Tag: Diamond Respiratory Care
CMS education efforts backfire
June 7, 2013Elizabeth Deprey
WASHINGTON - Recent educational outreach by CMS has beneficiaries more baffled about competitive bidding than ever, HME providers say.“They've raised awareness, but they're also creating confusion,” said Chris Rice, CEO of Riverside, Calif.-based Diamond Respiratory Care. “(The beneficiaries) don't understand what's going on.”Within the past couple of weeks, Medicare sent a letter to beneficiaries stating competitive bidding would begin July 1, and outlining their options.After...
Buy-sell debate fuels diabetes market
February 22, 2013Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
YARMOUTH, Maine - A handful of national mail-order diabetes providers have been on the hunt for smaller companies to buy, but so far, it doesn't look like there have been many takers.
“I haven't followed up with any of them,” said Chris Rice, CEO of Diamond Respiratory Care in Riverside, Calif. “I don't know what they could possibly offer with the new reimbursement.”
CMS in late January announced an average rate reduction of 72% for the national mail-order...
'Are these rates sustainable?'
February 1, 2013Liz Beaulieu, Editor
YARMOUTH, Maine - HME providers spent the long days and nights following CMS's announcement of the Round 2 payment amounts trying to crunch numbers and strategize their next moves.
Many of them did this in a daze, trying to comprehend how the payment amounts came out, on average, 45% lower than the current fee schedule, when they expected them to be 32% to 35% lower.
“We're still reeling,” said Cindy Bishop, owner of Diamond Medical Equipment in Little Rock, Ark., which...
CMS to providers: Is your bid bona fide?
November 30, 2012Liz Beaulieu, Editor
WASHINGTON - It appears CMS still has a ways to go before releasing the single payment amounts for Round 2 of competitive bidding.The agency on Nov. 29 sent certain providers who submitted bids an email alerting them to expect an “urgent notification” that requires their “immediate attention and action,” but it wasn't a contract offer.“They are bona fide letters,” said Chris Rice, CEO of Diamond Respiratory Care in Riverside, Calif., who received a letter.The letters...