Apria plans stock buyback

LAKE FOREST, Calif. - Apria Healthcare plans to repurchase up to $35 million worth of its outstanding common stock during the first two quarters of this year. Depending on market conditions and other considerations, repurchases will be made from time to time in openmarket transactions, the company reported in February. Companies often buy back their own stock when they feel it is undervalued. In addition to helping to pump up the stock price, it allows the company to create a slush fund for acquisitions. Provider sentenced to 18 months in jail COLLEYVILLE, Texas - William Edward Brooks, the owner of Scooters to Go, Inc., and his employee, Grover Franklin Poarch, pled guilty in February to selling scooters and wheelchairs and then billing Medicare or private insurers for the equipment, which was either not medically necessary or more expensive than the equipment provided, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Brooks pled guilty to one count of mail fraud and was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to pay $300,000 restitution. Poarch pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced to five years probation and ordered to pay $85,000 restitution. Dasco expands its reach in Ohio COLUMBUS, Ohio - Dasco Home Medical Equipment strengthened its home turf and expanded into some new territory in late February when it acquired CareLife Home Medical Services. Dasco will roll CareLife's Plain City, Ohio, location into its site here and continue to operate CareLife's Lima, Ohio, facility, said Jason Seeley, Dasco's v.p. Dasco now operates seven locations in Ohio. Three are free standing and four are JOAs with hospitals.