In brief: Inogen accelerates, C.R. Bard settles, NCPA warns
By HME News Staff
Updated 10:34 AM CST, Wed January 29, 2025
GOLETA, Calif. – Inogen has entered a strategic collaboration with Jiangsu Yutue Medical Equipment & Supply Co. (Yuwell) to broaden its product portfolio through distribution of certain respiratory products in the United States, expand and enhance its innovation pipeline through joint R&D efforts and accelerate its entry into the Chinese market.
As part of the collab, Yuwell, which generated more than $1 billion in revenue in 2023, has also agreed to invest about $27.2 million into Inogen, representing a 9.9% common equity interest.
“The collaboration with Yuwell is a pivotal step in accelerating Inogen's growth trajectory,” said Kevin Smith, president and CEO of Inogen. “By expanding our product portfolio, global presence and enhancing our innovation pipeline, we expect to be well-positioned to capture new market opportunities. This collaboration supports our commitment to delivering long-term value to our shareholders and reinforces our vision of establishing Inogen as a platform for best-in-class respiratory solutions for patients across the globe. We are confident that our collaboration with Yuwell will play a crucial role in our continued success."
The collaboration agreement is effective immediately. Yuwell’s equity purchase is expected to close during the first quarter of 2025, subject to certain customary closing conditions.
Yuwell has a broad portfolio across respiratory treatment, diabetes management, electronic diagnostic products, first aid solutions and rehabilitation, among other areas. It has nine state-of-the-art R&D centers and seven advanced product facilities, with a global presence that spans more than 100 countries and supports more than 300,000 health care institutions.
“Inogen is a leader in the respiratory therapy market and our strategic collaboration provides both parties with the ability to broaden their geographic reach and further meet patient needs across the world,” said ALex Wu, chairman of Yuwell. “Yuwell shares Inogen’s commitment to developing and providing innovative, quality products and we believe that together we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of respiratory patients. Together, Yuwell and Inogen aim to define the next generation of respiratory products.”
C.R. Bard agrees to $17M settlement following kick-back allegations
ATLANTA – C.R. Bard and its affiliates, Liberator Medical Supply, Liberator Holdings and Rochester Medical, have agreed to pay $17 million to resolve allegations that they provided free samples and discounts to encourage urology practice groups to use their prescription form for prescribing intermittent catheters for their patients, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Georgia.
The provision of remuneration – anything of value – to induce a physician to prescribe certain devices over others is prohibited by the Anti-Kickback Statute, 42 U.S.C. § 1320a-7b.
“Patients should be able to trust the recommendations they receive from their physician are what’s best for their health, not what’s financially beneficial to another provider,” said Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. “We’re committed to putting a stop to any type of fraud or abuse within our health care system while protecting taxpayer dollars no matter the amount.”
The government alleges that, between 2016 and February 2020, sales reps for Bard, which acquired Rochester Medical and began marketing intermittent catheters in 2013, began leveraging discounts on and free samples of in-office urological products to convince urology practice groups to make its Link prescription form – which listed the various Bard intermittent catheters – the standard catheter prescription form for its group. The patients would then take the Link prescription to a DME supplier to purchase the catheters.
Two years later, after Bard acquired Liberator Medical and Liberator Holdings to create its own medical equipment subsidiary for the sale of intermittent catheters directly to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, the government alleges Bard used the Link prescription form to encourage urology practices to prescribe intermittent catheters through Liberator Medical rather than other DME suppliers.
The settlement resolves allegations filed by Dirk Etheridge, a former employee of 180 Medical, under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Act. Etheridge will receive a share of the settlement.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, Defense Criminal Investigative Service, and the Georgia State Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Division investigated this case.
ACU-Serve adds home health expert to sales team
AKRON, Ohio – ACU-Serve has appointed Sidney S. Simmons III as its new executive vice president of sales. Simmons, based in Jacksonville, Fla., will oversee the company’s sales team and lead initiatives to optimize and expand its sales operations, as well as expand its reach in the home health and hospice markets. “Sid’s deep industry relationships, innovative strategies and love for the product and people make him the ideal leader to guide our sales team through this exciting time growth phase,” said Jim Knight, president and CEO of ACU-Serve. “We’re confident his expertise will further strengthen ACU-Serve's position as a trusted partner in health care revenue cycle optimization.” Simmons began his career in software development before transitioning to leadership roles in sales and operations. At Forcura, which provides software solutions to the home health and hospice markets, he played a crucial role in scaling the company’s growth between 2016 and 2020, culminating in its successful acquisition by a private equity firm. Over the last four years, he served as vice president of sales for The Corridor Group, a software provider acquired by WellSky in 2023.
- Related: ACU-Serve recently hired Heather Randel to build out an Infusion Division in a move that allows the company to increase its services to specialty providers and play an important role in improving their intake.
- Related: In 2023, ACU-Serve received a significant investment from Lovell Minnick Partners to take the revenue cycle management company to the next level.
BOC announces slate of new leaders
OWINGS MILLS, Md. – The Board of Certification/Accreditation has named the members of the Executive Committee of its board of directors. Members of the committee are:
- Chairman: Cameron Stewart, BOCO, BOCP, co-founder of Alcam Medical Orthotics and Prosthetics in Riverside, Calif.
- Vice-chairman: Abel Guevara III, DHA, MHIM, eFACHDM, RHIA, mMBA, CPhT-Adv, CDME, vice president of DME for MedicusRx in Houston
- Secretary: Angela Presley, Ph.D., BOCPD, COF, program manager of entrepreneurship at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H.
- Treasurer: Daniel Griffis III, PharmD, pharmacist in charge for Rainbow Drugstore in Brunswick, Ga.
- Member-at-large: L. Bradley “Brad” Watson, BOCO, BOCP, LPO, past president and regional manager for Clarksville Limb and Brace Inc., a Bionic Company, in Clarksville, Tenn.
BOC has also announced two new board members: Sangeeta Bhambhani, a regional manager and O&P practitioner for Bionic Prosthetics & Orthotics in Mishawaka, Ind., and Diana Klunk, CMF, a mastectomy fitter for Perfect Match Boutique in Camp Hill, Pa. Additionally, the association has announced that Wayne R. Rosen, immediate past chair, has retired from the board.
NCPA warns CMS about drug program
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association has submitted comments to CMS warning that more than 90% of independent pharmacies may decide, or have already decided, not to stock drugs in the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program due to financial losses that will potentially put them out of business. “Pharmacies will have to float thousands of dollars every month waiting for refunds from the manufacturers,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey. “That will cause a massive cash flow problem in an environment where thousands of pharmacies have already closed.” In its comments, NCPA cited a recent national survey of independent pharmacists that found 93.2% of respondents have already decided not to stock the drugs in the program, or they are considering not stocking them. The NCPA says if CMS and the new administration want to save the program, and if they want to prevent the disappearance of many more pharmacies, they will make a number of changes, including barring PBMs from requiring pharmacies to participate in the program to serve Medicare Part D patients and giving pharmacies the ability to cancel PBM contracts without cause.
- To read the NCPA’s comments in full, go here.
- Related: NCPA survey results show ‘ominous amount of pressure.’
New research: Wheelchair service delivery process in need of reform
YARMOUTH, Maine – Stakeholders don’t think the wheelchair service delivery process is performing well, citing negative views on funding, procurement, maintenance and repairs, according to the results of a survey from researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Michigan and The Ohio State University. Only 18% of the 1,052 stakeholders who responded to a cross-sectional, observational, online questionnaire reported they felt positively about the process, a research article on the survey states. “Funding and procurement was viewed in the least positive light, with 5% positive responses,” it states. “Follow-up, maintenance, and repair was the second least positive component, with 9% positive responses. Fitting, training, and delivery was viewed most positively with over 42% positive responses.” Of the stakeholders who responded, 41% were clinicians, 30% suppliers, 24% consumers/caregivers, 3% manufacturers and 2% payers. Researchers say the results should be used to identify strategic areas to reform practice, policy, device and service delivery. “Considerable reform will be necessary to achieve consistently acceptable outcomes for those who rely on wheelchairs to fully participate in society,” the article states.
NCPA joins price-fixing lawsuit
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Community Pharmacists Association has joined a class action lawsuit against GoodRx, as well as CVS Caremark, Express Scripts, MedImpact Healthcare Systems and Navitus Health Solutions, that accuses them of colluding in a scheme to fix reimbursement rates to independent pharmacies. The lawsuit, brought by Community Care Rx, an independent pharmacy in Michigan, alleges that GoodRx and several PBMs are violating federal antitrust law by sharing competitively sensitive information and using it to set the lowest possible reimbursement rates with no apparent benefit to the patient. “GoodRx’s business model already potentially misleads consumers by preferentially listing some large chain pharmacies in their search results despite the higher-ranked pharmacies having higher prices, excluding nearly all independent pharmacies from appearing in the results,” said NCPA CEO B. Douglas Hoey. “The actions alleged in this class action suit further disadvantage small businesses and cater to PBMs.” The lawsuit alleges GoodRx is aggregating competitively sensitive data from the named PBMs, including their reimbursement rates for independent pharmacies, and then distributing each discount card transaction to the PBM with the lowest rate. In other words, the NCPA says, the PBMs agree not to compete with each other for pharmacy services and in exchange they are guaranteed never to reimburse independent pharmacies more than the rock-bottom rate. The case has been brought in the Central District of California.
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