Archive: December 2004
Familiar battles abound in 2005
December 31, 2004HME News Staff
Sometimes working on the legislative and regulatory issues for homecare issues feels like that movie “Groundhog Day.” The movie is about a tortured soul who wakes up morning after morning only to find that he is stuck living the exact same day over and over again.
But it's only a fleeting feeling. The reality is that the homecare industry has the potential to shape its own destiny in Washington. Every new day brings a fresh opportunity to strengthen homecare.
Our challenge in 2005 will...
What’s in a name? A lot. Just ask All-Med
December 31, 2004HME News Staff
MIAMI LAKES, Fla. - All-Med Services of Florida ran into all kinds of problems recently when another All-Med - this one a billing company - ended up on the wrong side of a fraud investigation.
On Oct. 21, the Miami Herald ran a story on healthcare fraud in which it recounted the alleged fraudulent billing practices of a company named All-Med Billing Corp. The Herald quoted an FBI agent who alleged that Abner and Mabel Diaz used All-Med Billing to implement a “massive, aggressive avaricious...
Respiratory
December 31, 2004HME News Staff
CENTER LINE, Mich. - Binson's Home Healthcare is full steam ahead.
While some companies floundered when faced with 2005's respiratory medication cuts, Binson's nearly tripled the number of prescriptions leaving its pharmacy each month.
“A couple years ago when we first starting hearing rumors of a cut, we just started being more proactive,” said Brian Chambers, the company's director of respiratory.
In 2004 Binson's established a compliance department to work in tandem with its pharmacy....
Financial
December 31, 2004HME News Staff
Take a bite out of profits
with Bruce Burns
Q.What area of my business can I focus on to improve earnings and cash flow and simultaneously prepare my business for sale?
A. Accounts receivable is one of the largest assets of a business and the most important to monitor. It not only provides the cash flow to keep the business alive, but if the claims are not submitted properly it can cause post payment audit, problems, cash flow shortages and major penalties that can cause extreme hardships on a...
Tim Hill: A CFO with a mission
December 31, 2004HME News Staff
Some people believe CMS's chief financial officer, Tim Hill, has an ax to grind with the HME industry. If that's the case, watch out.
In the good old days before Wheeler Dealer, Medicare's senior financial management executive kept a low profile, working behind the scenes, coordinating CMS's financial management and overseeing programs that protect Medicare from fraud and abuse. In August 2003, Wheeler Dealer erupted, exposing a crooked clan of DME dealers that drove K0011 utilization in Harris...
Bill Thomas: He’s got the Ways and Means
December 31, 2004HME News Staff
For the influence that Bill Thomas has exerted over the DME industry, look no further than this remark by one of the leading CEO's in this industry: “Thomas has a total distaste for our industry. It's amazing to me that one Congressman can have this much impact on an industry.”
If it wasn't for Bill Thomas, there'd be no competitive bidding. No other member of Congress harbors the same passion for it or has been so peculiarly poised to bring it life. Since January 2001, Thomas has chaired...
Survival of the fittest
December 31, 2004HME News Staff
The world according to Tom Inman
A top provider looks everywhere for savings
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - There may be some HME providers out there who have not begun changing their business model to accommodate Medicare's new reimbursement cuts, but Tom Inman isn't one of them. Whether it's purchasing new respiratory technology to decrease his delivery expenses, converting to a more streamlined paperless office or improving his truck routes by investing in a GPS system, the president of Virginia Home Medical...
Briefs
December 31, 2004HME News Staff
Joe Lewarski joins Inogen
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Joseph Lewarski, RRT, a longtime respiratory provider and five-year leader of the AARC's home care section, has accepted a new position as vice president of clinical affairs at Inogen. Lewarski said the combination of people and product at Inogen lured him away from his job as president of Hytech Homecare in Mentor, Ohio, where he's worked since 1991 except for a two-year stint at the MED Group. “[Inogen] came in with no former bias, no engineering...
Sean Tunis: A mysterious figure
December 31, 2004HME News Staff
If there's an unknown quantity among the 10 most influential people in the HME industry, it's probably Dr. Sean Tunis, CMS's chief medical officer and its director of the Office of Clinical Standards and Quality.
Tunis joined CMS about 20 years ago, but until he became medical director earlier this year, the industry had little direct interaction with him. What interaction it did have revealed Tunis to take a conservative view of coverage criteria, and a sometimes dim view of the HME industry. At...
Wound care providers need to market expertise
December 31, 2004HME News Staff
Home care providers serving the wound care population can't just treat it as a sideline if they expect to get referrals from the clinical community. They have to immerse themselves in the business, demonstrating expertise in the latest therapies and products and supporting it by carrying all the supplies a wound care patient needs, vendors in this underserved market contend.
That means being knowledgeable about the prevention and treatment of decubitus pressure ulcers, determining which products...