Archive: August 2007

ALBANY, N.Y. - With a new governor in office, the state's Medicaid program offered an olive branch to rehab providers in July, eliminating the prior approval process for manual wheelchairs and accessories. Providers' reaction: It's a start, but it's not enough. Providers now use a dispensing validation system (DVS) to obtain approval for manual wheelchairs. The DVS, used already for other HME, allows providers to request and receive approval electronically. That's a far cry from submitting and receiving...

WASHINGTON - CMS wants to add a $65,000 surety bond to its bag of tricks to help prevent illegitimate home medical equipment providers from enrolling in and fraudulently billing the Medicare program. While industry sources support reducing fraud, they questioned the necessity of surety bonds. They noted that CMS has already implemented a host of other fraud prevention efforts, including requiring accreditation and, just recently, requiring providers in hotbeds like Los Angeles and Miami to re-apply...

I was up on Lexis-Nexis recently, rummaging around in the most comprehensive database of print media outlets in the world. In the "Major Newspapers" database, which surveys the top 50 newspapers by circulation in Editor & Publisher's Year Book, I searched for articles over the last 20 years that mentioned "home medical equipment providers." There were 12. That's total. For 20 years. "Home medical equipment supplier" is slightly more popular, with 34 total references. "Durable medical equipment dealers"...

HME providers could see modest increases in product pricing--probably between 2% and 5%--any day now as manufacturers look to offset a new tax imposed on some equipment exported from China, say industry watchers. On July 1, China scaled back the rebate on its 17% value-added tax (VAT). The exact amount China now rebates on exports varies from product to product, but the net result is that all manufacturers--not just HME--pay more to export products to the United States and other countries. For the...

With a background in orthotics and prosthetics, Rhonda Turner was concerned that critical industry information wasn't geared specifically to mastectomy fitters. In April, she launched the American Association of Breast Care Professionals (AABCP) to bring together up-to-date news on accreditation, certification and legislative issues and to give a "single voice" to mastectomy fitters. The fledgling organization already boasts more than 700 members. HME News spoke to Turner recently about AABCP. HME...

People have gotten so used to Medtrade Spring being in Las Vegas that many did a double take when they saw the site of the 2008 show--Long Beach, Calif. It's not like the show moved to an out-of-the-way place; Long Beach is smack dab in the middle of the bustling Los Angeles scene. But questions abound as to why the show, slated for May 7-8, 2008, has been moved and whether Long Beach is its new permanent home. Question no more. Medtrade show director Kevin Bird has the answers: "The switch was actually...

Through seven years, four corporate parent names and three show directors, Kevin Bird has been Medtrade's constant. Now he's the show's new director, stepping up from the role of national sales director to fill the void left by Liz Sommerville, who exited the job in early July to join another division of Nielsen Business Media, the company that manages the Medtrade shows. Bird said his tenure with Medtrade gives him an advantage in managing a show that serves such a complex industry. "When you're...

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. - Arcadia Resources has further restructured its business units and management "to take full advantage of growth opportunities in the healthcare marketplace...and to achieve greater cost efficiencies," the company announced July 16. Per the reorganization, Arcadia now has three business units: Retailer & Employer Services, which comprises the PrairieStone and CareClinic operations; In-Home Health Care; and Durable Medical Equipment. The company has also given certain management...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Cigna Government Services slipped into its role as the new Jurisdiction C Medicare Administrative Contractor July 1, and, so far, the transition has gone as well as expected, say sources. "I think Cigna has tried to anticipate what the needs and issues were going to be," said Andrea Stark, a Medicare consultant with MiraVista. "In areas where they were deficient, they've rallied resources." Cigna was awarded the contract after a protracted battle with former MAC Palmetto (See...

As the competitive bidding era blows in, HME providers need to hang on to their assets, especially the human capital that drives a company's performance. With the prospect of significantly lower Medicare revenues tied to a "winning" bid, it has become imperative for providers to comprehensively assess their operations in order to see how well all the pieces fit together. That includes evaluating each position and its productivity output. That's why Medtrade has assembled a slate of seminars focused...