Archive: August 2005

MIRAMAR, Fla. -- FLA Orthopedics has a new CEO, a new parent company, a new acquisition and new plans to double its revenues to nearly $50 million in three years. Last month, the manufacturer of orthopedic and soft good products finalized its acquisition of American Professional Bracing (APB), a company of 15 employees best known for its off-the-shelf back brace called the V-Loc. The acquisition is a first for FLA, and the most visible flex of the new financial might the company picked up last...

NEW YORK -- New York City is considering a plan that would require medical labs to report test results showing how individual patients are controlling their diabetes, according to the Associated Press. The goal of the proposed program is to reduce diabetes treatment costs -- about $5 billion a year -- by helping patients improve their disease management. The idea, however, is drawing ire from some who say it infringes on patients' privacy.

LAKE FOREST, Calif. -- Apria Healthcare's profits fell by 21% in the second quarter as the company felt the brunt of reimbursement cuts imposed by the Medicare Modernization Act. In the second quarter last year, Apria dropped $29.1 million to the bottom line. This year, reimbursement hits to oxygen and respiratory medications cut earnings to $22.8 million. Revenues for the quarter jumped by 4% over last year to $375 million. In addition to the Medicare pricing pressures, Apria's revenues were...

WASHINGTON -- Two Senators entered the power mobility debate in August. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., and Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., sent a letter to CMS Administrator Mark McClellan expressing their concern over the lack of clear documentation requirements for power mobility claims. In the letter, they recommend that evaluations from healthcare clinicians other than the prescribing physician be considered during the claims processing. "We request that CMS issue clear instruction on documentation for...

When accreditation standards were announced as part of national competitive bidding, Tom Cesar knew his agency, the Accreditation Commission for Health Care, would be in demand like never before. So in late July, Cesar and his staff loaded up the truck and moved five miles down the road to an office with double the space. Now that the ACHC has had time to settle into its 9,500 square feet worth of cubicles, Cesar said he's prepared to handle the anticipated surge of inquiries from HME providers...

TULARE, Calif. -- Care Medical will do almost anything for a customer except put up with one low-paying referral after another. "If a hospital calls and wants me to deliver a cane 45 miles a way into the hills, and bill Medicare for it, I'm going to do that," said Care President Matt Kneeland. "But I'm not going to be shy about going back into that hospital and saying 'I'm here for every one of your patients. Please keep me in mind when you have the higher profit items, and here are what the higher...

SAN FRANCISCO -- McKesson signed a deal in July to buy St. Louis-based D&K Healthcare Resources, a wholesale pharmaceutical company that generated $2.5 billion in sales in 2004, primarily in the Midwest. D&K's durable medical equipment division publishes a 60-page catalog and offers next-day delivery and free shipping to customers.

WASHINGTON -- Debate within CMS and the DMERCs over new rules governing wheelchair utilization could delay Medicare's effort to implement new wheelchair codes, allowables and documentation requirements on Jan. 1, 2005. The key word here is could. On Aug. 1, the DMERCs were scheduled to issue a draft local coverage determination for power and manual wheelchairs. The LCD covers all facets of Medicare's policy for mobility assistive equipment (POVs, manual and power wheelchairs) -- coding, coverage...

ELYRIA, Ohio -- A partner at the law firm that helped Mal Mixon buy Invacare in 1979 is going to work for the company as its senior vice president of business development and general counsel. Dale Laporte, a 34-year veteran with Calfee, Halter & Griswold, will rank as Invacare's point-person on mergers and acquisitions and legal affairs. Rob Gubranson will remain as director of investor relations and business development.

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas -- After years of FBI investigations, lawsuits and slumping sales, the Scooter Store found one reason to celebrate in mid-July -- a 19% increase in second quarter business over the first quarter. That increase translated into more than 11,500 power wheelchair sales during the those three months, and a 50% increase in private pay business over the first quarter, according to the New Braunfels' newspaper, the Herald-Zeitung, on July 15. Part of the increase can be attributed to...