Archive: September 2005
The state of the HME industy
September 30, 2005HME News Staff
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz made headlines a few weeks ago when he revealed the company will spend more on health insurance for its employees this year than it will on raw materials for brewing coffee. While Schultz's focus was on the cost of premiums, the fundamental issue is the cost of medical care.
On the HME front, we're faced with a different problem. We have at least a partial solution to rising costs: equipment that makes it easier and more comfortable for patients to stay at home rather...
An industry under continued reimbursement pressure must channel efficiency
September 30, 2005HME News Staff
Over the last decade, the homecare industry has seen numerous reimbursement or eligibility challenges including, among others, the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, the Prescription Drug Bill of 2003 and Medicare's reinterpretation of medical necessity requirements for power wheelchairs for seniors that led to a large market decline in 2004 and 2005. New codes and new fees for power wheelchairs and scooters in 2006 and competitive bidding starting in 2007 will just continue the pressure. Any participant...
Problem child: Call a time out, huddle up
September 30, 2005HME News Staff
Q: How do you motivate an employee who seems like he's just going through the motions? When do you stop coaching and give an ultimatum that he improve or go find another job?
A: First coach, you must be consistent and your team members must see this throughout the organization. Whatever you have done with previous team members who have had similar issues is what the others can relate to. You must make a clean break from the old and replace it with a new model. There is no cookie-cutter approach to...
Diligence, education pay off in medical supply referrals
September 30, 2005HME News Staff
On the surface, furnishing medical supplies for the respiratory, ostomy and urological markets appears to be a fruitless venture. If a provider isn't careful and diligent in these areas - especially for ostomy - the referrals can hinder more than they help.
But vendors say it is possible to turn a profit supplying patients with these necessary support products if they take the time to educate referral sources and patients about them, and they are judicious about which products they carry and when...
Michael McDonald: 'It's unlike any other business'
September 30, 2005HME News Staff
WEYMOUTH, Mass. - Michael McDonald looks forward to coming to work everyday for the same reason many people leave the HME industry: unending reimbursement challenges. Not only does he zealously chase down each elusive reimbursement dollar, he sees every collection as a triumph.
"It's unlike any other business," said the president of Clinical 1 Home Medical. "Getting paid is a difficult process, and there isn't a day I come in that I don't face some sort of challenge with it."
Perhaps his background...
Providers slowly warming to the Web
September 30, 2005HME News Staff
CHICAGO - It has taken awhile, but the HME industry finally seems to be getting it with regard to the Internet's value as a sales and marketing tool. Still, online authorities say the provider community continues to lag behind other sectors when it comes to utilizing the Web's potential.
"They're not using it as much as they could," said Mike Mallaro, chief financial officer for Waterloo, Iowa-based VGM Forbin. "A decent portion of forward-thinking providers recognize its importance and have excellent...
PRO2 puts its services on the map
September 30, 2005HME News Staff
LIMA, Ohio - PRO2 Respiratory Services just opened its eighth location, this one in Lima, Ohio.
Other offices include locations in Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and Louisville, Ky. Each location is locally owned and operated. The company continues to look for new market opportunities.
"There's four directions, and at this point I could imagine expanding in any direction," said PRO2 founder Nancy Archdeacon. "We're looking for very talented partners. We don't pick out a geographic market necessarily...
Medicare rocks rehab with change
September 30, 2005HME News Staff
BALTIMORE - Between late August and mid-September, Medicare unveiled so many unexpected and potentially overwhelming changes to how rehab providers do business that the industry was left with its head spinning.
Not only did Medicare announced plans to drop CMNs for power wheelchairs and scooters, but it also released a "distressing" draft local coverage determination (LCD) and issued new codes and testing requirements wheelchairs.
In late August, CMS hit the industry with an "unexpected" announcement...
AmeriCare turns 25
September 30, 2005HME News Staff
DETROIT, Mich. - AmeriCare turns 25 this year and when company execs peer into the future, they see two obvious opportunities. First, a growing business with unions and other self-insured organizations. Second, an increasing demand by medical specialists for its one-stop-shop offering.
"There was a time, 10 or 12 years ago, when only 6% to 7% of Fortune 500 companies were self-funded, now it is 35% to 40%," said Senior Vice President Greg Boyajian. "In Michigan and other industrial states we are...
Tom Coogan: provider, political activist
September 30, 2005HME News Staff
PORTLAND, Ore. - Tom Coogan hopes the third time's a charm, but if it's not, he'll try as many times as it takes to make all durable medical equipment exempt from Washington's state sales tax.
"This is my dying cause," said Coogan, vice president of Care Medical, which is based here but has branches in Washington, too. "Most people are quiet after their dreams don't come true, but I'm going after this with a vengeance year after year, legislature after legislature, until it's passed."
When the state...