Archive: November 2003
Drive picks up Dr. K
November 30, 2003HME News Staff
PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y. - Drive Medical Design & Manufacturing is gaining another foothold on the West Coast with the announcement of its agreement to acquire Dr. K International Trading Co., a manufacturer of DME products located in Los Angeles. Upon completion of the transaction, the sales representatives of Drive Medical and Dr. K will continue to represent their respective product lines. The acquisition is scheduled to close Dec. 15.
Managed Medicare costs more
November 30, 2003HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Although private Medicare plans purport to curb the soaring cost of publicly funded healthcare, a recent report citing government overpayment of Medicare HMOs flies in the face of that argument.
The Bush administration expects in 2004 to pay private Medicare health plans 19.3% more than traditional Medicare spends on coverage, according to a report issued in October by the Medicare Rights Center.
“This is part of a fairly zealous effort to bring private plans into the Medicare...
CMS dreams up billing nightmare
November 30, 2003HME News Staff
December 1, 2003
WASHINGTON - Starting next month, providers must change the billing anniversary date on a capped rental item to coincide with a beneficiary's discharge from the hospital.
Currently, a patient's billing anniversary date remains the same even if complications arise and he ends up in the hospital. Once the patient is discharged, billing resumes on his original anniversary date.
CR 2613 is intended to more accurately reflect a rental period, but it could create a billing nightmare...
Briefs
November 30, 2003HME News Staff
Medicare OK's compression reimbursement
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Medicare authorized reimbursed to providers Oct. 1 for two gradient compression hosiery stockings - L8110 ($36-$43)and L8120 ($50-61). This is the first time Medicare has agreed to pay for items in a product category that's typically sold off the shelf. To qualify, patients must have an open venous stasis ulcer that requires medically necessary debridement by a physician or other healthcare professional. The stocking must deliver compression...
Rep. Ross criticizes Medicare reform
November 30, 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...
Air Products goes cruising
November 30, 2003HME News Staff
CONSHOCKEN, Pa. - Talk about community service.
In September, Air Products Healthcare donated $50,000 to $70,000 in home medical equipment for the American Lung Association's ninth “Oxygen Cruise” between New York and the Bahamas.
The cruise included about 30 COPD patients and their caregivers.
“We didn't do it to get an endorsement from the American Lung Association,” said Dave Johnson, Air Product Healthcare's COO. “It's supporting patients who otherwise wouldn't...
Doc: ‘I want my patients to go to this company, and here’s why’
November 30, 2003HME News Staff
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - By bolstering its clinical respiratory approach and paying more attention to equipment quality than price, Florida Medical Equipment Services has watched its Medicare business blossom over the past year.
“We're looking at items that will contribute to patient compliance,” said President Kim Kasper. “Some companies look for the cheapest or most cost-effective (product) for the short term, but in the long run, you end up with more labor costs and less patient...
Specialty Pharma mixes new home infusion brew
November 30, 2003HME News Staff
WALLINGFORD, Conn. - Specialty Pharma, a new company ready to make a splash in the world of home infusion, has been busy mixing what its founders call “the formula of the future.”
Specialty Pharma, which was founded in October 2002 by rehab industry veterans Joseph Fleming and David Pilner, hopes to be a regional leader in infused and self-injected biotechnology therapies, which treat rheumatoid arthritis, Crone's disease and various immune deficiencies.
“We think [biotechnology]...
MP TotalCare charges into urology market
November 30, 2003HME News Staff
TAMPA, Fla. - MP TotalCare, a national provider of diabetes and respiratory medications and supplies, has branched out with the recent acquisition of Medical Holdings, a supplier of direct-to-consumer urological products.
“We are very excited about the new addition,” MP TotalCare Chairman and CEO Howard Deutsch said in a press release. “It fits our strategy of pursuing platform acquisitions that will allow MP TotalCare to gain horizontal product expansion.”
There is speculation,...
Raising the barcode
November 30, 2003HME News Staff
ELGIN, Ill. - The vast majority of HME providers have ignored barcoding technology, and that's too bad because they don't know what they are missing, say industry watchers.
“If you are not doing it, you are wasting a lot of potential productivity,” said Pat Egan, a division president for Air Products Homecare. “You are having errors you don't need to have and entering data you don't need to enter.”
About three months ago, Total Home Care added a barcoding component to its...