Archive: March 2003
Audit appeals process under fire
March 31, 2003HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - As providers anxiously await relief from the arduous ordeal of Medicare audits in a new act scheduled to go into effect next year, the industry is still calling for more changes to an appeals process that, they say, is running providers out of business for reasons that have more to do with clerical errors than fraud.
Currently, providers who receive an audit and must return overpayments, can request a hearing from a carrier hearing officer. If the provider is not satisfied with the...
Manny Likou: a minister of respiratory therapy
March 31, 2003HME News Staff
After serving 44 years in a 9-to-5 job, most people would gladly retire and take it easy.
But Manny Likou, RRT, president of Total Home Health, isn't most people. His job - working with ventilator-dependent patients - definitely isn't 9-to-5. And taking it easy just isn't his style, so he will continue to work long days and be on call 24/7 for his patients, even though his age calendar says 65.
“To me, retirement would be a 9-to-5, 40-hour week,” he said with a laugh. “But as...
New DSM program tackles COPD
March 31, 2003HME News Staff
RICHMOND, Va. - Health Management Corp. (HMC) recently announced it has launched a comprehensive disease management program addressing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the fourth leading cause of death in the United States.
The new program is aimed at improving the health outcome of COPD patients and addressing the high associated health care expenses related to the disease. In addition, it will focus on smoking cessation, home oxygen therapy, and optimizing physician-prescribed medication....
Ostomy codes: less than perfect
March 31, 2003HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Â The final version of Medicare's new ostomy codes increases reimbursement on 75% of the codes by 30% to 40% and decreases reimbursement on the rest about 4%. That 3 to 1 split is good news, but not that good, said Linda Aukett, spokeswomen for the United Ostomy Association .
For two of the most popular codes in the ostomy universe - A5063 (drainable ileostomy pouch) and A5073 (urostomy pouches) - CMS did not increase reimbursement.
That's a problem because the fee schedule price...
Invacare, Sunrise fight for millions in MED business
March 31, 2003HME News Staff
LUBBOCK, Texas - In the wake of a March 10 announcement by The MED Group, heralding a broad new purchasing agreement with Sunrise Medical, the nation's two largest full-line manufacturers of home medical equipment - Invacare and Sunrise Medical - are waging a torrid campaign to win the hearts, minds and business of roughly 250 MED members.
The new three-year Sunrise Medical contract, which retroactively went into effect March 1, is the anchor of a brand new contracting day at MED and includes all...
HIPAA: Ready or not, here it comes
March 31, 2003HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - HIPAA's privacy regulations go into effect April 14th, and while some HME providers appear well on their way to meeting that deadline, the majority, it seems, have miles to go before they sleep.
“People that I'm seeing in my seminars are saying, “We have to do what? We have to put our records under lock and key? We have to be careful how we talk in our office and who has access to our office?' For a lot of people this stuff has come out of left field,” said Bruce Bothis,...
M&M Medical’s Kinskey quits hassle, rides off into sunset
March 31, 2003HME News Staff
Dave Kinskey admits that he may have been a tad naïve when he bought M&M Medical in December 1988. As a guy raised Catholic, he'd been schooled in doing good from an early age. So when dad sold his Wyoming convenience store chain in the late ‘80s, where Dave worked as corporate counsel, Kinskey the son looked into HME. The demographics indicated it might provide a living as well as an opportunity - and this sounds corny, he admits - to render good services to humanity. “I thought I'd be...
Ortho-Kinetics calls it quits
March 31, 2003HME News Staff
WAUKESHA, Wisc. - Ortho-Kinetics, a pioneering lift chair manufacturer and scooter dealer that reigned as a powerhouse in the1980s, has filed papers to liquidate its assets in state court. The court on Jan. 31 appointed a receiver under Chapter 128. In the meantime, the company is looking for a buyer.
Ortho-Kinetics' demise cannot be traced to one shattering blow, but to a combination of forces that eroded the company's position as a $40 million player in the 1980s to a mere sliver of its former...
X-ray vision spurs business for Colorado provider
March 31, 2003HME News Staff
DENVER - Premier Medical has seen inside a lot more nursing homes since partnering with a mobile x-ray company last fall.
“It amazed me that the state of Colorado had one provider that did that service,” said Kip DelaVega, vp of sales and marketing for Premier. “Now that there is a choice, we have a waiting list. It worked out exactly the way we planned.”
By offering mobile x-rays with its HME services, Premier can now compete as a one-stop-shop to nursing homes. As a result,...
Briefs
March 31, 2003HME News Staff
Invacare predicts 6% sales growth in 2003
ELYRIA, Ohio - Invacare's North American sales jumped by 6% in the fourth quarter of 2002 - 8% if you don't count the sales Invacare walked away from when it exited two product lines, including lift chairs. Overall for the year, Invacare's sales increased by only half as much, or 3%. For the coming year, Invacare is predicting sales growth of about 6%. The company's most vigorous product lines in the last quarter included rehab, which jumped 19% mainly due...