Archive: May 2003

MUNDELEIN, Ill. — Medline hitched another wagon to China's rising star as a source for durable medical equipment in April when the company rolled out a ‘Container Direct' program that ships 20-foot, custom-configured containers direct from China to an HME provider's door. The new bulk distribution plan works this way: HME providers use an automatic program to fill a container with 26-30 cubic meters, about the size of a typical delivery truck. In China, Medline loads it, quality inspects...

ORLANDO, Fla. — A former Rotech employee is suing Rotech Healthcare for thousands of dollars, alleging corporate officials used company money and employees to set up independent HMEs (“set asides”) in a scheme to win VA businesses. Former Rotech Regional Manager Mike Rogers filed his suit in the United States District Court Eastern District of Texas Texarkana Division last October, but it is just now getting underway, said Kurt Truelove, Rogers' attorney. In his lawsuit, Rogers...

DAYTON, Ohio — Since 1979, Mr. Prescription Pharmacy has served as a Dayton area prescription drug provider. Now the Ohio chain plans to increase its market reach by adding home medical equipment to its shelves. In January, the pharmacy stocked each of its seven stores with a variety of HME, and in May, Mr. Prescription opened a new 6,000-square-foot HME showroom. President Tim Clark said most consumers of prescription drugs also use DME and that Mr. Prescription wants to keep that business...

Dave Kinskey admits that he may have been a tad naïve when he bought M&M Medical in December 1988. As a guy raised Catholic, he'd been schooled in doing good from an early age. So when dad sold his Wyoming convenience store chain in the late ‘80s, where Dave worked as corporate counsel, Kinskey the son looked into HME. The demographics indicated it might provide a living as well as an opportunity - and this sounds corny, he admits - to render good services to humanity. “I thought I'd be...

SARASOTA, Fla. - When Hoveround President Tom Kruse asked Medical Director Don Vliegenthart, MD, to pursue assistive technology practitioner certification from the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America, he could have predicted the response. “He rolled his eyes and gave me a ‘you've got to be kidding' look,” Kruse said. “I understand - he's already a physician, but I thought it was important for him to get an idea of the level of knowledge...

LAS VEGAS — The chances that HME providers will be able to place orders from inside their business software systems brightened somewhat last month as the nation's leading manufacturers of home medical equipment met here to discuss standardization issues. The meeting was the first concerted effort in three years to work the kinks out of the once ballyhooed cyberline, which would link an HME's software system to a manufacturer's order intake system. If manufacturers can agree to certain standards...

MERIDIAN, Miss.— Patients relying on infusion treatment for such therapies as chemotherapy and pain management must no longer feel bound to an intravenous pole. Vital Care, which operates 120 infusion pharmacies, has recently introduced a small, beeper-size, ambulatory pump, which clips to the user's belt and can be inserted into the hand or arm. The pump serves as a portable IV and can be hidden underneath clothes. “You just clip it on and go do whatever it is you need to do,”...

WASHINGTON — An OIG Special Bulletin has put providers on notice that pharmacy management agreements are now under increased scrutiny for possible kick-back violations. The April 23 bulletin addressed joint ventures, and as a “potentially problematic contractural arrangement” provided the following example: — A mail order pharmacy suggests that a DME form its own mail order pharmacy to provide nebulizer drugs. Through a management agreement, the mail order pharmacy runs...

ORLANDO, Fla. — In what appears to be the start of a large fraud investigation, FBI agents stormed into Rotech Healthcare locations in several states April 30, dismissed employees from work and then began to gather and cart away truck loads of medical documents, computers and desks. In addition to the national HME's Orlando headquarters, FBI agents reportedly raided Rotech operations in Texas, Maine, New York, Arkansas and Illinois. In Rotech's Buffalo, N.Y., location, FBI agents entered with...

LONGMONT, Colo. — The accelerating importance of China as a supply source for home medical equipment has not been lost on Sunrise Medical, which quietly launched a container program for HME providers several months ago. The reason Sunrise hasn't trumpeted the program is simple: the company believes the just-in-time supply option is the most cost-effective and attractive option for dealers. At the same time, Sunrise is now in a position to leverage some of the benefits that accrue from direct-sourcing...