Archive: October 2005

Q. The competition for qualified staff is stiff. With some companies dangling signing bonuses and other perks in front of potential employees, how do I create a work environment that my staff won't want to leave? A. In the HME News Poll for July 2005 we were asked "...what is the number one reason why employees transitioned to or from your company?" Forty-eight percent said better work environment while 31% said more money. To create a work environment that all team members want to be a part of,...

WASHINGTON - The HME industry is still 170 legislators shy of meeting its goal of collecting 200 co-signers for H.R. 3559, a bill intended to lessen the blow of national competitive bidding. AAHomecare, state associations and member groups have been waving the HME flag since July, and by the end of October, they had helped to bring on board 30 co-signers, according to Sara Perkins, press secretary for Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, who is sponsoring the bill. Progress is slow, largely due to more urgent...

IRVINE, Calif. - As the founder of Homedco and former CEO of Apria, Jerry Jones, 63, knows a thing or two about HME. Last month, Jones, who recently joined a group of industry veterans to form Access Point Medical, a manufacturer of HME products, told HME News what he believes providers must do to survive and thrive in a competitive bidding environment. Here's some of what he had to say. HME: Will the HME provider under competitive bidding look different than he does today?Jones: The DME cost structure...

COLUMBIA, S.C. - TriCenturion posted a "bridge" local coverage determination on its Web site on Oct. 19, following CMS's announcement to delay implementation of the new power wheelchair and scooters codes that were scheduled to go into effect Jan. 1, 2006. TriCenturion, a Program Safeguard Contractor (PSC) for Region A, posted the LCD at midnight. The document is meant to "carry us through" until the new codes are released, Claudia Amortegui, president of the Orion Group, told Medtrade attendees...

WASHINGTON - CMS outlined its draft quality standards in 104 pages, but the HME industry can sum up the document in one word: prescriptive. Everyone from healthcare attorneys to the accrediting organizations themselves (See related story on this page) are calling the standards, especially the financial management and product specific service requirements, too specific. “What struck me was that a lot of it is very procedural, in that you have to do X every time you deliver a hospital bed,”...

YARMOUTH, Maine - HME manufacturers face the unenviable challenge of maintaining R&D - the life blood of any company with aspirations to grow - while cutting costs and streamlining operations to offset reimbursement cuts. "If providers are not healthy and can't support the current technology, access to technology and innovation will become difficult," said Joe Priest, president of AirSep. "If the government doesn't give providers time to adjust and keeps hammering them, it will get to the point...

YARMOUTH, Maine - Qualified delivery techs appear to be running in short supply in Chicago. A recent help-wanted ad in a Chicago paper enticed potential drivers with sign-on bonuses, full bennies and a 401(k). The shortage, while not epidemic, does highlight the struggle HME providers often face when looking for qualified drivers to represent their company in the community. "We haven't had high turnover but when we've tried to recruit, we got minimal response," said Larry Loewen, vice president...

YARMOUTH, Maine - Continued growth in the CPAP market should rise 15% or more over the next 12 months, with cardiologists playing a bigger role in patient referrals, according to a report released in September by Wachovia Securities. The 37 sleep centers that responded to the survey reported that, while they continue to add bed capacity, backlogs of patients still exist. By some estimates, the Wachovia's estimate of the CPAP market is conservative. Sleep manufacturer Resmed, for example, estimates...

ATLANTA - Roberts Home Medical, Equipped For Life and Inland Medical & Rehab took top honors in the HME Excellence Awards last month at Medtrade. They were among nine home medical equipment companies to accept awards for displaying the best qualities of performance among their industry peers. Germantown, Md.-based Roberts won Best Respiratory Provider; Hagerstown, Md.-based Equipped For Life won Best HME Provider; and Spokane, Wash.-based Inland won Best Rehab Provider. The companies were judged...

ATLANTA - Medtrade 2006 will take place a month earlier than previously planned to avoid overlap with religious holidays. VNU Expositions announced in October that next year's event is now scheduled for Sept. 19-21 instead of Oct. 10-12. The venue will remain the same: the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. Before shifting the dates, VNU polled partners, including associations, exhibitors and attendees, on whether the new date conflicted with other industry events. The majority of partners...