Archive: February 2002
Politics
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
Bush's budget and HME
WITH TOM CONNAUGHTON
Q. How will the president's proposed budget affect the HME industry?
A. The main concern about this budget is the resurrection of the proposal for national competitive bidding for durable medical equipment and supplies.
Using data reportedly gathered in Polk County, Florida, the budget projects very significant savings from such a national program. Besides the fact that the numbers cited and the extrapolations from those numbers are extremely questionable,...
Air travel up for people in chairs
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Even with the decline in travel since the Sept. 11 terrorist attack, the number of customers requesting wheelchairs when they make plane reservations is up.
For example, at American Airlines, the number of customers who requested wheelchairs when they made reservations last year rose to 765,721 compared to 748,153 the previous year. The number of wheelchairs was as much as 40% higher when combined with requests from people who ask for wheelchairs once they reach the airport, according...
C.R. Bard, Tyco call off merger agreement
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
MURRAY HILL, N.J - C. R. Bard announced last week that Bard and Tyco International have agreed to terminate their merger agreement. The all-share deal, valued at $3.2 billion when announced last May, recently came under a cloud after Tyco's shares took a beating after announcing plans to split into four separate companies. Bard also stated that in connection with the termination, each party will bear its own costs and expenses. "We have always acted in the best interest of our shareholders," stated...
Study: faster hearts reduce apneas
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
BOSTON - Faster heart rates caused by pacemakers can help relive apneas, lending credence to the belief that while apneas can affect the heart, the heart can also affect apneas, according to a team of French doctors.
The findings were reported in the February 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The French team studied 15 heart patients who showed symptoms of sleep apnea.
Pacemakers kick in when the heart slips below a certain number of beats per minute. For the study, the researchers...
Teaming up with Teamsters
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
MERRILLVILLE, Ind. - Patient Advocate Home Care joined the Teamsters last month and became possibly the first unionized HME in the country, says owner Dan Buikema.
Buikema, not his employees, struck the deal with the teamsters. He did so to empower and reward his workers with an improved, more affordable benefits package, and to gain a competitive advantage when going after managed care contracts in heavily unionized, blue-collar northwest Indiana.
"Being a small company without huge geographic...
PacifiCare implements DME co-pay for Medicare+Choice plan
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
SANTA ANA, Calif. - Managed Medicare patients got a jolt all across California Jan. 1 when PacifiCare Health Systems rolled out a new county-by-county co-pay fee schedule for seniors in their Secure Horizons HMO plan.
For durable medical equipment, seniors must now make a co-payment of $75 for any product or service that costs between $100 and $499; for products and service in excess of $500, the Medicare HMO beneficiary is responsible for 20%.
PacifiCare said the co-pay schedule, which has been...
Mass. providers fight to keep secondary discounts, co-pays
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
BOSTON - Re/hab providers in Massachusetts say they're re-living a nightmare.
In July 2000, providers fought to keep secondary discounts for 2001 - and they won. If they got a claim paid within a manufacturer-determined time frame (i.e. 30-90 days), they got an additional discount, up to 25%. (Providers in Massachusetts are reimbursed based on acquisition cost plus 40%.)
But because the victory came in the form of an outside amendment to the budget, secondary discounts were up for debate again...
'Oxygen boy' meets Mr. Hoodenpyle
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN, Tenn. - Henry Early Hoodenpyle calls his 43-year-old HME provider, Rick Forshee, "oxygen boy." Forshee calls the 108-year-old WWI veteran Mr. Hoodenpyle.
By most standards, Hoodenpyle, who goes by Early, is not your typical O2 patient.
"He's more active than most 80 year olds because most 80 year olds are dead," said Forshee, DME manager at Cherokee Pharmacy & Medical Supply in Cleveland, Tenn., which has supplied Early with oxygen for about six years. "He lives with his daughter...
Want ad: Scooter maker seeks HME manufacturer
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
YARMOUTH, Maine - Physicians approach online correspondence and documentation with the same attitude they do about paper: it's a peripheral part of their job, taking a much lower priority than treating patients and collecting fees.
After all, the doctor gets no compensation for taking time to fill out CMNs and send them to an HME provider, whether they be done electronically or through the postal service. And when you add on their concern over complex HIPAA-related patient privacy rules, it doesn't...
Apria ushers in new CEO
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
LAKE FOREST, Calif. - Apria has announced that Lawrence M. Higby, 56, has been appointed CEO and elected to the company's board of directors, replacing Philip L. Carter. Carter has decided to leave Apria after leading a "highly successful turnaround strategy" over the past four years, according to a company statement. Higby has been Apria's president and COO since November 1997. Prior to joining Apria, Mr. Higby served as president and COO of Unocal's 76 Products Company.
Chartwell bags 4 offices
ANDOVER,...