Archive: May 2002
Politics
May 31, 2002HME News Staff
Lobby congress, it's key
With Tom Connaughton
Q. AAHomecare has been particularly strident in urging its members to contact Congress as soon as possible. Why is that so important ?
A. The House of Representatives is working right now to draft Medicare Legislation. The Senate will be considering such legislation in the summer and fall. By the time Congress adjourns in early October, it will have decided whether or not to authorize a national competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment...
N.C. considers comp. bidding
May 31, 2002HME News Staff
RALEIGH, N.C. - After showing up in President Bush's federal budget, and in the Florida Medicaid program, competitive bidding has spread to North Carolina and could be poised for broader dissemination.
To help erase an $800 million budget deficit, North Carolina has proposed implementing competitive bidding for home medical equipment, infusion therapy and home healthcare supplies.
"The state budget in North Carolina is a deficit, and the government, is looking to make cuts wherever it can," said...
Dear Governor Bush
May 31, 2002HME News Staff
As you may know, Invacare Corporation has facilities in the Sanford, Fla., area that manufacture home respiratory equipment and hospital-type beds for use in the home. These facilities provide jobs for over 400 Floridians. As such, Invacare is very concerned with the proposal of your Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) to subject these products and other items of durable medical equipment (DME) to competitive bidding. Competitive bidding will destroy many small businesses, putting dedicated...
Provider: 'Drop dead' Medicaid
May 31, 2002HME News Staff
SANDWICH, Mass. - Mark Sheehan had two words for state Medicaid auditors who claimed he owned $247,000 due to faulty billing practices: "Drop dead."
"We've been in business 25 years, but I've never seen any thing quite as audacious as this," said Sheehan, owner of Cape Medical Supplies. "I just looked at it as if these people were from a different planet and said, 'We'll fight them."'
Fight them he did, and on March 29, the Division of Medical Assistance Board of Hearings issued a preliminary ruling...
Arrests, charges rack up in DME dragnets
May 31, 2002HME News Staff
LOS ANGELES - Durable medical equipment scams in California are at the center of what one FBI field office is calling the largest healthcare undercover fraud investigation in U.S. history.
In that investigation, known as Durascam, the FBI has arrested 23 individuals for a variety of fraudulent schemes, including illegal kickbacks, upcoding and CMN tampering.
At the same time, the FBI has announced that two ongoing dragnets known as Unwholesum and Phony Pharm have resulted in charges against 263...
Shield Healthcare breaks with Coloplast
May 31, 2002HME News Staff
VALENCIA, Calif. - After learning in April that Coloplast owns one of its East Coast competitors, Shield Healthcare (SHC) is severing its relationship with the manufacturer of medical supplies.
By letter, Shield recently informed customers that the revelation of Coloplast's 100% ownership stake in Moorestown, N.J.-based Sterling Medical Services had prompted the company to stop carrying Coloplast product. Shield declined to say how much business it was doing with Coloplast, but characterized it...
Fraud spotlight: Will licensure kill the weeds?
May 31, 2002HME News Staff
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - While California HMEs retreat from the spotlight of what the FBI is spinning as the largest undercover healthcare fraud investigation in U.S. history, the industry once again finds its reputation tainted by scam artists working from the fringe.
And once again, in the turbulent wake of the FBI's revelation of nearly 400 arrests in California since 1999, the questions inevitably turn to what can be done to stifle the abuse and free the industry from its unseemly shadow.
Licensure...
Rotech's revenues jump 5.9% in first quarter
May 31, 2002HME News Staff
ORLANDO, Fla. - Rotech Healthcare reported net revenues for the first quarter ended March 31, 2002, of $160 million, an increase of 5.9% over revenues of $151.2 million for the same quarter in the previous year. Operating earnings (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, reorganization charges and extraordinary gains) totaled $46.8 million for the first quarter of 2002, an increase of 14.2% versus operating earnings of $41 million in the year-ago period.
American HomePatient...
Let's raise industry standards
May 31, 2002HME News Staff
Fraud and abuse. Mention it to an HME provider and, no matter how serious the implications, it's hard to keep your eyes open. It's like when experts start talking about HIPAA. It's like listening to someone tell you about a marketing plan predicated on graying baby boomers. It's like… can we please not talk about this again, or if we do, can you tell me something I don't know?
Maybe. Did you know that there are 106,866 DMEPOS supplier numbers (at last count) in the United States? That there are...
MED Group revamps mobility repair program
May 31, 2002HME News Staff
LUBBOCK, Texas - The MED Group tweaked its Certified Repair Center program to make it more valuable to members and hired a long-time Everest & Jenning employee with years of technical experience to run it. Former E&J and Mulholland Positioning Systems employee, Dick Fuller, brings 18 years of sales, marketing and technical experience to MED. The CRC program offers technical training on mobility products taught by participating manufacturers. To make attendance easier for members and manufacturers,...