Archive: February 2002
Update
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - While they're still busy plugging away at developing new HCPCS descriptors and definitions for re/hab products, members of AAHomecare's Re/hab and Assistive Technology Council (RATC) are lobbying for the SADMERC's help in reviewing code requests.
Rita Hostak, chairman of RATC and its coding committee, said the SADMERC is on board with the project, and CMS believes it is in the purview of its contract, but the SADMERC needs to secure additional funding before taking on the work....
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...
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...
"I think the conclusion you can draw is that Innomed wrote a press release that was sufficiently effective in scaring
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
-Â Analyst Bruce Jacobs of Deutsche Banc Alex Brown in Boston on the stock prices of the nation's two CPAP heavyweights, respironics and resmed, declining sharply following reports that innomed technologies had logged $20 million in sales commitments for its new nasal interface.
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People
William Post has joined Respironics as vice president of sales and marketing. Post previously worked as president and CEO of Opticon Medical, a development-stage medical device company in the...
Tyco officials mum on PB's future
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
EXETER, New Hampshire - What does the future hold for Puritan Bennett now that parent company Tyco International plans to subdivide into four independent companies? Some voices within the HME industry sound optimistic, but Tyco officials weren't saying much at press time in early February.
Pembroke, Bermuda-based Tyco - which acquired Puritan Bennett some18 months ago as part of a major health care buying spree - recently announced a plan to split Tyco into four independent, publicly traded companies:...
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,...
AAHomecare: synergy, strength through unity
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
Last month, HME News published results of a poll revealing that some in our industry still believe that DME suppliers would be best served by a national organization focused solely on its issues. The impetus for this poll was AAHomecare's announcement of its acquisition of the American Home Care Association (AHCA), which primarily represents home health agencies, further strengthening AAHomecare's mission of representing the entire spectrum of the homecare industry. I believe that there is synergy...
AAH pursues own e-CMN agenda
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - While various companies with a stake in e-CMNs launch efforts to begin mainstreaming a technology they say is ready to go, AAH and its e-CMN steering committee continue to formulate a software strategy.
The committee had planned to release a white paper by the end of last year, detailing the computer architecture it wanted to see in an e-CMN product that would integrate with existing HME systems. Due to committee member time constraints, the paper was not produced.
But the committee...
Have you filed a claim using the Advance Beneficiary Notice (ABN) to upgrade the rental or purchase of DMEPOS
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
Nevada cracks down on AWP
February 28, 2002HME News Staff
CARSON CITY, Nev. - Nevada filed a lawsuit recently accusing 12 major drug companies of engaging in deceptive trade practices by manipulating or misstating the average wholesale prices (AWP) that govern Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement for prescription drugs.
Other states are expected to follow suit, according to Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa.
Nevada claims the drug companies' practices have forced states and beneficiaries to overpay for prescriptions.
The lawsuit also accuses the drug...