In brief: Provider fuels growth, ActiveCare gets blockbuster role

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - Mail order diabetes provider Care 1st Medical Solutions has secured a line of credit for up to $1.6 million to increase its direct marketing and growth efforts, it announced May 25. The company, which currently serves about 13,000 Medicare patients, plans to double its marketing efforts and is looking to add additional product lines, stated CEO Mike Eberly in a release.

ResMed launches iPhone app

SAN DIEGO - ResMed last week released the ResMed Sleep Assessment app for the iPhone. The app combines a clinically validated questionnaire that quantifies a person's risk of sleep apnea based on known characteristics with an overnight snore recorder that lets them compare their snoring to that of an actual sleep apnea patient. The app also features a sleep lab locator to help users find the sleep lab in their area.

ActiveCare gets blockbuster role

COLUMBIA, S.C. - ActiveCare Medical will be embedded in pop culture history when Transformers: Dark of the Moon hits movie theaters July 1. One of the Columbia, S.C.-based manufacturer's power wheelchairs was used by one of the film's stars, John Turturro, who plays Agent Simmons. The Wildcat 450 was introduced in 2010 as ActiveCare's first heavy-duty power wheelchair. It has a weight capacity of 450 pounds.

Medtrade adds to task force

ALPHARETTA, Ga. - Medtrade has named Jeff Woodham, senior vice president and general manager of The MED Group and Christa Miehe, vice president of events for The VGM Group, to its Blue Ribbon Task Force, it announced May 26. The task force is comprised of executives from Neilsen Expositions, industry associations, manufacturers and providers. It offers guidance on improving the Medtrade and Medtrade Spring conferences. Medtrade 2011 will take place Oct. 24 to 27 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

Short takes

Invacare's Mal Mixon and The VGM Group's Van Miller and James Walsh will host a reception for Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, at the 2011 Heartland Conference on June 7 at 1 p.m...Cigna Government Services will change its name to CGS on June 1. Cigna was recently acquired by BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina...The OIG has identified 10 Washington, D.C., Medicaid DME providers whose Medicare supplier numbers were in revoked status. Read more here ...Obel Martinez and Damaris Gil, owners and operators of OM Best Help Corp., have pled guilty for Medicare fraud, the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services announced last week. The couple submitted $1,089,234 in fraudulent claims...Noridian Administrative Services, the Jurisdiction D DME MAC, will shorten its supplier call center hours to 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. CST starting June 6.