Archive: May 2012

GULFPORT, Miss. - Earlier this year, provider David Wolf added conversion vans to his product offerings. He failed miserably, but he won't be deterred."We couldn't sell them for whatever reason," said Wolf, founder of Grace Healthcare. "It was more car than health care. We are always trying new things. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't."Mostly, it works. In April, Wolf celebrated 20 years of business.These days he offers a full line of durable medical equipment, supplies and oxygen, but...

AUCKLAND, New Zealand - Fisher & Paykel Healthcare says expanding clinical applications for its medical devices and new products contributed to record operating revenue of NZ$516.7 million for the year ended March 31, 2012. The company reported net profit after tax of NZ$64.1 million for the year ended March 31, 2012, compared to NZ$52.5 million for the prior year. Excluding deferred tax charges of NZ$11.5 million in 2011, F&P Healthcare's net profit after tax grew 23%, primarily due to revenue growth,...

Does anyone listen to the Home Health, Hospice & Durable Medical Equipment Open Door Forums anymore? We've been listening to them religiously over here at HME News, ever since I can remember. Usually, we rotate the duty among the three editors. We listen because we don't want to miss out on anything, but it turns out, for the last handful of forums, we haven't gained anything, either. The last time we wrote about a forum was in January of this year. We included a brief in our HME Newswire saying...

POTOSI, Mo. - CMS's Jonathan Blum on May 21 visited Healthcare Equipment & Supply and participated in a roundtable discussion about competitive bidding issues in rural areas. Blum, deputy administrator of CMS and director of its Center for Medicare, heard concerns about Missouri's rural Washington County being included in Round 2 of the program. The added expense of traveling more miles to serve patients for reduced rates under competitive bidding may mean patients will have to pay out of pocket,...

YARMOUTH, Maine - The days of HME providers having it better off with private insurers than Medicare may be over, say industry consultants.Recently, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Aetna and other private insurers have tweaked some of their timely filing, payment and other policies, resulting in a spate of denials, consultants say.“Providers have had more relaxed relationships with private insurers,” said Billie Jo Bowser, an associate with Lieber Consulting. “They didn't have to worry...

CANTON, Ohio - The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has begun to take a closer look at individual providers of power mobility devices.The OIG released a report this month that states 43 of the 200 power wheelchair claims submitted by Marquis Mobility from 2006-09 didn't meet Medicare requirements. As such, it recommends the provider refund $680,024 and “enhance controls” to make sure future claims meet Medicare requirements."In the event that we'll have to fight, we'll win," said Rick...

WASHINGTON - Industry stakeholders are sorting through reports of more than 300 HME providers closing up shop thanks to Round 1 of competitive bidding.The reports, collected by The VGM Group, NAIMES, AAHomecare and various state associations, are in the hands of AAHomecare, which is making a final edit."We want to make sure there's no duplicates," said Jay Witter, senior director of government affairs for AAHomecare. "We are also trying to categorize the information, which has been a challenge. It's...

While I was at CELA (which seems like thousands of years ago, but was actually only last month), I met Susan Houston of Hudson Seating and Mobility. She gave me a packet if information about Ms. Wheelchair America. Now, I know with that show about evil pageant moms on TLC and scandals circling other pageants, people might not want to jump on idea of a 'Miss Wheelchair America' pageant. I'm here to tell you, this is a totally different thing. While these girls are beautiful, the idea here is to honor...

PHOENIX - Global Medical Equipment of America (GMEA) looked to its own backyard for its latest acquisition, acquiring American Southwest CPM & Medical Supply. Both companies are based in Phoenix. The deal will give GMEA a strong presence in that rehab market, stated Harold Halman, CEO of GMEA in a release. In addition to rehab, American Southwest offers a full line of mobility equipment, mattresses, lift chairs and orthotics. GMEA has made several buys over the last six months, most recently in January,...

During Invacare's earnings call in April, President and CEO Gerald Blouch also addressed:AcquisitionsIn a nutshell, Invacare officials, their hands full improving compliance, don't plan to make a move anytime soon. “It would have to be extraordinary for us to gamble on our remediation efforts, which we don't want to do,” Blouch said.Competitive biddingInvacare officials concede that getting rid of the program or replacing it with the industry's market-pricing program will be an “uphill...