Archive: November 2019
Stakeholders spotlight flaws in PMD repair process
November 27, 2019Liz Beaulieu, Editor
WASHINGTON - An upcoming review of PMD repairs by the Office of Inspector General raises the stakes for providers who are already grappling with a requirement that doesn't always match every day realities. That requirement: Before the date of service of a repair, providers must ensure there's documentation from the past 12 months showing “continued need” for the wheelchair. If it's not already in the medical record, stakeholders say it can take days to get, if not weeks if the patient...
Q&A: Know thy subcontractor
November 27, 2019Tracy Orzel
ATLANTA - If you're an HME provider looking into outside marketing agencies, do your homework first, says Michael Silverman, an attorney with Florida Healthcare Law Firm. HME News spoke to Silverman, a panelist on the “Compliantly Making Money and Best Practices to Keep It” session at Medtrade, about how to choose a subcontractor and red flags to avoid.HME News: Is there a best practice providers should prioritize?Michael Silverman: In this industry, in this day...
Auditors avoid appeals process, make 'major' requests
November 27, 2019Liz Beaulieu, Editor
YARMOUTH, Maine - If you're an HME provider trying to appeal a denial by a managed care payer, it's probably not going very smoothly, reports consultant Wayne van Halem.“There's a process for appeals they have to follow that's outlined in the managed care manual and they're not doing that,” said van Halem, president of the van Halem Group.The process is similar to Medicare's: a number of levels of appeals, including redetermination, reconsideration and administrative law judge or ALJ.Instead...
Bernie Lambrese wants to know: Do you 'pressure test assumptions?'
November 27, 2019Liz Beaulieu, Editor
BRISTOL, R.I. - Bernie Lambrese, who has started, built and sold five homecare businesses in his 30-year career, is rebuilding his consulting business. Lambrese started Healthcare Strategies 20 years ago with his wife, Kelly Lambrese, and business partner Joe Haley, but he's making the consulting company his top priority again after selling Infusion Resource, a home infusion provider, to Amerita in 2016 and Care Resource, a home health agency, to Encompass Health earlier this year. Here's what Lambrese...
McKesson puts the partnership in payer relations
November 27, 2019Tracy Orzel
ROCK HILL, S.C. - McKesson recently hosted its fifth provider roundtable in Rock Hill, S.C., to discuss the importance of payer relations on the HME industry's future. “HME is a small percentage of what payers pay for, but it saves a lot of money in other areas of health care, because it's less expensive to have a patient home than in an acute care or long-term care facility,” said Ashley Latva, account manager, HME, North Carolina, McKesson. “So we want payers to see the value...
ResMed's Cerner connection
November 27, 2019Liz Beaulieu, Editor
SAN DIEGO - ResMed last month announced a new agreement with one of the biggest names in health IT: Cerner. As part of the agreement, Cerner has designated ResMed's Brightree Home Health and Hospice platform as its preferred solution for its electronic health record. Perhaps more wide-reaching, Cerner has also agreed to connect other ResMed digital health platforms, including those that support its more than 10 million connectable sleep apnea and respiratory care devices, to its EHR and HealtheIntent...
Home Care Connect grows business
November 27, 2019Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
WINTER PARK, Fla. - Home Care Connect has added a national account manager to its team, with the workers' compensation market growing seeing a rise in more severe injuries.
Those injuries are more likely to require DME, says Anita Jovic.
“We're not seeing as many slips and falls,” said Jovic, vice president of operations for Home Care Connect. “Instead, they may get their hand caught in a conveyor belt or a faulty piece of equipment falls on them.”
The company,...
Mom and baby market gains exposure
November 27, 2019Tracy Orzel
ATLANTA-While women's health products have always been a Medtrade mainstay, the emerging mom-and-baby market has received a lot more attention in recent years.In 2017, the Owlet Smart Sock 2, a device that tracks babies' heart rates and oxygen levels, won the Provider's Choice Gold Award; at this year's Medtrade Spring, a battery powered heating blanket took bronze.“Those two products, and more, have shown that HME providers can creatively tap into the mom and baby market,” said Kevin...
ATF Medical grows ATP staff
November 27, 2019Liz Beaulieu, Editor
WOODBRIDGE, Va. - With its new senior rehab consultant Melissa Freeman, ATF Medical now has 11 ATPs on staff.Freeman, an ATP and CEAS, brings skills in assistive communication to the company, which provides medical equipment and adaptive house solutions for the workers' compensation market.“I had a lot of clients who received, used and benefited from speech and language devices," she said. "They're utilized a lot more than they used to be as technology becomes more universal. Before, communication...
Game-changing technology
November 27, 2019Liz Beaulieu, Editor
INDIANAPOLIS - Professional development isn't the only tool that employees need to succeed, says Rehab Medical President Kevin Gearheart.They also need the right technology.That's why Rehab Medical in October launched an updated version of its mobile customer relationship management (CRM) software solution.“This has been a game changer for us,” Gearheart said.The CRM solution allows Rehab Medical's sales force to speed up the process of providing complex power wheelchairs and improve...