Hospital Bed (Rental)

Full-electric and semi-electric hospital beds are a major capital line item for DME suppliers, often costing $600–$2,000 per unit. They are rented to patients recovering from surgery, managing chronic illness, or receiving end-of-life care. Medicare covers adjustable beds under the Group 2 or Group 3 support surface rules depending on the diagnosis and pressure-relief needs.

Hospital beds are bulky, expensive, and easy to lose track of. They are typically stored across multiple warehouse bays, delivered by field technicians, and sometimes left in homes for months or years under capped rental. Without serialized tracking, suppliers routinely discover beds that are 'on paper' but have been abandoned, lost, or never returned.

The delivery and pickup workflow for hospital beds is complex: assembly at the patient's home, return pickup (often requiring disassembly), transport back to the warehouse, full cleaning and inspection, and staging for the next rental. Each of these touchpoints is a point of failure without a tracking system.

Tracking hospital beds by serial number — knowing exactly which bed frame, mattress, and rails are where — is critical both for asset utilization and for responding to manufacturer recalls, which do occur in this product category.