Archive: March 2002
MED University goes public with new courses
March 31, 2002HME News Staff
LUBBOCK, Texas - After a year and a half as a private educational resource for MED Group members, MED University is going public.
The new MED University Mastery Program debuts April 22 and offers targeted online training in eight job categories for MED and non-MED members.
Those categories are repair (rehab and respiratory); driver/delivery technician (rehab and respiratory); sales; general warehouse staff; receptionist/general office staff; customer service rep; and reimbursement specialist.
The...
U.S. Rehab takes message to Virginia
March 31, 2002HME News Staff
WATERLOO, Iowa - VGM's U.S. Rehab is taking its show on the road to the Virginia Medicaid program this month, according to Peggy Walker, director of member education.
Late last year, U.S. Rehab arranged a presentation, with the help of wheelchair manufacturers like Sunrise Medical and Invacare, for representatives of South Carolina's Medicaid program. The goal: break down the misconceptions Medicaid reps have on how much work and expertise is involved in fitting people for customized wheelchairs...
RATC releases bid package for rehab accreditation program
March 31, 2002HME News Staff
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - After two years of work, AAHomecare's Re/hab and Assistive Technology Council (RATC) anticipated releasing its RFP for a rehab accreditation program the first of this month.
The council was expected to give the RFP its final nod of approval at its meeting in late March and to release the proposal on April 1, according to Mary-Lacey Reuther, executive director of RATC. The RFP, which RATC had originally planned to release Jan. 1, calls for the development of standards to measure...
Shifting gears
March 31, 2002HME News Staff
OLD FORGE, Pa. - Lured by brighter prospects in the rehabilitation and respiratory products markets, Invacare has decided to quit selling lift chairs and is helping to transition about $10 million in annual business to Golden Technologies.
An agreement between the two companies, announced April 15, puts Golden in charge of servicing Invacare's chairs still under warranty. Invacare will hold on to its current inventory of lift chairs through June and will supply parts through the end of the year.
Meanwhile,...
Shield acquires Beverly Home Care's med supplies biz
March 31, 2002HME News Staff
VALENCIA, Calif. - In the provider's biggest deal since taking on Kaiser Permanente's medical supplies patients last May, Shield Healthcare last month picked up 14,000 new patients from the Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Beverly Home Care.
Beginning in March, Shield began servicing the medical supplies patients of three Beverly Home Care subsidiaries: Fresno, Calif.-based M-K; Sacramento-based WestNet; and Benicia, Calif.-based Western Rehab.
"We actively seek out at least one acquisition a year," said...
Question & Answer
March 31, 2002HME News Staff
Ostomy supplies: 'It's just not worth it.'
REDDING, Calif. - Owen's Healthcare, a franchise of Option Care, has decided to sell its ostomy business (about 300 patients) to the Valencia, Calif.-based Shield Healthcare. It's not unusual for suppliers to shed the notoriously low-margin medical supplies business to focus on the more profitable respiratory and DME businesses. But CMS just released new ostomy codes earlier this year, and it's slated to release an updated - and providers hope - more profitable...
Allied's prospects brighten
March 31, 2002HME News Staff
ST. LOUIS - Allied Healthcare is reporting profits of almost $100,000 in its second quarter, up from a loss of nearly $91,000 in the same quarter last year. In the second half of this year, Allied said it would begin to focus on its B&F home care products line.
"We anticipate cost savings resulting from bringing manufacturing back in house and stronger order volume generated by an expanded telemarketing effort," said Earl R. Refsland, Allied's CEO. "In addition, we continue to build momentum in...
Question & Answer
March 31, 2002HME News Staff
Respiratory pioneer: 'I still have a few years left'
RAINSVILLE, Ala. - Roy Sanderson doesn't fish. Doesn't golf. And isn't ready to retire, even if he is "old enough to quit." Over the past 38 years, Sanderson has operated and sold a retail pharmacy, an HME and most recently, in 1997, a mail-order respiratory pharmacy. Last year, after a couple of years of semi-retirement, he started back full time with his sons, who own and operate ABC Plus, a respiratory pharmacy in Rainsville. "This is kind...
DSM providers uncertain of CMS demo project
March 31, 2002HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Providers say they're hesitant to submit proposals for CMS's disease management (DSM) demonstration project because the recently released RFP includes full prescription drug coverage.
"It's not pure disease management, and if we're going to do it, we're going to have to find some sort of partner to provide the drugs," said Bob Stone, executive v.p. of the Nashville, Tenn.-based American Healthways. "We're trying to figure how well that's going to work."
In the Feb. 22 Federal Register,...
Mr. Magoo had obstructive sleep apnea
March 31, 2002HME News Staff
CLEVELAND, Ohio - People with round heads face a greater risk of sleep apnea and chronic snoring than those with thin faces, researchers from Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University have found.
Researchers compared the head shapes of 60 people who snore and 60 others with no history of snoring. They created a "craniofacial risk index" using X-rays to measure the distance from teeth to esophagus, nose to nasal passage and cheek to jaw.
"As the head gets relatively wider, the airway becomes relatively...