Archive: June 2005

There was no end of interest in competitive bidding at the AAHomecare Conference last month. Tom Scully told attendees they could fine-tune it or slow it down but not stop it. Congressman Mike Ross called it a dumb idea. HME suppliers on visits to legislative offices railed against it. During an AAHomecare panel at the conference, several voices sounded off on the issue. One attendee called for a comprehensive legal analysis or assessment of the issue so the industry might consider its options....

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -- Doug Sherron owns a resort on Great Harbour Cay in the Bahama's Berry Islands. His Tropical Divisions air charter service flies all over the Caribbean. And his yacht business makes boatloads of money. But these days, Doug Sherron spends most of his time running a full-line home medical equipment operation called TD Medical. In November, the 19 year-old company moved into a new 15,000-square-foot location and in the past year more than doubled its business to $2 million annually....

YARMOUTH, Maine -- If you have employees jumping ship and going to work for competitors, they may be doing it for more than just money. "Money is very important, and there is always someone who can come up with more money," said business consultant Vince Crew, president of Reach Development in Naples, Fla. "You have to look beyond the money issues." That means knowing your employees, and understanding what they find valuable about your company. In addition to a competitive paycheck, that could...

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y -- Drive Medical Design & Manufacturing has hired a world-famous architect to break the mold of its reputation as a me-too manufacturer of durable medical equipment. The company announced early last month that it would debut at Medtrade a new specialty line of HME products designed by Michael Graves, who has been hailed by one of the nation's foremost critics as "the most truly original voice American architecture has produced in some time." "The image of [Drive] is that we...

DUBLIN, Ohio -- HME suppliers across the state are today hearing the rumblings from a second front in the war on competitive bidding. The state recently announced plans to begin an acquisition plan for durable medical equipment that involves 'volume purchasing.' The proposal was hatched by an independent commission that was formed last year to examine ways in which the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services could cut costs from its $10 billion Medicaid program. In 2004, Ohio spent $164 million...

DECATUR, Ala. -- The promising home oximetry testing business got increasingly fractious and competitive this spring as two of the field's pioneering partners head in different, separate directions. At the heart of the transition is a split between Letco and Birmingham, Mich.-based Oximetry Company IDTF, which recently dissolved its association with the Power Ox system in order to pursue a solitary strategy. Jockeying for competitive advantage in the face of an upcoming CMS transmittal on Medicare...

BALTIMORE -- CMS began accepting applications in May for the new 10-digit National Provider Identification (NPI) that will replace the healthcare provider numbers, including Medicare supplier numbers, currently used for standard transactions. CMS created the NPI, a requirement of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, to help improve electronic transactions for health care. According to CMS: "Each physical location of a supplier of DME, orthotics, prosthetics, or supplies...

FOLEY, Ala. -- Respiratory Distributors, Inc., now officially RDI Global Solution following the March acquisition of Morristown, Tenn.-based Global Solution, is changing more than just its name. The company is undertaking a series of upgrades aimed at streamlining operations for itself and partner companies. RDI Global Solution is stretching the boundaries of drug wholesaling by offering customer service and call center services for homecare providers through its new Call Center Strategies program....

CHATSWORTH, Calif. -- CHAD Therapeutics said last month that the company was talking to several distributors about formalizing distribution agreements for its Total O2 oxygen transfilling system. Total 02 sales jumped 62% in FY 2005 over the previous year. CHAD also reported in its year-end earnings news that its fledgling, new sleep device -- the particulars of which have yet to be disclosed -- reduced the amount of air pressure needed to treat sleep apnea patients. The new device uses proprietory...

WATERLOO, Iowa -- While delays are nothing new to CMS, industry watchers expect CMS to release a draft DME competitive bidding plan this month, as well as a draft of proposed new quality standards. If CMS wants to meet the MMA deadline for rolling out competitive bidding in 10 of the largest MSAs by 2007, it must move quickly on the plan's components, said Dave Kazynski, president of VGM's Home Link and a member of the PAOC, a competitive bidding advisory committee. Kazynski gave an update on competitive...