Archive: May 2006

TUSTIN, Calif. - Universal Mobility's success providing rental wheelchairs and scooters to traveling seniors frequenting area hotels and attractions in southern California, including Disneyland Resort, has prompted the company to look north. Universal Mobility plans to develop a relationship with the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau that's similar to the relationships it already has with the Anaheim/Orange County and San Diego visitors bureaus, said Wendie Mayers, vice president of marketing...

WASHINGTON - The Government Accountability Office (GAO) last month may have given Cigna Government Services another chance at becoming the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) for Region C. In January, as part of its transition from DMERCs to MACs, CMS awarded that contract to Palmetto GBA. Soon after, Cigna, which also bid on the contract, protested the award, sending it to the GAO for a ruling. On May 4, the GAO approved Cigna's protest. But the news wasn't all good, at least not for Cigna....

WATERLOO, Iowa - In an effort to help providers who are between the proverbial rock and a hard place, the VGM Group has purchased 50 portable oxygen concentrators and will rent them to members who otherwise could not afford the high-tech units. "People are losing patients because they cannot afford to bring them on," said Tom Pontzius, president of VGM's Nationwide Respiratory. "It's not a wise business decision to pay $3,450 or whatever it costs if you are only going to rent it out for a week and...

WASHINGTON - Buried deep in Medicare's draft competitive bidding document sits a worrisome provision that, if adopted, would encourage some providers to lowball their bids and "rebate" money to beneficiaries, say industry watchers. The "Rebate Program" would work like this, according to the draft: If, based on the bids received and accepted for an item, we determined that the single payment amount for the item was $100, Medicare payment for the item would be 80 percent of that amount, or $80, and...

WASHINGTON - AAHomecare's annual Legislative Fly-in is scheduled for June 19-20 and includes a home oxygen patient/technology fair to show lawmakers and their staff how consumers use home oxygen equipment. The fly-in's goal, according to AAHomecare, is "to strengthen and preserve home care in America." To do that, providers and other stakeholders need to make sure their voices are heard in Washington. Members of Congress need to know that home care is a key part of the answer to the nation's healthcare...

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - At its annual meeting in late April, the Illinois Association for Medical Equipment Services (IAMES) agreed that lobbying for the Hobson-Tanner bill should be its top priority this summer. At press time, only one of 19 Illinois representatives to the U.S. House of Representatives had signed on to co-sponsor H.R. 3559: Rep. Ray LaHood. "Our primary driver for the next six months is taking a more proactive lead in getting co-sponsors," said John Tripp, president of IAMES and vice...

Key competitors: - "Big box" discount stores that carry consumer health products. Key advantages of the independent hme shop: - Image as a complete mobility provider with a local identity, knowledgeable staff and after-sale service. Key marketing trend: - Data mining--Building a demographic database and using it to send out direct mailings, bill stuffers and e-mail messages to prospective and current clients.

SALT LAKE CITY - When Melissa Phillips tells you that, in Alpine Home Medical Equipment's old location, "We were sitting on top of each other," she's not kidding. The Salt Lake City-based provider gave its employees and customers room to stretch out this spring, when it traded in its 5,000-square-foot location for an 18,000-square-foot location that, in a previous life, was a used car dealership. "We cleared out everything and built it up," said Phillips, Alpine's marketing and promotions manager....

CMS's proposed regulation on competitive bidding, slated to be implemented in late 2007, sent providers reeling. If you were brave enough to digest the initial 203-page document, you probably concluded that the rule raises more questions than it resolves. Let's take a look at some of the issues that cause the most heartburn. REBATES This is a notion that took everyone by surprise and with good reason. It appears contrary to decades of healthcare law and rules that prohibit Medicare providers from...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - HMEs in West Virginia eagerly await the arrival of a revised provider manual that they expect to include a less "draconian" prior authorization process. Medicaid released a manual in mid-March that included a process that allowed only a doctor or a doctor's agent to submit a request. Previously, doctors handled the clinical and diagnostic components of a request, while providers handled the product-specific components. "We understand they're trying to establish more control and...