Archive: October 2003
Rehab dealer settles dispute with AG
October 31, 2003HME News Staff
ROCHESTER, N.Y. - Monroe Wheelchair recently saw the end of a two-year nightmare that had the New York attorney general's office investigating every aspect of one of the state's largest rehab dealers.
Monroe agreed to pay a $400,000 settlement after an audit conducted by the state's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit revealed the company had failed to take advantage of manufacturer discounts between 1995 and 1999, thus over billing Medicaid for wheelchairs supplied to program recipients.
“Our settlement...
Rep. Ross criticizes Medicare reform
October 31, 2003HME News Staff
MEDTRADE - Rep. Mike Ross agreed that Medicare beneficiaries need “meaningful” reforms, but said the bill being hammered out in Congress isn't the right one.
Drafted ostensibly to give seniors a Medicare drug benefit, the Arkansas Democrat who owns an HME/Pharmacy contends that current Medicare reform legislation is heavily influenced by the powerful pharmaceutical lobby, will most likely contain competitive bidding and reimbursement cuts and will privatize the entire Medicare system...
On the rebound
October 31, 2003HME News Staff
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - American HomePatient (AHP) emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 1 under a restructuring plan that preserves the company's current management, restructures its long-term debt and ensures that all creditors and vendors will be paid 100% of what they are owed.
If that news isn't good enough, in one of its best financial showings in years, AHP's same-store sales for the first quarter of 2003 jumped $4.6 million or 5.9% compared to the first quarter of last year. The company's first...
Billing
October 31, 2003HME News Staff
Rules of oxygen testing
with Karen Moore
Q. Is it true that multiple test results need to be obtained in order to qualify a patient for home oxygen when the test is done during exercise? If so can you explain these test requirements?
A. To qualify a Medicare patient for home oxygen when the test is performed with exercise, there must be documentation that the oxygen improves the hypoxemia that is present during exercise while the patient is breathing room air. Normally, this documentation would...
Financials
October 31, 2003HME News Staff
Consider unit-based depreciation
with Tom Pryor
Q. My accountant uses I.R.S. guidelines to depreciate capital equipment over a set number of years. I know we must do that for external compliance, but is that a good method for pricing and profitability analysis?
A. No. Time-based depreciation methods were created decades ago when the expected life of a capital asset was long and not expected to be replaced with a new technology.
Typewriters, for example, had an expected useful and depreciable life...
Medicaid sharpens ax in Northwest
October 31, 2003HME News Staff
SALEM, Ore. - After beating back attempts by Oregon Medicaid to slash DME reimbursement by 20% across the board earlier this year, providers in the Pacific Northwest are now waging another campaign to keep the state's Office of Medical Assistance Programs from cutting two rehab miscellaneous codes, E1399 and K018, by 20%.
In Washington, the state's Medicaid program wants to cut reimbursement by 25% across the board on all DME products.
Since the states wanted to enact the new reimbursement rates...
HMEs shine in Isabel’s aftermath
October 31, 2003HME News Staff
CARY, N.C. - Several devastating hurricanes and a surprise snow storm have taxed North Carolina and the Chesapeake Bay area in recent years, so, for HME dealers, news of the approaching Hurricane Isabel in September meant enacting their well-worn emergency plans.
“After you've gone through so many of these, I guess it becomes sort of just a busy day,” said Beth Bowen, executive director of NCAMES.
The plans included the important task of supplying oxygen backups for home oxygen patients...
Polk County success story sells to Apria
October 31, 2003HME News Staff
AUBURNDALE, Fla. - Butch Vanderpool, the Polk County HME provider whose journey through competitive bidding drew national attention during the demonstration projects, has sold his business to Apria Healthcare, a company he worked for as a sales manager before launching Healthcare Diagnostics in 1996.
Vanderpool retained his rehab and sleep lab business, and he will stay with Healthcare Diagnostics as the company reorients itself as a branch of the nation's largest HME supplier chain.
“Apria...
Steroids, cataracts linked
October 31, 2003HME News Staff
LONDON - Inhaled steroids increased the risk of cataracts by up to 70% in people over the age of 40, researchers found. But that side effect had to be weighed against the undoubted benefits of the inhalers. The study urged doctors to prescribe the lowest possible doses to older patients. Cataracts occur when the lens of the eye turns opaque and impairs vision. It was already known that cataracts were aside effect of orally-taken steroids.
Briefs
October 31, 2003HME News Staff
Boston provider pays in fraud case
BOSTON - A medical equipment company has agreed to pay a $175,000 fine as part of a civil settlement deal reached with the state attorney general's office, the Associated Press reported. All American Home Aid agreed to pay restitution to settle claims it overcharged the state Medicaid program for back supports, catheters and other medical equipment and supplies. All American did not admit or deny the allegations in the settlement. As part of the settlement, the...