Archive: December 2006

The Change A Life Foundation gave a Yucaipa, Calif., man a $5,000 grant to purchase a power scooter with all the bells and whistles. Jerry Hall, 70, suffers from arthritis and diabetes...The residents of Standish, Maine, have raised money to buy a $50,000 wheelchair-accessible van for the family of 13-year-old Cody Bondeson and eight-year-old Elijah, who both sit in wheelchairs due to spina bifida...The Pineville Rehabilitation & Living Center in Pineville, N.C., has raised $1,800 toward the $7,000...

Mike Daniels, owner of the Valdosta, Ga.-based Acute Rehab, has helped to make the disabled community's dream of hunting a reality for seven years now. Each fall, he organizes the Able Dis-able Hunt at the private Grand Bay Hunting Club in Naylor, Ga., giving up to 20 children and adults in wheelchairs the opportunity to see and kill deer. But this year was the best year--by far. All of the 16 children and adults who participated in the Nov. 4 hunt saw deer and half of them bagged one, Daniels said. "That's...

BOSTON - HME providers in Massachusetts don't expect to struggle under a new state law that requires companies with 10 or more employees to provide health insurance beginning Jan. 1. "It's not really a concern," said Gary Sheehan, general manager of Cape Medical Supply in Sandwich, Mass., which employs 40. "We already offer health insurance to our employees. I think most of our colleagues are in the same boat." Steven Callan is. The president of New England Medical Homecare in Amherst, Mass., also...

WORTH, Ill. - Police ticketed a family with three service dogs and one pet dog in late November for violating an ordinance that allows only three dogs in a single-family home. Service dogs Stitches and Brooklyn help sisters Kristen and Annalies Kocurek cope with their respiratory ailments by responding to various alarms on their ventilators. Skittles helps their mother Joanne Kocurek cope with lupus by helping with doors, cabinets and elevators. A judge, citing the American with Disabilities Act,...

BUFFALO - While other manufacturers of portable oxygen concentrators have jumped into the Medicare market with both feet, AirSep is just getting started. In October, CMS gave SeQual Technologies the thumbs up to begin marketing its POC, the Eclipse, as a single solution for a patient's stationary and portable needs, under the code E1392. AirSep began seeking the same code for its LifeStyle in late November. Providers have long been able to bill for Inogen's POC, the Inogen One, under that code. With...

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Medicare released new codes--but no fee schedules--for compounded neb meds, making it difficult to gauge the potential impact on the industry. Starting in January 2007, compounded versions of levalbuterol, albuterol, budesonide, ipratroprium and other inhalation drugs will be billed under separate HCPCS codes based on the average sales price of active ingredients, rather than the rates for commercially available versions. Despite not knowing the new fee schedule yet, compounding...

BRADENTON, Fla. - For years, provider Alan Cross has driven past the beach on his way to work and thought, "One day, I'm going to set up shop there and sell T-shirts and ice cream." Fed up by an increasingly unattractive Medicare landscape, Cross, who co-owns C&C Homecare with his wife, Joan, made part of that dream a reality recently, when the couple launched Florida Promotions Unlimited. Through the new side business, the Crosses screen-print and embroider custom T-shirts and nearly everything...

A recent survey adds weight to arguments that home infusion therapy does not belong under Medicare Part D. The National Home Infusion Association (NHIA) asked discharge planners about their experiences discharging dual-eligible patients under the benefit program that began Jan. 1, 2006. "We think we know the problems coming from providers, but we very much wanted an independent assessment that was different," said Bruce Rodman, director of health information and policy for NHIA. "They are referral...

HARRISBURG, Pa. - Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell vetoed a bill Nov. 9 that would have allowed home infusion providers to bill for services provided to the state's Medicaid patients. The bill, H.B. 2202, would have defined a home infusion therapy benefit separate from retail pharmacy and allowed medical assistance payments for infusion pharmacy services, including dispensing medication, supplies and equipment. The bill had passed unanimously through both the Pennsylvania House and Senate. "It wasn't...

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. - An appearance on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and "positive" discussions with fellow lawmakers put Congressman-elect David Davis, R-Tenn., on track for spreading "the homecare message." "I heard over and over in Washington that we have to look at our social programs and health care falls under that," said Davis. "I think they are looking for people that have a fresh set of eyes and a healthcare background because it's such a large part of our budget." The four-term state representative...