Yes, but not because the DME software submits claims faster. Submission was never the bottleneck. The gap between intake and cash is created by rework, and software shortens it by removing the conditions that cause rework in the first place.
Here’s the honest version: a claim that goes out clean and pays on first pass takes as long as your payer’s remittance cycle. Nothing shortens that. What software changes is the percentage of claims that follow that path instead of the other one — denial, root cause analysis, correction, resubmission, and a second wait of 45 to 60 days per review round, with providers averaging three rounds before payment (Premier, Inc.).
That’s where the time actually goes.
Where the days accumulate, and what a platform can and can’t compress
Stage | What creates delay | Can software compress it? |
Intake | Coverage unverified, wrong plan on file, demographics mistyped | Yes — real-time eligibility at intake |
Authorization | Prior auth missing, expired, or obtained for the wrong HCPCS code | Yes — auth tracked against the order before delivery |
Documentation | Missing written order, unsigned proof of delivery, no CMN | Yes — captured at point of service on mobile |
Claim build | Invalid modifiers, HCPCS pairings, payer-specific edits | Yes — pre-submission scrubbing |
Payer adjudication | Payer’s own processing clock | No |
Remittance posting | Manual ERA/EOB keying, backlog | Yes — automated 835 posting |
Denial rework | Denials sitting unowned in a queue | Partly — routing and aging alerts, but the work still happens |
Recurring rentals | Month 4 of a capped rental never billed | Yes — automated recurring invoice generation |
Six of eight stages are addressable. The two that aren’t — payer adjudication and the labor of working a denial — are exactly the two you avoid by getting the first six right.
What the data says about the starting point
CMS puts the FY2025 improper payment rate for DMEPOS at 24.12%, the highest of any Medicare fee-for-service claim type, against a 6.55% national rate. Across Medicare FFS, roughly 53% of improper payments trace to insufficient documentation and another 12% to no documentation. These are not clinical disputes. They’re missing orders, unsigned records, and paperwork that doesn’t substantiate the bill — every one of them preventable before submission.
What actually moves the number
Cash acceleration comes from three things, in order of impact:
- First-pass clean claim rate. Every point you move it up is a rework cycle you never wait through.
- Documentation captured at delivery, not chased afterward. If the field team can’t complete it on a device, it won’t be complete.
- Automated remittance posting. A backlog of unposted ERAs makes AR days look worse than they are and hides the denials that need working.
Recurring rental automation matters too, and it’s the one most often overlooked. A capped rental billed on schedule for 13 months collects the full episode. One missed cycle and you’re reconstructing months of billing under a timely filing clock.
Software doesn’t make payers pay faster. It stops you from giving them reasons to pay you late.
