Archive: February 2002

WASHINGTON - CMS is slated to release fee schedules for the new temporary ostomy codes this month, and industry sources say it's anyone's guess what it'll come up with for reimbursement rates. Why? Industry sources say it's a tale of numbers, and depending on which side of the fence you're on, the urgency to get HME suppliers to stock and take assignment on ostomy supplies is either real or exaggerated. The 20 new ostomy "K" codes are scheduled to go into effect April 1. They include everything...

BURLINGAME, Calif. - Frost & Sullivan recently reported that reimbursement cuts have discouraged wheelchair and scooter manufacturers from developing premium models, but industry sources say that's not necessarily true. Dave Williams, director of government relations at Invacare, said his company is broadening its entire product line, including high-end wheelchairs. At Medtrade in October, Invacare introduced one high-end, four mid-range and two low-cost wheelchairs, he said. Williams admits the...

YARMOUTH, Maine - Holiday shoppers flocked to e-tailers of all colors in 2001, including HMEs, boosting traffic and sales. "Holiday sales were very good and they continue to be," said Lisa Stein, president of HME e-tailer spinlife.com. "If you can measure overall consumer confidence base on our industry, it would bode well for the economy." Stein declined to say how much Spinlife's sales jumped during the holidays, but buyers definitely seem more bullish than they did right after Sept. 11. People...

YARMOUTH, Maine - As new players begin competing for e-CMN business, and build platforms that can exchange e-CMNs between a doctor's office and an HME, two different means of getting to the doctor's desktop are competing for primacy. One pipeline is the doctor's e-mail system, as advocated by Trac Medical. Another uses a thin-client software application that the physician would download onto his desktop, as advocated by eClickMD and Medi-Gate.Net, a company run by David Pfeil, who also founded Dezine...

ATLANTA - Now that the window for re/hab providers to obtain a National Registry of Re/hab Technology Suppliers (NRRTS) membership expired last month, it seems the entire re/hab world has its eyes on the Georgia Medicaid program. South Carolina is reportedly looking to require that its re/hab providers sign up with the organization, too, and is watching closely to see what happens in Georgia (See HME News Jan. 15, 2002). More recently, Oregon and Kentucky have also looked to follow Georgia's lead,...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - When it comes to the details of Medicaid's competitive bidding project here, providers remain in the dark, which is a little disconcerting, especially for those who've participated in Medicare's competitive bidding demonstration project in Polk County. "We've had no notification, other than reading about it in the press, and we're usually in the know," said Butch Vanderpool, president of the Auburndale, Fla.-based Health Care Diagnostics. "With Medicare, they sent people here...

MARIETTA, Ga. - Industry sources are denying that physicians have plotted against HME suppliers to keep patients in hospitals, despite recent comments from Matria Healthcare's president and CEO that allude to just that. "I think there's skepticism or hesitancy out there, but I haven't seen much evidence of a grand conspiracy," said Schuyler Hoss, president of the Vancouver, Wash.-based consulting firm Northwest Healthcare Management. "I don't see greed or financial self-interest there." In a January...

AUSTIN, Texas - Another company is launching an e-CMN initiative that would let HME providers exchange certificates of medical necessity via the Internet. Early last month, eClickMD, said it began testing its e-CMN product with two HMEs in Houston and Lake Charles, La. The company also signed an alliance agreement Jan. 30 with bConnected Software, a Boulder, Colo.-based company that launched an order processing initiative in the HME industry several years ago. With eClickMD, bConnected plans to...

ATLANTA - In a decision one top executive says the company had no choice but to make, Graham-Field has announced it is outsourcing the production of several key product lines. A casualty of the move is the closing of Graham-Field's plant in Bay Shore, New York, eliminating nearly 200 jobs. Citing the closure and outsourcing as necessary to regain profitability, Chief Operating Officer Michael Crouch said external contractors will be used for production of several Graham-Field lines, including bath...

GERMANTOWN, Wis. - An HME provider here reported a 15% increase in re/hab sales in January, and he says it's due to a mild winter. Jim Poteet, owner of Metrocare Home Medical Center, said he doesn't usually receive requests for motorized scooters and wheelchairs until mid-February. "People can't get out very easily in 20-30 inches of show, and they're certainly not thinking about jetting around outside in a scooter or wheelchair," he said. But this year, with only about three inches of snow covering...