Archive: 2006
Consultant Weeks helps HMEs find 'sweet spot'
December 31, 2006HME News Staff
For the past year, industry consultant Wallace Weeks has traveled the country helping providers prepare for national competitive bidding, which is slated to kick off some time this year. Weeks spends a lot of time focusing on a company's "sweet spot." That is: Using technology to increase operational efficiencies; and zeroing in on the most profitable product-payer combinations and helping to shift sales and marketing strategies to maximize those profit centers.HME News talked to Weeks in late October...
Association courts new finance committee chairman
December 31, 2006HME News Staff
HELENA, Mont. - U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., doesn't take over as chairman of the high profile and powerful Finance Committee until this month, but in early December, the state's HME association was already trying to get his ear.
Several members of the Big Sky Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers were scheduled to speak with Baucus' staff during a Dec. 8 teleconference. Their goal: to familiarize the senator with home medical equipment and lobby him to support two bills, one that would repeal...
Ohio 'firm' on O2 cut
December 31, 2006HME News Staff
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The state has proposed new coverage criteria for home oxygen therapy that contain both good and bad news for providers. The good news: The state no longer seeks to make oxygen a capped rental item. The bad news: It still seeks to cut reimbursement almost in half.
"We're still very much apart on reimbursement," said Kamela Yuricich, executive director of the Ohio Association of Medical Equipment Services, who met with state officials in late November to discuss the new coverage criteria....
With CMS, right makes might
December 31, 2006HME News Staff
Does Medicare actually listen to provider protest? Given the uproar over the planned cuts to power mobility and CMS's rejiggering of the fee schedule, it would seem so.
The industry, not surprisingly, mounted a very vocal, very aggressive campaign that decried the cuts. The mainstream media picked up the baton on this one like we've never seen before.
Usually, threats by providers to close their doors go in one ear and out the other of Medicare officials. I remember talking to a DMERC official who...
Federal agencies crack down on fake diabetes cures
December 31, 2006HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Food and Drug Administration have begun efforts to halt deceptive Internet advertisements and sales of products misrepresented as cures or treatments for diabetes. So far, approximately 180 warning letters and other advisories have been sent to online marketers and companies in Mexico, Canada and the United States.
Industry bills set to return in 2007
December 31, 2006HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Lawmakers failed to pass in 2006 two sets of bills intended to help HME providers, but industry sources expect them to reintroduce the legislation "very quickly" in 2007.
One set of bills, H.R. 3559 (Hobson-Tanner) and S. 3920, would lessen the blow of national competitive bidding, which CMS must kick off some time this year. The other set, H.R. 5513 and S. 3814, would repeal the 36-month cap on Medicare oxygen reimbursement.
"We're looking at a February timeframe to get them both re-introduced,"...
Access Point investors take control
December 31, 2006HME News Staff
ST. LOUIS - Three top executives at Access Point Medical--including industry icon Jerry Jones--resigned last month as the company's lead investors made moves to improve profitability and reduce costs. Jones, who served for 14 years a chairman/CEO of Apria and its predecessor companies, served as co-chairman of Access Point along with Tom O'Donnell. O'Donnell and CEO Hans Stover also resigned, Jones said last week.
The investor group that is driving the agenda--Quadra Investments in New York City--prefers...
CHAD's 3rd quarter earnings drop off
December 31, 2006HME News Staff
CHATSWORTH, Calif. - CHAD Therapeutics posted revenues of $4.98 million in revenues for the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2006, compared to revenues of $5.4 million for the same quarter in 2005, the company stated in October. Sales of CHAD's Total O2 home oxygen filling system dropped 29% for the six months ended Sept. 20, 2006, compared to the same period last year. Therapeutic devices dropped 4% compared to last year.
Bay State: New law 'not a concern'
December 31, 2006HME News Staff
BOSTON - HME providers in Massachusetts don't expect to struggle under a new state law that requires companies with 10 or more employees to provide health insurance beginning Jan. 1.
"It's not really a concern," said Gary Sheehan, general manager of Cape Medical Supply in Sandwich, Mass., which employs 40. "We already offer health insurance to our employees. I think most of our colleagues are in the same boat."
Steven Callan is. The president of New England Medical Homecare in Amherst, Mass., also...
MED respiratory czar does her homework
December 31, 2006HME News Staff
LUBBOCK, Texas - The MED Group now counts 95 members in its five-year-old National Respiratory Network, with more than 400 locations around the country. In late October, Kelly Riley stepped in as the group's new director, replacing Jackie McClure who moved on after three years as the group's leader.
As Riley stares into the murky depths of 2007, where competitive bidding is to kick off in 10 cities, one thing is clear: "There are some metrics you need to be ready," said Riley. "You need to have the...