Archive: July 2011

Each year, we publish a State of the Industry Report full of data that gives you a snapshot of the industry from year to year. (Go here to download last year's report.) Well, the data for this year's report is starting to trickle in, and just today I received data from CMS on the number of DMEPOS suppliers that bill Medicare in these five categories: less than $300,000 per year; $300,000 to $1 million; $1 million to $3 million; $3 million to $10 million; and more than $10 million. The number of providers...

ELYRIA, Ohio - Invacare put smiles on the faces of its investors last week. Invacare has reported net earnings of $10.7 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2011, compared to a net loss of $600,000 for the same period last year. Earnings were positively impacted by a tax settlement in Germany that allowed the manufacturer to pocket about $5.1 million. Adjusted net earnings were $14.7 million vs. $12.7 million Net sales were $466.4 million for the second quarter this year compared to $430.8...

WASHINGTON  With lawmakers consumed by the looming debt-ceiling crisis, there wasn't a lot of movement last week on HME issues, including repealing competitive bidding. "It's like somebody threw a wet blanket on everybody here," said Walt Gorski, vice president of government affairs for AAHomecare. "Nothing is happening other than debt ceiling talks." At press time, both House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., were still trying to advance their respective...

ELYRIA, Ohio - HME manufacturers and providers alike need to be strategic, not tactical, thinkers if they want to survive the next few years, says Invacare's Carl Will. Will, senior vice president, global commercial operations, offered up this example at Invacare Media Day last week to point out the difference: If I'm a provider, when I'm thinking tactically, the question is, how can I squeeze more out of an oxygen concentrator; when I'm thinking strategically, it's, why am I delivering at all? "Survival...

WASHINGTON - If CMS includes negative pressure wound therapy in future rounds of competitive bidding, the agency must create additional quality standards for the product category, AAHomecare told lawmakers last week. Standards would help to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries receive quality care and treatment, says Carol Laumer, who served on an AAHomecare task force that has developed guidelines for providing NPWT. "It does take something extra," said Laumer, executive director of Willmar, Minn.-based...

LEBANON, Tenn. - Determined industry stakeholders continue to work to convince Medicare that standing equipment is medically necessary for some patients. Stakeholders have long argued that standers and standing wheelchairs have medical benefits for patients. Currently, however, Medicare denies payment for the equipment, saying it's not medically necessary. "It's not reasonable to say, across the board, that it's not medically necessary," said Jennifer Finger, in-house counsel for Permobil, a Lebanon,...

ELYRIA, Ohio - HME manufacturers and providers alike need to be strategic, not tactical, thinkers if they want to survive the next few years, says Invacare's Carl Will. Will, senior vice president, global commercial operations, offered up this example at Invacare Media Day last week to point out the difference: If I'm a provider, when I'm thinking tactically, the question is, how can I squeeze more out of an oxygen concentrator; when I'm thinking strategically, it's, why am I delivering at all? "Survival...

WASHINGTON - The HME industry did not escape scrutiny when a House Subcommittee held a hearing last week on improper Medicare payments. Officials from the Office of Inspector General, CMS and the Government Accountability Office gave testimony on what contributed to the government paying out $47.9 billion in improper payments in 2010. "Some but not all improper payments are the result of fraud," Daniel R. Levinson, OIG's Inspector General told the subcommittee, in prepared remarks. Government officials...

Invacare's Lou Slangen has a question for you: How would you describe what HME manufacturers and providers do? If your answer is, "Well, they make and provide power wheelchairs and other home medical equipment," try again. "We need to get out of this box business and get to what we really do," said Slangen, senior vice president of corporate marketing and chief product officer, during day two of Invacare Media Day. "We make life's experiences possible." "We make life's experiences...

WASHINGTON - If CMS includes negative pressure wound therapy in future rounds of competitive bidding, then the agency must create additional quality standards for the category, says AAHomecare. In a letter to lawmakers yesterday, AAHomecare asked members of Congress to press CMS to create the standards as an appendix to current DMEPOS standards, to ensure that Medicare beneficiaries receive quality care and treatment. The letter further urges lawmakers to support a July 18 Dear Colleague letter...