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Archive: January 2002


News

Providers (not bennies) must file claims for glucose supplies

January 31, 2002HME News Staff

Providers (not bennies) must file claims for glucose supplies WASHINGTON - An advisory that Medicare will no longer accept claims filed by beneficiaries for glucose supplies and test strips starting April 1 should serve only as a reminder to most HME providers. But for pharmacies selling the supplies, having to file claims on behalf of beneficiaries may spell trouble, according to Nancy Burma, president of the Minneapolis-based Alternative Billing Solutions. "Every HME provider I know is already...

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Licensure: onward and upward

January 31, 2002HME News Staff

YARMOUTH, Maine - HME licensure efforts continue to chug forward. The Ohio Association of Medical Equipment Services (OAMES) introduced a licensure bill last month, and New Hampshire has discussed tweaking its bill to make it more effective. In Alabama, which began issuing licenses to providers last year, the state has already put a number of providers on notice that they need to shape up. "We have not revoked any licenses, but a number of companies have been given compliance plans to bring things...

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FAMED hires first lobbyist

January 31, 2002HME News Staff

TALLAHASSEE - The Florida Association of Medical Equipment Dealers (FAMED) plans to hire its first-ever lobbyist to help track state legislative issues. "Too often by the time we hear about some of these things they have unfortunately already been legislated," said Bob Lichtenstein, FAMED v.p. At about $2,000 a month, a lobbyist will be well worth the investment if he can help head off cuts in reimbursement or other legislation that hobble the HMEs ability to do business, Liechtenstein said. As...

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Legend loses arbitration to United, sources say

January 31, 2002HME News Staff

SHARON HILL, Pa. - Managed care network Legend Healthcare has apparently lost a bid to recover $11 million it claims United Healthcare owed it. The two companies were scheduled to present their cases to an arbiter last November. A United spokesman told HME News last month that the dispute was resolved in United's favor. Legend Executive V. P. Phil Leone did not return two phone calls. Legend relied on United for about 50% of its business but severed the relationship a little over a year ago, after...

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Strategy

January 31, 2002HME News Staff

KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. - Home Health Corporation of America (HHCA) emerged from bankruptcy last month a leaner, more focused company that no longer supplies home medical equipment. "We're no longer a one-stop-shop," CEO David Geller told HME News. "We either sold, closed or divested ourselves of everything that was not home nursing. Like many out there in the industry, we had issues making the one-stop-shop work, and in order to survive, we went back to nursing only." HHCA exited Chapter 11 as a...

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Vendor coaxes physicians to 'e-click'

January 31, 2002HME News Staff

YARMOUTH, Maine - Physicians approach online correspondence and documentation with the same attitude they do about paper: it's a peripheral part of their job, taking a much lower priority than treating patients and collecting fees. After all, the doctor gets no compensation for taking time to fill out CMNs and send them to an HME provider, whether they be done electronically or through the postal service. And when you add on their concern over complex HIPAA-related patient privacy rules, it doesn't...

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ADL products help HMEs get more retail customers

January 31, 2002HME News Staff

Today, most HME providers know that ADLs, now commonly cast as "convenience products," are escalating in demand from aging baby boomers shopping for elderly parents. Providers also know that ADLs are getting more attention due to a greater brand selection and alternative marketing forums like the Internet and cable television shopping channels. But what some may not know is that hospital-based referral sources are increasingly directing patients to homecare specialists with detailed ADL shopping...

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Scully may favor O2 thaw

January 31, 2002HME News Staff

WASHINGTON - Although oxygen reimbursement has been frozen nearly solid since the Balanced Budget Amendment of 1997, industry leaders have new grounds for hope that CMS may be sympathetic to a real thaw. In recent meetings, CMS Administrator Tom Scully has led HME industry leaders to believe that he would not be opposed to a reinstatement of a cost of living adjustment (COLA) for home oxygen. "In principle, he indicates that he does not believe (oxygen reimbursement) should be frozen indefinitely,"...

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Despite closures, 'business as usual' at Bindley Western

January 31, 2002HME News Staff

WESTBROOK, Maine - Bindley Western has seen half of its 16 distribution centers shuttered, including one here slated to close next month, but that's just "business as usual" for a company that's been recently acquired, according to industry sources. "I don't think it's anything out of the ordinary," said one source. "In a merger, especially one between two top dogs like Bindley and Cardinal, you can expect a 25% to 50% cut in the number of warehouses. I'm sure this was slated to happen from the...

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Santa Monica considers unusual accessibility law

January 31, 2002HME News Staff

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - HMEs side-lining in home modifications, here, could be in for some boom times. In what would be the first such rules in the nation, Santa Monica officials are considering a proposal to require that all privately built new homes and those undergoing major remodeling have a wheelchair ramp entry, wide interior hallways and at least one handicapped-accessible bathroom, according to the Los Angeles Times. Cities such as Visalia, Calif., have drawn up voluntary accessibility guidelines,...

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