What is HME Billing?

HME  stands for Home Medical Equipment

HME refers to medical equipment that is appropriate for a home environment and can be managed by a patient or non-professional caregiver. HME billing spans the entire revenue cycle and begins with referrals from hospitals, clinics, and physicians.

Billing then involves steps such as intake, order confirmation, cash posting, and A/R management. Since HME billing requires extensive resources across front- and back-office processes, many businesses choose to outsource their billing to a full-service billing provider.

In short, HME billing is a complex process that begins with a new referral and typically ends with payment on existing balances.

What is DME Billing?

DME stands for Durable Medical Equipment

DME refers to any durable medical equipment that provides therapeutic benefits to a patient with certain medical conditions. Examples of DME include oxygen tanks, walkers, and blood sugar monitors. Thus, DME is a type of HME.

There’s a lot of overlap between DME billing and HME billing because these categories follow similar processes. However, the key difference is the type of device ordered and provided to a patient. So, DME billing still requires the same processes (order confirmation, A/R management, etc.) as HME billing.