Archive: September 2004

ST. CLAIR, Mich. - Ed Arioli has settled a legal dispute with one of his company's directors that clears the way for him to move forward with his HME roll-up plan. “Ed and Specialized are ready to roll again,” Arioli's attorney, Chris Nelson, told HME News recently. In August, Arioli and former director Carlia Cichon agreed to divide the company's patient base. Cichon took over care of the ventilator patients and Arioli kept the oxygen and DME patients, which represent about 90% of...

Accounting systems are key with Gina Bienkowski Q. I am acquiring equipment on lease from a vendor. Does it matter whether I set up the lease on my balance sheet or just expense the lease payments I make each month? A. The decision whether to capitalize a lease (include the equipment in your fixed assets on the balance sheet and the lease as a liability) or expense the payments depends on who retains ownership at the end of the lease. If you do, capitalize the lease. If you don't, expense it. A...

WASHINGTON - When the FAA on July 14 proposed a rule in the Federal Register that would let oxygen users carry their own portable oxygen concentrators on board, the agency singled out AirSep's Lifestyle Concentrator. The FAA is still evaluating the Inogen One. At least one commentator on the proposed rule thinks the FAA shouldn't be naming names. “The approval of one particular manufacturer's device is inappropriate,” said Dr. Tom Petty, a pulmonary physician who is widely regarded as...

By now everyone is aware of efforts by CMS to modify the current code set for power wheelchairs. The idea of new power wheelchair coding and its implications have many people scrambling to understand the proposals submitted by the National Coalition of Assistive and Rehab Technology (NCART) and the CMS proposal. After more than a decade working with the current K-codes, it is difficult for some people to understand why this change is needed. Others, just want to interpret the proposals and anticipate...

YARMOUTH, Maine - In 2003, CMS allowed $29.1 million in charges for portable liquid oxygen (E0434), according to data supplied by CMS. CMS then reimbursed suppliers $22.8 million. Suppliers filed 847,440 claims for reimbursement. The division of $29.1 million by those 847,440 claims is roughly $35, which is the average monthly allowable for portable liquid oxygen. The division of 847,440 claims by 12 months would provide a rough estimate of the number of Medicare beneficiaries who are using portable...

WASHINGTON - CMS's new Council on Technology and Innovation (CTI) should help grease the wheels for DME manufacturers trying to obtain coverage for new products and technologies. The council will bring together senior CMS officials from clinical, coverage and payment areas in order to streamline the current process of getting new products added to coverage policy. “A better way would be to have all the people who deal with those components talking at the same time and thinking about it in...

Study anticipates OSA product market boom YARMOUTH, Maine - The obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) product market is expected to grow to more than $636 million in 2007. That figure, up from $364.6 million in 2003, represents an annual growth rate of nearly 15 percent, according to an analysis of the home health care respiratory therapy, infusion therapy, enteral nutrition and dialysis therapy product and service markets. To total value of these product sales is estimated to top nearly $1.7 billion in...

Providers At the Arizona Medical Equipment Suppliers Association (AZMESA), 3rd annual conference in June, the members voted in a new board of directors. Serving AZMESA for 2004-2005: President: Steven Treinen, Banner Health System; Vice President: Mark Farmer, Southwest Mobility; Secretary: Curt McLees, OrthoRehab; Treasurer: Patti Hartzell, Sierra Medical Supply; Past President: Richard McKee, Dependable Health Services Inc. Voted to the board of directors was Maureen Hanna, Healthcare Reimbursement...

WASHINGTON - When it comes to crafting a new set of codes for power wheelchairs, it's hardly business as usual at CMS. Providers have plenty of concerns when it comes to the proposed codes, but few have issues with the way Medicare honchos have reached out for industry input. The Sept. 1 public hearing scheduled to discuss the codes and solicit industry input was a “significant improvement from where we were a year ago,” said Seth Johnson, director of government affairs at Pride Mobility...

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. - If you are poor, over 21, live in Florida and need an infusion pump, don't expect Medicaid to pay for it - even if doing so would save taxpayers money. Florida Medicaid's refusal to reimburse the cost of infusion pumps came to the fore following an Orlando Sun-Sentinel report about a young mother with sickle cell anemia who had been denied a pump that her doctors said would keep her out of the hospital. As a result, the woman has required almost monthly trips to the hospital,...