are top priorities; offering durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics and supplies (DMEPOS) helps achieve it all.

Effective DMEPOS management to maximize recovery

It’s an employer’s responsibility to help injured workers become whole again — or at least achieve maximum recovery. The proper equipment and supplies are vital for that goal, which is why DMEPOS should be part of any successful workers’ compensation program: 

• Quickly providing injured workers with medical equipment and supplies improves recovery. An individual in pain or struggling to adapt post-injury shouldn’t have to make the effort to get supplies; providing what they need by default makes a difficult situation easier. Delays in securing DMEPOS can prolong recovery and extend claim duration — damaging bottom lines and the worker’s well-being.
• Oversight of DMEPOS is critical to controlling costs. Most equipment and supplies can be purchased wholesale rather than at retail prices, and many items are available in generic versions that are lower cost and just as clinically effective as the name brands.
• The right equipment reduces risk of incurring additional injuries. Mobility supports like crutches and walkers can prevent falls, and use of an appropriate prosthetic device reduces the amount of stress on an amputee’s other body parts. 
• Coordination of DMEPOS demonstrates employers’ commitment to care. When many aspects of the employee’s life have gotten more difficult, getting the medical equipment and supplies they need should be easy and hassle-free. It’s an important part of the overall claim experience.      

The right partner for hard times

Many employers partner with an ancillary care provider to help them manage their DMEPOS programs. With post-COVID inflation driving up the prices of materials like rubber, plastic and metal, additional vendor partnerships are emerging as opportunities to help curb costs.

Ancillary care providers lend their expertise to employers, helping them source the appropriate equipment and supplies at the best price on the market. Their assistance helps their customers control DMEPOS-related claim expenses through a variety of tactics like:

• Pre-negotiating rates with the lowest-price wholesale suppliers of high-quality products.
• Identifying equally effective generic alternatives to prescribed name-brand products and working with prescribers to secure approval for the lower-cost versions.
• Weighing the cost of purchasing a device versus covering an extended month-to-month rental.
• Conducting retrospective reviews of DMEPOS billing to reprice out-of-network purchases and direct recurring orders to network providers, a practice that helps employers save as much as 15%.
• Reaching out to injured workers to validate their ongoing need for supplies and implementing other system-driven controls to limit fraud, waste and abuse.
• Bundling devices with supplies and support services at all-inclusive pricing, eliminating the need for additional approvals and claim reserves. As an example, Sedgwick’s ancillary care network offers an audiology program that enables workers with occupational hearing loss to receive audiology testing, as well as hearing aids and their batteries, filters and domes, and any provider support they may need, for one flat price. These comprehensive bundles can save employers as much as $675 per claim over five years.

The right partner can bring talent, scale, resources and innovation to employer programs — helping them to systemically reduce costs, improve operational efficiencies, ensure compliance and provide employees with clinical and logistical support.

Ensuring injured workers get care that counts

Supporting the needs of injured employees during their most vulnerable, challenging times is the heart of all workers’ compensation managed care programs. Everyone in our DMEPOS ancillary care program — from the leadership and medical network liaisons to the customer service agents and care coordinators — is committed to providing injured employees with top-quality equipment, clinic-grade supplies and a seamless experience. 

Nearly 60% of our DMEPOS volume is drop-shipped directly from our wholesale vendors to wherever injured workers are choosing to recover. We put a premium on our efficiency: acknowledging all drop-ship requests within hours, processing orders the same day and having products delivered within two days. We see the value of convenience, focusing equipment with toolless assembly that can quickly and easily be put to proper use. We take care of things in the background so injured workers can focus on taking care of themselves and their families.

Recently, we received a letter from the widow of an injured worker who we supported with DMEPOS. She shared how much it meant to their family that her husband’s medical supplies arrived at their doorstep each month without them having to give it any thought. The touching letter was a poignant reminder of how much the work we do each day matters to the people on the receiving end. DMEPOS is about so much more than medical equipment and supplies; it’s enabling employers to give their valued employees caring that counts so employees can thrive through difficult moments.