Archive: July 2008

As I write, a delay of competitive bidding is still not a done deal but appears imminent. The Senate and House have both passed a delay bill. President Bush can now sign the bill into law; let it go into law without signing it; or veto it. If he vetoes, the bill goes back to the House and Senate for a second vote. At the moment, lawmakers have enough votes to override a veto. Whatever happens, I can't say enough about the hard work everyone associated with delaying competitive bidding has put in....

TROY, Mich.--It's easy being green at AmeriCare Medical, which has seen a 60% reduction in its garbage, thanks to a new recycling initiative. “The byproducts of providing care are just an enormous waste,” said Stacey Murphy, corporate development. “We felt it was time to become a leader.” AmeriCare is the parent company of Detroit-based Sun Medical, AmeriStaff Nursing and Rx iV Infusion Pharmacy. The provider has a new “greencare” logo that it will use to market...

WASHINGTON--The House of Representatives and the Senate voted on July 15 to override the president's veto of a Medicare bill that would delay national competitive bidding for 18 to 24 months. The House voted 383-41 and the Senate voted 70-26 to override the veto. “It's unbelievable,” said Cara Bachenheimer, senior vice president of government relations for Invacare. “This is truly the biggest victory in the industry's entire history.” The president vetoed the bill earlier...

CLEARWATER, Fla.--Analysts don't expect a private equity firm to follow in the Blackstone Group's footsteps and buy Apria Healthcare competitor Lincare. Lincare's stock was up 7.4% on June 19, the day news broke of Blackstone's acquisition of Apria, but it was down 4.7% the next day. At press time in early July, Lincare's stock was trading at $27.77 per share. Lincare's size and current stock price make a buyout unlikely, even though it has better profit margins and cash flow than Apria, analysts...

LAKE MARY, Fla.--Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida (BCBSF) wasted no time in lowering its reimbursement for diabetes supplies following Medicare's new lower fee schedule for competitive bidding. For many of the products, BCBSF now pays less than Medicare. “It's one of the consequences of competitive bidding that CMS doesn't give a damn about,” said Barry Buchard, vice president of Crescent City-based Diabetes Home Care. “The bottom line is, we won't be serving BCBSF diabetes...

WASHINGTON--Medicare's competitive bidding program for mail order diabetes supplies has no basic consumer protections and standards for safety, according to a new study by George Washington University. “All of the protections that one could think of are totally missing here,” said Sara Rosenbaum, a professor and chair of the university's Department of Health Policy, and one of the co-authors of “Medicare Bidding Program Could Impede Senior's Access To Diabetes Testing Supplies.” Chief...

LAKE FOREST, Calif.--Less than two weeks after it agreed to be acquired by a private equity firm, Apria Healthcare sold its high-end rehab business to Earth City, Mo.-based United Seating & Mobility. On June 19, Apria announced that it had negotiated a $1.6 billion buyout offer from an affiliate of The Blackstone Group. On June 30, it completed the sale of its high-end rehab business to United Seating & Mobility, a rehab provider with 25 locations in 10 states, mostly in the Midwest. The sale will...

Medi Home Care, a division of Medical Services of America, opened a new location in Pensacola, Fla., in June. The company offers DME and respiratory…The MEDIchair franchise in Brandon, Manitoba, hosted its 4th annual consumer “meet and greet” June 19.

WATERLOO, Iowa--The flooding Cedar River drove the 650 attendees at VGM's annual Heartland Conference home early or in search of higher ground, but not before a day's worth of speakers distilled a ton of useful information. In case you missed the June event, here's a sampling of what some speakers had to say. Darren Jernigan, vice president government affairs, Permobil Jernigan broke his neck in a car accident 18 years ago when he was in college and has used a power wheelchair ever since. In...

Providers who are struggling in the home medical equipment market should stop and take a look at the respiratory medications business to get some perspective. While competitive bidding has the HME sector off balance, shaky Medicare reimbursement rates have turned respiratory meds upside down. The latest examples of severe instability in the medication marketplace are price nosedives for several key drugs: Perforomist plummeted 86 cents to $4.08 per dose; DuoNeb dropped 25 cents to 58 cents per dose;...