01
Branch stock
Items used often enough that the agency needs them close to the team.
Who sets the par level, counts stock, records use, and catches expiry or a missing item?
Medical billing / Field guide
The order needs an owner.
A distributor can ship. An ordering system can show a status. Neither settles who approved the item, who notices the exception, or where the cost record lands. Start with those handoffs before choosing a supply path.
Explore procurementThe delivery decision
Three paths. Different obligations.
An agency may use more than one path. Compare them by item category, urgency, storage, delivery geography, and the cost of a failed handoff—not only the unit price.
02
Clinician-carried stock
A defined kit for visits where the need is predictable but the location changes.
Who replenishes the kit and connects an item used on a visit to its purchasing record?
03
Direct-to-patient delivery
An order that can be sent to the home before the planned visit.
Who confirms the address in an approved system, shipment, receipt, and fallback if it is late?
The operating record
Follow one item all the way through.
- 01
Clinical request
The agency names the clinically appropriate item and any permitted substitute. A purchasing desk can route that choice; it does not make it.
- 02
Approval and order
Set who may buy, from which vendor, at what quantity or spending threshold, and who approves a change. Keep the approved request with the order.
- 03
Delivery exception
A shipped order is not a received order. Decide who notices a short shipment, wrong item, delay, damage, or return, and who resolves it.
- 04
Financial record
Connect item, quantity, price, receipt, return, and invoice. The agency's accounting owner decides the applicable cost-report classification.
Keep the jobs separate.
A distributor fulfills and delivers under its own terms. A staffed purchasing service can coordinate an agency-defined buying process and its exceptions. The agency retains clinical selection, accounting classification, and payer decisions. Software is a separate buying and release decision.
For Medicare home health, supplies and DME do not all follow one payment rule. CMS maintains a consolidated-billing code list; its Home Health PPS overview explains the payment rule for supplies and identifies DME as an exception. Use the actual item, payer, service period, and current rule; do not infer billability from a catalog label or this guide.
A useful first conversation needs agency-level facts only: branches, broad item categories, order volume, delivery paths, approval roles, common exceptions, and the records you need at month end. Do not send patient orders, addresses, identifiers, or clinical records through this website or its help chat.
Source checks
- CMS: Home Health coding and consolidated-billing code list
- CMS: Home Health PPS and consolidated-billing exceptions
- CMS: Home Health Agency cost report, Form 1728-20
This buyer guide is not a billing instruction, coverage decision, or cost-report classification. Confirm current CMS and payer instructions with the agency's responsible professionals.