Tag: Diabetes Testing Supplies

HUDSON, Ohio – GEMCO Medical has entered into a vendor agreement with VGM & Associates to provide the group’s members with wholesale medical supplies, including diabetes testing supplies and continuous glucose monitoring devices, and offer them access to a drop-ship, direct-to-patient program. Also as part of the agreement, VGM will partner with GEMCO Medical’s team of experts to provide webinars and education on the latest products to help members navigate the diabetes...

INDIANAPOLIS - Priority Healthcare Corp. has agreed to pay $43 million to Roche Diagnostics to settle allegations that it filed fraudulent claims for diabetes testing supplies.  In a lawsuit filed in September 2018, Roche, a manufacturer of diabetes testing supplies, says it paid $37.5 million in “unwarranted” rebates to insurance companies and their pharmacy benefit managers for claims submitted by PHC, a network of pharmacies in Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas,...

NEW YORK – One Drop, a provider of digital solutions for people living with diabetes and other chronic conditions, named Luc Gregoire as chief financial officer. Effective immediately, he will assume responsibility for One Drop's accounting and financial operations, and serve as a strategic business adviser to CEO and founder Jeff Dachis. Gregoire has more than 30 years of financial, strategic and operational experience in public and...

INDIANAPOLIS - Roche Diagnostics and Humana have agreed to settle a whistleblower lawsuit for $12.5 million, after the government declined to intervene in the case.  Roche was charged with violating the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act, causing false claims to be submitted to the Medicare Advantage program and defrauding taxpayers, in a lawsuit filed in 2014 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois by a former employee of the company.  Humana...

WASHINGTON - Medicare spending for diabetes testing supplies decreased by 88% between 2010-2017, according to a new report from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, but health outcomes have remained stable.Since the national mail-order program was implemented in 2013, the use of diabetes testing supplies is down overall, but retail sales of supplies is up, says the report, “Examining Impacts of the National Mail-Order Program on Medicare Service Utilization and Beneficiary Health Outcomes.”MedPAC...

WASHINGTON - Non-mail order claims for diabetes testing supplies made up 85% of the total Medicare market between April 1, 2019, and June 30, 2019, according to a new report from the Office of Inspector General. Suppliers provided 25 brands of testing supplies to Medicare beneficiaries via non-mail order and 21 brands via mail order. The OIG sent documentation requests to 594 non-mail order suppliers and 18 mail-order suppliers to conduct its study. A rule outlined in the Medicare Improvements for...

NEW ORLEANS -With the national mail-order program for diabetes testing supplies drastically changing the marketplace, provider Cynthia Pazos made a deliberate shift toward insulin pumps and other advanced diabetes therapies in 2016—and hasn't looked back.“The way we conduct business—the high quality, high-touch service we give—was more conducive to being able to service patients who use insulin pumps than it was to service patients using test strips,” said Pazos, president...

WASHINGTON - With the national mail-order program for diabetes testing supplies on hold indefinitely, it's anybody's guess what will happen next.“We were all expecting another round—we still are,” said Mary Ellen Conway, chief compliance officer for Doral, Fla.-based US Med, one of nine companies holding a mail-order contract that expired Dec. 31, 2018. “We make the program work. The reimbursements are lousy, but there's strength in numbers.”CMS on March 7 announced...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The U.S. Justice Department has joined in a lawsuit that alleges Arriva Medical offered Medicare beneficiaries “free upgrades” of glucometers.The lawsuit, filed under the False Claims Act, also alleges that Arriva and its parent company, Alere, submitted false claims for medically unnecessary glucometers, and paid kickbacks to beneficiaries in the form of free glucometers and co-pay waivers.Additionally, it alleges Arriva made no meaningful effort to collect co-pays...

WASHINGTON - Bills related to home infusion and diabetes supplies were front and center during a hearing last week by the Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health in the House of Representatives.At the July 20 hearing, lawmakers heard testimony on 11 bills, including a bill that would ensure Medicare beneficiaries have access to their preferred brand of diabetes supplies, and a bill that would create a temporary transitional payment for home infusion drugs to close a gap created by the 21st Century...