Archive: June 2005
Bruno to quit making scooters and power chairs
June 30, 2005HME News Staff
OCONOMOWOC, Wisc. -- Disappointed by low margins and offshore alternatives to their American-made mobility products, Bruno Independent Living Aids is winding down its power wheelchair and scooter business and regrouping on the greener pastures of its lift business.
Bruno has been quietly extricating itself from the market since January when the company began telling customers it would discontinue production of its three K0011 power chairs. In April, the company told customers it would stop making...
RAMP to CMS: Clear up PWC documentation
June 30, 2005HME News Staff
WASHINGTON -- The Restore Access to Mobility Partnership in June urged policymakers to quickly establish a clear documentation policy centered on the CMN for the new power mobility NCD released in May.
A RAMP Report dated May 26 was circulated to decision makers at CMS and on Capitol Hill to educate them on the importance of documentation in solving the problems that have engulfed the mobility industry in recent years.
"Without such directives, suppliers will not be able to provide medically...
GAO: FBI misued money pegged for fraud
June 30, 2005HME News Staff
WASHINGTON -- Money intended for investigating health care fraud may have been misdirected by the FBI to other efforts, according to a report released in May by the General Accountability Office. The report said that the FBI was not capable of tracking the overall costs of its health care fraud investigations, and therefore could not determine where the funds were spent. The FBI apparently shifted money from the Health Care Fraud and Abuse Control Program to fund counterterrorism activities after...
Apria CFO likes the national's market position
June 30, 2005HME News Staff
COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Even though Apria's top brass wouldn't turn down a good acquisition offer (see story on page 1), they feel confident the company is properly positioned for future reimbursement challenges.
While Lincare generates the bulk of its profits from Medicare's fee-for-service home respiratory business, Apria has a much more diversified business portfolio, which includes dozens of managed care contracts. As Medicare moves to transition more beneficiaries to HMOs, Apria officials consider...
Slew of sleep studies tout in-home tests
June 30, 2005HME News Staff
YARMOUTH, Maine -- While CMS poo-poohed the viability of in-home sleep screening for sleep apnea, a fleet of new sleep studies in the past several weeks has billowed the sails of those who say the home is as good as the lab when it comes to diagnostics.
Researchers at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada found that lab-based polysomnography is not more useful than home testing with an oximeter for identifying patients with sleep apnea. In a report published in the American Journal of Respiratory...
Gas giant looks to sell HME unit, sources say
June 30, 2005HME News Staff
COSTA MESA, Calif. -- Industrial gas giant Air Liquide appears ready to exit the U.S. home medical equipment market -- at least for the time being. Industry sources say Apria will acquire the multi-billion dollar company's HME unit, VitalAire Homecare, pending clearance by due diligence. Air Liquide entered the U.S. HME market in 1998 when it bought InHome Medical for an estimated $18 million. At the time, InHome operated 22 locations in north Florida and one each in Georgia and South Carolina. Air...
Headhunters beat the drums for rehab pros
June 30, 2005HME News Staff
YARMOUTH, Maine -- Medicare and Medicaid efforts to raise industry standards have spurred fierce competition for certified rehab professionals -- especially those with deep referral source relationships.
"There has been head-hunting going on for a long time, but it is really coming into play now," said Jerry Keiderling, vice president of VGM's U.S. Rehab. "When starting or building a company, [people] want to make sure they are OK from the get-go. Rather than going through the expense of training...
Scully says you can't stop NCB
June 30, 2005HME News Staff
WASHINGTON -- Tom Scully, the former CMS Administrator who now works on HME industry issues as an AAHomecare consultant, threw a wet blanket last month on industry hopes that competitive bidding is not inevitable.
Scully said the industry could fine-tune the controversial reimbursement initiative, or slow it down. But "telling them [Congress] to back off is unlikely," said Scully, speaking at AAHomecare's annual legislative conference in D.C.
Scully's sobering remarks come in the wake of a recent...
Judge blames his foul mouth on sleep apnea
June 30, 2005HME News Staff
HARRISBURG, Pa. -- A Cambria County district judge, who in May was chastised for using vulgar and sexually explicit language toward underlings, during a disciplinary hearing blamed his actions on the fact he suffers from sleep apnea. The sleeping disorder was one of several stressors that led to his crude behavior, he said. The American Sleep Apnea Association says on its Web site that "untreated, sleep apnea may be responsible for job impairment," but doctors question if the impact of the sleep...
Kazynski's take on NCB
June 30, 2005HME News Staff
WATERLOO, Iowa -- While delays are nothing new to CMS, industry watchers expect CMS to release a draft DME competitive bidding plan this month, as well as a draft of proposed new quality standards.
If CMS wants to meet the MMA deadline for rolling out competitive bidding in 10 of the largest MSAs by 2007, it must move quickly on the plan's components, said Dave Kazynski, president of VGM's Home Link and a member of the PAOC, a competitive bidding advisory committee.
Kazynski gave an update on competitive...