Archive: 2002
Report: Managed care’s image improving
December 31, 2002HME News Staff
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Between 1995 and 2000, hostility and criticism of managed care increased annually. But since 2000, public attitudes toward managed care have improved slightly, according to a new report by Harris Interactive.
These are some findings:
- Those who believe the trend to managed care is bad declined from 52% in 2000 to 44% in 2002, while those who think it's a good thing remained at 36%; and
- Those who believe managed care will “harm the quality of medical care” declined...
Advisers to FDA approve iBot chair
December 31, 2002HME News Staff
GAITHERSBURG, Md. - The iBot, Johnson & Johnson's stair-climbing power wheelchair, mounted another step on the way to market in November when an advisory panel to the FDA unanimously recommended approval of the new technology.
Independence Technologies, the J&J subsidiary that will distribute the iBot, is looking forward to 510(k) marketing clearance from the FDA in the March - May 2003 time frame. The iBot could start hitting the stairways 30-60 days later, according to an Independence spokesman.
“After...
Acquisition
December 31, 2002HME News Staff
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - Allied Capital Corp launched its second foray into the HME market last month, and if this deal turns out as well as the company's first HME venture, stockholders in the $2.3 billion investment company will be jumping for joy.
Allied first entered the HME market about two years ago, when it invested $7.5 million in American Homecare Supply, which industrial gas giant Air Products acquired in October for a whopping $165 million.
Last month, Allied and four other investors acquired...
Wheelchair demo gets off ground
December 31, 2002HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - The wheelchair voucher demonstration, which was set to take off last summer, is now getting off the ground, because CMS has had bigger fish to fry.
CMS has granted four Centers for Independent Living (CIL) $150,000 to school beneficiaries on how to chose a wheelchair and how to negotiate its price. It then directed the centers to provide beneficiaries with a voucher to purchase a wheelchair from a provider.
But industry sources said the three-year demo - dubbed the consumer-directed...
Respironics flexes CPAP
December 31, 2002HME News Staff
MURRYSVILLE, Pa. - A new CPAP technology that provides pressure relief during exhalation is being touted by some as the most significant basic “box” breakthrough in years, if not ever.
Developed by Respironics and now equipped on every REMStar Pro CPAP machine, the new C-Flex technology tracks a patient's breathing and, during exhalation, lowers the amount of pressure delivered. The ramp-down is not as precipitous as a bi-level drop, but the perception of relief, even from a layman's...
Medical Service creates hairy situation for fun
December 31, 2002HME News Staff
boosts staff comradeship, company unity
OAKWOOD VILLAGE, Ohio - Joel Marx got wiggy with his employees in early November and with good reason.
A little less than a year before, Marx and co-owner John Geller issued a friendly challenge to V.P. of Sales Barbara McCarthy. If McCarthy and her sales team at Medical Service Company landed what the balding Marx called an “exorbitant number of oxygen referrals in one month,” he'd wear a wig of her choosing for an entire work day. Geller said...
Region D DMERC sneers at snail mail
December 31, 2002HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - A sketchy proposal by CMS to modify the CMN process by licensing the DMERC's right to require “supporting documentation…to make appropriate claims determinations” is worrying HME industry insiders who fear that the proposed change could create even more confusion.
Published Nov. 18 in the Federal Register, the proposed revision to the CMN would require suppliers and physicians to “supply additional routine supporting documentation” on an as-needed basis. CMS...
Reimbursement
December 31, 2002HME News Staff
CMNs and audits
WITH JEANIE LANE
Q. What are the regulations for a DMERC CMN in the event of a Medicare audit?
A: Medicare requires version .02 CMNs for all claims received on or after Aug. 1, 1996. When a CMN is submitted with a paper claim, the hard copy must be an exact reproduction of the CMS format.
CMS issued a memorandum stating the supplier may use an electronic CMN. It also stated that the CMN can be a fax or photocopy. However, CMS states in the program integrity manual and the DMERC...
CMS will flag LMRP denials for bennies
December 31, 2002HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Â As a consequence of a class-action lawsuit that pits CMS against Medicare beneficiaries, CMS has agreed to notify beneficiaries when Medicare denies a claim using a Local Medical Review Policy (LMRP).
Starting Jan. 1, all denials that result from LMRP must provide a message to beneficiaries, citing the fact that an LMRP was applied to their denial and directing Medicare beneficiaries to customer service for more information on the LMRP in question.
Reimbursement experts are...
Ostomy providers brace for new HCPCS codes
December 31, 2002HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Despite provider requests for a delay, a new Medicare coding matrix for ostomy supplies appeared headed for a Jan. 1 implementation in early December.
Although the status of the coding changes had been “changing every day,” United Ostomy Association spokeswoman Linda Aukett says that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services seemed to be resolute in launching the new HCPCS codes by the first of the year.
“We've had two meetings with CMS, but there was very little...