Archive: March 2004
Ostomy access in question
March 31, 2004HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - After finally adjusting to a much-revised HCPCS code set, the United Ostomy Association may soon be advocating for more coding changes.
This past winter, the UOA conducted three surveys, one in conjuction with AAHomecare, of patients and providers to determine if reimbursement and access had improved since the codes were revamped a year ago.
“We are just testing the waters and looking for additional information about whether patients truly are getting good access or if access...
Avenue Medical drives PT debate
March 31, 2004HME News Staff
DOVER, Del. - Adam Samuel's competition screamed “conflict of interest” last summer when he hired a physical therapist to run Avenue Medical's new seating clinic.
Avenue Medical's Adam Samuel fits Hali Shiber, 6, for a standing frame.
Avenue's PT, Lois Brown, doesn't just evaluate the customer's physical condition. She also recommends equipment, fits it and provides it.
“It is controversial,” admitted Samuel, Avenue's president. “But ultimately, what happens is my...
ACHC accredits Scooter Store
March 31, 2004HME News Staff
NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas - The Scooter Store, the nation's largest provider of power mobility products, recently announced that it had earned accreditation from the Accreditation Commission for Health Care (ACHC).
The Scooter Store earned the distinction following a seven-month process that required compliance with 58 standards covering eight areas of business operation. ACHC also conducted several unannounced visits of Scooter Store locations.
“Particularly because of the situation that emerged...
Medicare crackdown rattles staff
March 31, 2004HME News Staff
YARMOUTH, Maine - When Steve Awtry learned in October that CMS had asked his employer, Home Health Options, to repay $157,000, his jaw dropped. His eyes lit up. He couldn't believe it.
Les Defelice
“Two and a half employees and we get a $157,000 bill?” said Awtry, who works part time and handles a variety of duties. “It was earth shattering. I thought that was it.”
It wasn't. Owner Russ McLellan put his wedding on hold because of the uncertainty, but he managed to hold the...
Apria signs for e-CMNs
March 31, 2004HME News Staff
COSTA MESA, Calif. - Two weeks after AAHomecare announced the launch of its new e-CMN initiative with Trac Medical and bConnected, Apria Healthcare signed a deal with Trac that should enable the country's largest HME supplier to start transmitting e-CMNs by the end of this month.
Annually, Apria processes approximately 3 million CMNs and Written Orders throughout its network.
As one of two architects that insisted on a suite of standards for any industry-wide solution, Apria has been preparing to...
Sleep specialist: Market Web tech, not doughnuts
March 31, 2004HME News Staff
HOUSTON - Health Management Services (HMS), a company that specializes in treating sleeping disorders, has begun to move chart notes for its 35,000 patients onto the Internet where referral sources such as doctors and sleep labs can review them.
“This allows the referral source to see what we are really doing,” said John Goodman, president of HMS. “It's not just some pretty sales girl walking in with doughnuts. This is documented service.”
HMS clinicians started scanning...
Finance
March 31, 2004HME News Staff
Don't run out on your pharmacy
with Richard Glass
R. Glass
Q. I opened a pharmacy last year to service my respiratory medication patients. With the cuts in the new Medicare bill, I have already stopped marketing and wonder if I should close the pharmacy?
A. Even after the 2004 cuts, respiratory medications are still profitable (Medicare and private insurance). What appears to be significant cuts are scheduled for 2005 based on “manufacturers average selling price” plus 6%. However,...
Spending taps on brakes
March 31, 2004HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Health care spending in the United States is projected to grow 7.8% in 2003, down from the 9.3% growth experienced in 2002, according to a report just issued by CMS.
This slowdown in growth follows six consecutive years of acceleration and is attributed to slower than anticipated rates of growth for Medicare and Medicaid spending, private health insurance spending per enrollee, and medical price inflation.
Impacts of the MMA were not reflected in the report's findings, but officials...
Briefs
March 31, 2004HME News Staff
Rotech lands big CareCentrix deal
ORLANDO, Fla. - Apria may prefer to not do business with Gentiva's managed care network, CareCentrix, but Rotech is more than happy to take the referrals. Barely a month after Apria parted ways with Gentiva and waved good-bye to millions of dollars in business, Rotech signed on as a CareCentrix preferred provider. Rotech CEO Philip Carter said the deal could generate $25 million annually. Under the contract, Rotech will serve as a primary preferred provider of respiratory...
Apria’s new study lays CPAP debate to rest
March 31, 2004HME News Staff
COSTA MESA, Calif. - Patients who are set-up on sleep therapy equipment in an Apria CPAP Center are achieving high rates of acceptance and compliance, according to a new study that involved more than 1,300 patients.
The results of the Apria Healthcare study, conducted between January 2000 and July 2003, found that 87% of patients who received education in a group setting at an Apria Center were using CPAP for 6.5 hours for two to three weeks after the set up.
Nearly four out of five patients reported...