CPAP

LUBBOCK, Texas - Darlene Weeks could not be happier with The MED Group's efforts to help members boost their sleep business.

Medicare's decision in November to pay for oral appliances to treat sleep apnea barely registered a blip on CPAP providers' radar.

A few years back, Houston-based Health Management Services (HMS) was strong and growing in its core sleep business, but it was singing a song familiar to many other CPAP providers.

It doesn't look like the sleep market in the United States is going to slow down anytime soon.
"That is bad for society, in one sense, but it's an opportunity to bring our solutions to bear and improve the lives of people," Eoghan O'Lionaird, senior vice president, sleep, for Philips Respironics told HME News TV.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Call her crazy, but CPAP provider Shawn Schober recently added oxygen to her services.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - More than half of all CPAP claims in Jurisdiction C--63.94%--failed in a recent widespread review.

STUART, Fla. - Despite "seasonal challenges," Liberator Medical's revenues for the second quarter of 2010 soared 67% over the same period last year, the company reported May 12.

AAHomecare's HME/RT Council has created a CPAP task force to look at ways to improve Medicare policy. On the agenda: policy requirements for coverage beyond the first three months of therapy; documentation and compliance requirements; and the use of advance beneficiary notices.

For provider Lisa Feierstein, success means giving back to her community--a notion she takes to heart.
"There is a Jewish saying--tikkun olam--which means repair the world," said Feierstein, founder of Raleigh, N.C.-based Active Healthcare. "I've been very fortunate that I've grown a business that allows us to do that."