Archive: July 2003
Trading Places
July 31, 2003HME News Staff
SARASOTA, Fla. - Two small manufacturers of mobility products are swapping warehouse space and labor as they grow business on the East and West Coasts.
In June, Silver Star Mobility stacked its mobility lifts and carriers on 1,200 square feet of Lifestyle Mobility's new 64,000-square-foot warehouse in St. Petersburg, Fla. Lifestyle has stocked similar space in Silver Star's Medford, Ore. facility with scooters, power chairs and patient aids.
“Companies have to cut costs to be competitive,”...
Sunrise mourns death of v.p.
July 31, 2003HME News Staff
LONGMONT, Colo. - Harvey P. Diedrich, Sunrise Medical's vice president of marketing, died June 14. The cause of death was pending a coronor's investigation, according to The Daily Camera, a Boulder newspaper.
Diedrich, 48, joined Sunrise in 2001 as a wave of executives from the automotive industry swept in and transformed the company's upper management. Diedrich had worked at Tenneco Automotive for 26 years.
At Sunrise, Diedrich embraced a business strategy that leveraged the company's brand-name...
Require accreditation? No Way!
July 31, 2003HME News Staff
Although accreditation doesn't come
cheap, the benefits realized through more efficient operation boost business and, partly, off-set those start-up costs.
Since our company became accredited by JCAHO in 1992, we've become more patient oriented. Our human resources (HR) department documents employee training and qualifications. Our patient file consistently improves. We comply better with government regulatory agencies and have a policy in place that enforces compliance with industry standards....
One down, more to go
July 31, 2003HME News Staff
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The ink is barely dry on a law in Tennessee that requires quality standards for rehab providers, but Permobil is already introducing its law to providers in seven other states.
Sales representatives for Permobil were scheduled to meet with providers in Virginia last month and Missouri this month, according to Darren Jernigan, director of government affairs. In the coming months, they're also scheduled to meet with providers in Minnesota, California, Maryland, Texas and Florida.
“I...
Former HCFA chief decries lack of home care
July 31, 2003HME News Staff
ATLANTA - A one-time HCFA (now CMS) administrator called the lack of access to home care in this country a “continuing scandal.”
The former administrator, Bruce Vladeck, made his remarks in a June 12 CNN interview headlined “The Trouble with Medicare.”
“It's just really a continuing scandal in a society as rich as this one, folks can't get the home care they need, they can't get the drug coverage they need, they can't get the more sophisticated kinds of durable medical...
Rx association feels need to police itself
July 31, 2003HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - The National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) has developed a 40-hour program that trains pharmacists and allied health professionals, including DMEs, on how to properly fit therapeutic footwear.
The new course is in response to a CMS initiative to clarify ambiguous language regarding who can provide therapeutic footwear. Some fear the initiative could limit the provision of therapeutic footwear to podiatrists, pedorthists, orthotists and prosthetists. Currently, much of...
On the rebound
July 31, 2003HME News Staff
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - American HomePatient (AHP) emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 1 under a restructuring plan that preserves the company's current management, restructures its long-term debt and ensures that all creditors and vendors will be paid 100% of what they are owed.
If that news isn't good enough, in one of its best financial showings in years, AHP's same-store sales for the first quarter of 2003 jumped $4.6 million or 5.9% compared to the first quarter of last year. The company's first...
Nussle sounds NCB opposition
July 31, 2003HME News Staff
WASHINGTON, July 3 - In a letter addressed to the chairmen of the Congressional committees that wrote Medicare reform legislation in June, Rep. Jim Nussle (R-Iowa) expressed concern about the negative impact of competitive bidding on his constituents.
“I urge that as you construct final Medicare legislation, you give every consideration to the Senate language as it will achieve similar savings without negatively impacting employers and workers in my district,” Nussle wrote.
In June,...
OIG: CMS missed $815M in DME savings
July 31, 2003HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - The OIG's 2003 Redbook, which was posted on June 2, suggests that CMS could have saved more than $815 million in the first half of the fiscal year, had it acted on the OIG's recommendations for DME.
The OIG posts the Redbook twice a year to highlight which of the office's cost-saving recommendations CMS has not fully implemented.
The largest missed opportunity for cost savings was improving medical reviews for home oxygen therapy ($268 million). Nearly one-quarter of the oxygen certificates...
Yes to accreditation
July 31, 2003HME News Staff
I would support the process only if the qualification process and the cost to the DME/HME was limited on the front end (Flat $1,500 for < $1M sales/graduated up the line), NO annual inspection fee but monthly subscription dues of $50.00. Enrollees can maintain accreditation by submitting an annual report on complaints plus continuing education via Web-based programs and testing for key personnel. This balances the insatiable tendency of ACHC, CHAP, JCAHO to find more and more requirements...