Archive: March 2023

RICHMOND, Va. – Owens & Minor has laid off 61 employees in Franklin, Mass., according to a WARN notice filed with the state. The company, which announced a realignment on Feb. 28, laid off the employees nine days earlier on Feb. 17, according to the notice. Owens & Minor officials said during a conference call to discuss the company’s fourth quarter and year-end financial results that they had kicked off an ambitious, companywide program to “right size” the...

MINNEAPOLIS – Inspire Medical Systems has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to offer its obstructive sleep apnea therapy to pediatric patients with Down syndrome. The approval includes patients with Down syndrome who are at least 13 years old, with an apnea hypopnea index between 10 and 50, and who do not have the ability to benefit from CPAP. “Since our first FDA approval in 2014, the research team at Mass Eye and Ear, led by Dr. Christopher Hartnick,...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The National Home Infusion Association has successfully petitioned CMS to secure a new billing code for injectable immunotherapies and revise an existing code to facilitate administration of a wider range of monoclonal antibodies for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).  The request is part of a broader effort to modernize the Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System used by commercial health plans, including some Medicare Advantage and Medicaid programs, to reimburse...

WASHINGTON – A total of 2,128 stakeholders submitted public comments in response to a proposed national coverage determination that would expand coverage for power seat elevation on Group 3 wheelchairs.  Stakeholders ranged from NCART to U.S. Rehab to power wheelchair users to caretakers to the American Occupational Therapy Association to an ATP/CRTS at National Seating & Mobility to Merits to the Amputee Coalition.  “Miller’s supports Medicare...

WASHINGTON – AAHomecare is launching two nationwide surveys to gather intel on the rising costs of products, shipping and labor for those providing disposable medical supplies.  The association will use aggregated data from the surveys in its advocacy efforts.  “AAHomecare’s Medical Supplies Council is acutely focused on issues impacting the disposable supplies space and wants to empower the industry with data and tools that can be leveraged to educate payers on...

WASHINGTON – AAHomecare and other industry stakeholders last week submitted comments on CMS’s proposed national coverage determination for power seat elevation for complex power wheelchairs ahead of a deadline on March 17.    In its comments, the association urged CMS to:  Finalize the proposed benefit category determination holding that power seat elevation systems are primarily medical in nature and are considered DME under the Medicare benefit; and finalize...

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association supports bipartisan legislation reintroduced March 17 to improve transparency and prevent the use of “spread pricing” in Medicare managed care programs. Spread pricing is when pharmacy benefit managers overbill the state or Medicaid managed care programs, under-reimburse pharmacies for medications dispensed and retain the difference, the association says. A broad ban on these practices would save the federal government...

WASHINGTON – MedPAC recommends a higher-than-current law fee-for-service payment update in 2024 for acute care hospitals, as part of its March 2023 “Report to Congress: Medicare Payment Policy.” It also recommends positive updates for clinicians paid under the physician fee schedule and outpatient dialysis facilities; and negative updates for skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies and inpatient rehabilitation facilities. Additionally, it recommends a positive payment update...

SAN DIEGO – Tandem Diabetes has published results from the pediatric artificial pancreas (PEDAP) clinical trial in the New England Journal of Medicine showing an increase of about three hours per day time in range in children ages 2-5 years old using the t:slim X2 insulin pump with Control-IQ advanced hybrid closed-loop technology compared to those on a standard insulin pump or multiple daily injections. “The safety and efficacy outcomes observed in this study support using Control-IQ...

WASHINGTON – Industry stakeholders say Medicare’s newly expanded coverage guidelines for continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are a big win, but there’s still work to do to process that and other changes made to the benefit in the past few months.  CMS in March published an updated LCD and policy article that, among other things, expands coverage for CGMs to beneficiaries with Type 2 diabetes and allows follow-up visits to be conducted via telehealth.   “Medicare...