Also Known As:
DME, medical equipment, home care equipment, hospice equipment
Type:
Medical supply and support service
Primary Purpose:
To provide the equipment patients need to stay safe, comfortable, and mobile in the home setting.
When It Applies:
From admission onward, as the patient’s plan of care requires.
Who Is Involved:
The hospice nurse identifies needs; a DME supplier contracted by the hospice delivers, sets up, and maintains the equipment.
Where It Occurs:
Delivered to the patient’s primary residence, home, assisted-living, or nursing facility.
Duration:
Equipment stays in the home for as long as it is needed during hospice care.
Coverage:
100% covered by the Medicare Hospice Benefit when related to the terminal diagnosis. No out-of-pocket cost to the family.
Key Focus:
Safety, mobility, comfort, skin protection, breathing support, and reducing fall risk.
Common Misunderstanding:
Families often don’t realize they don’t have to buy or rent equipment. The hospice provides it, bed, oxygen, walker, commode, all of it, and replaces what wears out.
What Equipment Hospice Provides
Lifted delivers and sets up whatever equipment your loved one needs to stay safe and comfortable at home. The list typically includes:
- Hospital bed (electric, adjustable, with pressure-relief mattress)
- Oxygen concentrator and portable tanks
- Wheelchair, walker, or rollator
- Bedside commode
- Shower chair or transfer bench
- Suction machine
- Lift (Hoyer lift or sit-to-stand)
- Pressure-relief cushions and overlays
- Nebulizer
Beyond equipment, hospice also covers all supplies related to the diagnosis, gloves, briefs, wound-care materials, and personal-care items.
How DME Delivery Works
When the admitting nurse identifies the need, the order goes out the same day. Most equipment is delivered within 24 hours, often the same day for urgent items like a hospital bed or oxygen.
The DME company sets up the equipment in the home, trains the family on how to use it safely, and maintains or replaces it as needed. If oxygen tanks need refilling, if a bed needs adjustment, if a wheelchair stops rolling, one phone call and it’s handled.
Why DME Matters for Quality Care
A hospital bed prevents pressure ulcers. Oxygen eases breathlessness. A bedside commode prevents falls during a 3 a.m. trip to the bathroom. A pressure-relief mattress can be the difference between a bedsore and a long, comfortable hospice stay.
At Lifted, DME is part of how we keep patients at home and out of hospitals, across DFW, San Antonio, Austin, and surrounding Texas communities. Learn more about what hospice care includes.