Archive: February 2005
FLA Orthopedics enters pediatrics
February 28, 2005HME News Staff
MIRAMAR, Fla. - In response to widespread demand from its provider network, FLA Orthopedics is rolling out new orthopedic supports designed especially for the pediatric market.
Called Supports for Me, the product line includes a broad range of supports and braces that are anatomically designed using body measurements taken from two published medical studies in order to accommodate 95% of the United States's youth population. Company officials contend that because the specific pediatric body dimensions...
Lincare, feds still at odds
February 28, 2005HME News Staff
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Lincare recently had preliminary discussions with the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida in an effort to resolve an on-going investigation.
The company has cooperated with the investigation and has responded to document requests periodically over the last five years, Lincare stated in a Feb. 7 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As previously disclosed in June 2000, the investigation concerns, among other things, Lincare's dealings...
HME in a big box
February 28, 2005HME News Staff
St. PETERSBURG, Fla. - HME retail could be hitting its stride with a growing number of providers setting up locations inside the world's foremost retailer, Wal-Mart.
Hoveround has opened in a Wal-Mart store.
In less than a year, the number of HME locations in Wal-Marts has grown to more than 50 nationwide, and the concept's mastermind, Kim Mairs, president of Boston-based Companion Health Services, said the partnership is primed for further success.
“It took us a while to test the locations...
Industry welcomes NCD changes
February 28, 2005HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Industry watchers gave a cautious nod of approval to CMS last month for releasing draft coverage criteria for power wheelchairs that would deep-six the current bed-or-chair confined rule and require Medicare to rely more on clinical-based coverage. They then dove into the document in an all-out effort to uncover its flaws.
D. Clayback
“It is a very good step in the right direction,” said Mark Miller, executive vice president of marketing for Independent Living Aids in Ringgold,...
Industry leader ‘cashes in’
February 28, 2005HME News Staff
TOPEKA, Kan. - Apria scored an acquisition coup in late January when it acquired Knoll Patient Supply, a highly respected HME here owned by former AAHomecare Chairman Steve Knoll.
Steve Knoll
Knoll generated revenue of about $5 million a year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. This is Apria's second high-profile acquisition in the past few months. In September, the national acquired Raymond, N.H.-based LifePlus, considered one of the best-run independent HMEs in the country. Due to the high...
Outsourcing: Will it come back to bite HME vendors?
February 28, 2005HME News Staff
YARMOUTH, Maine - Outsourcing product assembly to China has allowed some U.S. medical manufacturers to greatly expand their market presence in a short time. But arrangements like this could inevitably become a disadvantage if enough Chinese manufacturers decide to bypass U.S. vendors in order to take their products directly to the North American marketplace.
There are signs this is taking place. Taipei-based thermometer maker Microlife is the latest OEM to announce that its product line is now reserved...
MED Group rolls with the punches
February 28, 2005HME News Staff
LUBBOCK, Texas - Â The MED Group lost some fire power recently when Apria and Lincare swooped in and acquired three prominent members, but as Vice President of Membership Dan Smith tells it, that's “just one of the things you fight through.”
“MED has some pretty plum providers, and we know we are targets and we need to take that into account and strategically grow,” Smith said.
The member-service organization includes only independent HMEs and does not work with national...
Clinicians bristle over ‘homebounds’ absence in NCD
February 28, 2005HME News Staff
WASHINGTON - Industry stakeholders were cheered in February by a National Coverage Determination that moved power mobility toward a function-based determination of medical necessity. The contentious “in-the-home” restriction, however, remained a problem for many groups, who lambasted CMS for seemingly ignoring the opportunity to revise the statement.
“Basically it is not possible to write a functional mobility policy if you do not extend ambulation beyond the confines of the home,”...
Medicaid miasma
February 28, 2005HME News Staff
YARMOUTH, Maine - Medicare isn't the only program to have providers reaching for the antacid over funding - there's plenty of queasiness surrounding Medicaid issues as well.
As is typical with state-administered federal programs, states share the fiscal roller coaster ups and downs and the current cycle is characterized by industry leaders as definitely being on a downward slope. With President Bush's proposed budget paring $45 billion from Medicaid over the next 10 years, the provider community...
Chasing referrals
February 28, 2005HME News Staff
MUNDELEIN, Ill. - When HMEs talk, Medline listens.
The manufacturer/distributor recently surveyed more than 100 providers about their marketing needs and based on the responses put together the HME Rewards program, a promotional kit that includes a custom 24-page product catalog, personalized brochures, order pads and product fliers, as well as access to the Medline Learning Center, a portable HME showroom designed for product demonstrations.
Tom Tucker
“Having effective referral source marketing...