Tag: Kathleen Sebelius

WASHINGTON - Kathleen Sebelius has resigned after serving five years as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.President Barack Obama is expected to nominate Sylvia Mathews Burwell, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to replace Sebelius, news organizations report.The Senate will have to confirm Burwell, who was approved by a 96-0 vote to take the helm at OMB last year.Should she be confirmed, Burwell will lead preparation for the next open-enrollment period for...

WASHINGTON - Enrollment in Medicare Advantage (MA) plans is expected to increase for the fourth year in a row in 2014, with only slight increases in premiums expected.Premiums are expected to be, on average, $1.64 more, or $32.60, according to a Sept. 19 press release from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).“As a result of the Affordable Care Act, Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plans remain strong and continue to provide improved benefits and low premiums for beneficiaries,”...

The home medical equipment sector needs to be part of the accelerating national conversation about healthcare costs, outcomes and value. While HME has to stay engaged in immense challenges like the Medicare bidding program, the ongoing “auditgeddon” and regulatory hurdles, it ignores the larger value debates at its peril. Since the HME sector has the resources, intellectual and otherwise, to walk and chew gum at the same time, I don't know what's holding up progress on this big-picture...

WASHINGTON - AAHomecare and Havre de Grace, Md.-based Home Mediservice have filed a lawsuit against Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), asking her to stop the July 1 expansion of competitive bidding because of “licensing irregularities.”“Today's lawsuit zeroes in on a critical flaw in the bidding program—the failure to ensure that all bidders had satisfied state and local licensing requirements before accepting the bids and awarding...

WASHINGTON - The Medicare Fraud Strike Force has charged 89 individuals with about $223 million in false billings, according to a press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ) on May 14. Strike Force operations in eight cities resulted in charges against doctors, nurses and other licensed medical professionals for alleged fraud schemes involving, primarily, home health care, but also mental health services, psychotherapy, physical and occupational therapy, DME and ambulance services, the release...

WASHINGTON - The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has proposed increasing to $9.9 million the rewards paid to Medicare beneficiaries and others whose tips about suspected fraud lead to the recovery of funds, according to a press release. The rewards are part of an proposed expansion for the Senior Medicare Patrol Program, which is designed to educate beneficiaries on how to prevent, detect and report Medicare fraud and abuse. “Today's announcement is a signal to Medicare beneficiaries...

WASHINGTON - Thirty-five members of Congress—19 Democrats, 16 Republicans—agreed to sign a letter presented to them by members of American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA) regarding CMS audit procedures, according to an article form healio.com. The effort was initiated by those who attended the AOPA Forum March 11-12, when individuals tried to persuade congressional representatives to sign a letter from Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., and Rep. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., addressed to...

WASHINGTON - The government's health care fraud prevention and enforcement efforts recovered a record $4.2 billion in taxpayer dollars in FY 2012, up from nearly $4.1 billion in 2011, according to a press release from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). For every dollar spent on health care-related fraud and abuse investigations in the last three years, the government recovered $7.90—the highest three-year average return on investment in the 16-year history of the Health Care...

WASHINGTON - Last week's National Summit on Health Care Fraud was billed as "the first national gathering on healthcare fraud between law enforcement and the private and public sectors," but AAHomecare didn't get a seat at the table until the last minute. Even then, the association was shut out of much of the proceedings. Here's what Michael Reinemer, AAHomecare's vice president of communications and policy, had to say about the association's disappointment and what it expects to come out of the...

Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius probably won't be confirmed (or not) as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services until later this month, the New York Times reported today. (Yup, you guessed it: The delay has something to do with a little thing called unpaid taxes!) This could spell trouble for the HME industry. The national competitive bidding rule goes into effect in two weeks, yet the headless DHS hasn't even released a timeline. When will CMS put out requests for bids? How long will...