Archive: June 2006

NEW ORLEANS - The 2006 hurricane season started quietly June 1, and providers from the tip of Florida to the Louisiana bayous were bracing themselves. "Oh yeah, we're ready," said Jody Compretta, CEO of Patient's Choice in Bay St. Louis, Miss., devastated last August by Katrina. Experts predict four to six major storms this year. Compretta spent the morning at his insurance company making sure all his policies--wind, flood, business interruption--were in place. He is concerned with a proposed 400%...

There are various veins of the sleep market that can be mined by the HME provider, but they are all bound by one important factor: establishing trust with those who use and recommend the products. By building an impeccable reputation as a knowledgeable and dependable supplier of sleep products, manufacturers say, there are limitless opportunities for HME companies to pursue. An offshoot of the respiratory business, sleep therapy began in the mid-1980s and two decades later is reportedly poised for...

MIAMI LAKES, Fla. - Medicaid withdrew its plan to competitively bid ostomy and incontinence supplies in Florida, but industry relief could be shortlived. "I can't tell you when, but it will be coming back," said Raul Lopez, Florida Association for Medical Equipment Services (FAMES) president. On May 16, the Agency for Health Care Administration (ACHA) published a notice rejecting all bids. Providers had until May 19 to protest the rejection, but none did. In December, ACHA issued a request for proposal...

ST. LOUIS - Ameren, an area provider of electricity and natural gas, donated $46,000 to the nonprofit organization Variety the Children's Charity of St. Louis in June to fund wheelchairs for disabled children. Variety's PowerKids project, started in 2003, provides power wheelchairs to disabled children to help them lead more productive lives. Ameren donated $25,000 to Variety in 2003 and $15,000 in 2004 and 2006, making this year's donation its biggest ever.

ENDICOTT, N.Y. - Independence Medical officials have their fingers crossed that CMS will create a new code for its stair-climbing wheelchair, the iBot, and attach that code to a hefty reimbursement. "We feel very strongly that it should be covered by Medicare," said Elizabeth Patience, manager of reimbursement. "It's an amazing device." Amazing or not, the early word from CMS does not look promising. A CMS analysis of Independence's application for a new code proposes that Medicare cover only the...

BALTIMORE - A May 23 Special Open Door Forum on national competitive bidding (NCB) drew a staggering 600-plus callers, but the usefulness of the 90-minute forum was debatable, largely due to technical difficulties. "We can hear well when callers ask questions over the phone, but we can't hear you in Baltimore," The VGM Group's Don Kovach told CMS officials. "Maybe we could do a repeat?" After a handful of callers made similar pleas, officials said they would release a summary fact sheet on NCB. Officials...

CLEARWATER, Fla. - When Lincare announced in mid-May that it had written a $10 million check to settle fraud charges, it was "sad news" for the industry, some providers said. With the industry stepping up efforts to roll back a 36-month cap on Medicare oxygen reimbursement, the last thing it needed was for one of the largest respiratory providers to be shrouded in charges of alleged kickbacks to physicians, they say. "My initial reaction was, 'Not now,'" said one provider. "We don't need this, not...

WASHINGTON - Looking to strengthen its relationships with consumers, NCART has thrown its weight behind two bills being pushed by the National Council on Independent Living and the American Association of People with Disabilities. The bills, The Medicaid Community-based Services and Supports Act of 2005 (MiCassa) and the Money Follows the Person Act of 2005 (MFP), would favor home and community-based services over institutional care. "We've been asking, all along, for the disability community to...

HARRISONBURG, Va. - An American HomePatient employee, apparently upset at the thought that he might be fired, went to work May 16 heavily armed and killed two co-workers before ending his own life. The gunman, identified as Brewer Hoover Jr., 65, was a longtime employee of American HomePatient, according to the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record. The two victims were identified as Gary Gibson and Bonnie Gump, both 54. A police S.W.A.T. team responded to the shootings at the Town Center shopping center...

COLUMBIA, S.C. - TriCenturion, the DMERC/PSC for regions A and B, released a bulletin in May updating the advanced determination of Medicare coverage (ADMC) process for certain wheelchair base codes and related options and accessories. The ADMC can be used for manual wheelchairs E1161, E1231-E1234, K0005 and K0009; and power wheelchairs K0011 and K0014, but only if a power tilt and/or power recline seating system or non-joystick control device is also ordered. TriCenturion requires providers to send...