Tag: Health care reform
VGM helps providers position themselves as 'solution'
October 10, 2012HME News Staff
WATERLOO, Iowa - The VGM Group, at Medtrade next week, will launch the Outcomes Plus Wellness Network, a program designed to put HME providers on solid footing in a world of ACOs and other healthcare reform initiatives.Network offerings include outcomes monitoring, disease management guides, telehealth and disease management, home monitoring devices and compliance management, according to a press release.“To develop the strategic partnerships they covet, HME providers must bring value to these...
Lt. Governor pays call on provider
May 24, 2010Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
As one of East Texas' fastest-growing businesses--and a healthcare business to boot--Senior Respiratory Solutions was selected for a site visit by Lt. Governor David Dewhurst in April. David McDonald, president/owner of the Texarkana-based neb-med provider, spent two hours talking with Dewhurst about healthcare reform and the importance of creating good jobs. McDonald spoke with HME News recently about the visit.
HME News: So what did you have to say to Dewhurst about healthcare reform?
David...
Calling Daniel Webster. Put in a good word for bariatrics.
May 21, 2010Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
I chatted with Dr. Kevin Huffman yesterday about how health care reform will attempt to address our obesity epidemic by making sure docs get paid for treating the disease. As that happens, the docs and the patients will have conversations about the patient's needs, including bariatric durable medical equipment (you knew I was going to say that, didn't you?).
Huffman recently became a consultant to Gendron, which offers a line of bariatric DME.
Bariatric, said Huffman, will become a more common...
Sens. Baucus, Grassley urge CMS to use 'discretion' toward pharmacies
January 28, 2010Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A couple of marquee-name senators last week asked Medicare to cut some slack for pharmacies that have not gotten accredited.
In a Jan. 26 letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Ranking Member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, urged "discretion" in enforcing the requirement.
"They were concerned that CMS was going to start acting in a draconian fashion and crack down on pharmacies that haven't gone through accreditation,"...
Senate bigwigs haven't forgotten Rx exemption
January 26, 2010Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
Sens. Max Baucus and Charles Grassley sent a letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius yesterday asking her to cut some slack for pharmacies that haven't been accredited yet. The deadline for pharmacies passed Jan. 1 and with all that's happening in Congress lately, including their Christmas recess and the recent upset in the Senate, the NCPA and other stakeholders have been slowed in their efforts to get the deadline extended.
If CMS starts revoking billing privileges, beneficiaries could...
Medical profession skeptical about Walgreens plan
January 20, 2010Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
Well now I'm thoroughly confused. I just read an article about how a new program at Walgreens that would offer face-to-face consulting services for Type 2 diabetes patients is being panned. By the medical profession.
Now, I realize there is no love lost among independent pharmacies for Walgreens. But, at the heart of the issue, isn't this sort of service supposed to help the patients—and save the health care system money? Isn't this sort of service what's supposed to separate the good...
Don't get left out in the cold
December 18, 2009Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
It's bitterly cold here today in our little corner of New England, although today's weather is an improvement over yesterday when temps could most optimistically be described as bone-chilling.
As I scurried from my car, I thought of all the seniors who were probably staying inside, safe from icy walkways and blowing winds. Many of them, the ones providers are most familiar with, are homebound for health reasons as well. They have limited mobility or may be on oxygen and find it too cumbersome...
Not every cat has nine lives. And that's OK.
November 30, 2009Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
There was a reader essay in my local Maine Sunday paper yesterday: a goodbye to a "much-loved" cat. The cat, a 16-year-old Siamese, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
From diagnosis to death: a visit to the emergency vet; an ultrasound to reveal a grapefruit-sized tumor; a visit to a pet ultrasound specialist in New Hampshire; a visit to a veterinary cancer surgeon in Boston; scripts for kitty painkillers and appetite stimulants; a visit to a local veterinary cancer specialist; a holistic veterinarian...
Health care reform and the $22,000 employee
November 25, 2009Theresa Flaherty, Managing Editor
So, I am reading some health care reform news today on Crain's New York Business.com and there is an article about how disease state management programs can reign in costs for diabetes patients. I don't belong to such a program, but I agree with the concept.
Apparently, UnitedHealthcare tested just such a plan this year with three national employers. What shocked me was that United says the average health care costs for an employee with diabetes (keep in mind, if they are employed, they...