Heard at Medtrade

While sessions on accreditation packed them in at Medtrade Spring last month, show attendees were buzzing about a variety of current industry issues.

By HomeCare Staff

While sessions on accreditation packed them in at Medtrade Spring last month, show attendees were buzzing about a variety of current industry issues.

On the PMD IFR: “We have a real issue because a lot of our physicians … don’t know the type of technical, specific information that CMS is requiring in order to fund power mobility. We’re having to have therapists write letters to the doctors so the doctors can then ask specific questions to get [the information] in their progress notes. We have pretty much planned that for any power mobility device it is going to take from three to six months to get approval.”
— Carrie VanQuathem, MS, PT, ChildServe, Johnston, Iowa

On government reimbursement changes: “The ramifications are huge with what it’s doing to business and the industry. It almost seems as if the government has decided to punish our industry. It’s astounding to me that something as serious as the 36-month cap on oxygen and the 13-month cap on HME can happen the way it happened in the middle of the night with almost no industry debate. I think it’s causing people to be unsure about making investment decisions because … they may go and change the rules again next week.”
— Mal Mixon, chairman and CEO, Invacare Corp., Elyria, Ohio
On President Bush’s proposed 2007 budget: “I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it’s not going to happen. That would be crippling, not just for us but for the patient as well. A lot of Medicare recipients are on fixed incomes and now they have to make the decision “Do I pay to have my concentrator serviced and eat cat food?” They only have so much money … I think [shortening the oxygen rental period to 13 months] would really hurt them much more than it would help.”
— Wayne D. Cherry, program director, Northern Illinois Home Medical Supply, Sterling, Ill.
On the HME climate: “In ’97-’98 we had large 30 to 40 percent cuts coming, but at least with them we could make business plans based on what was going to happen. This time it’s like death by a thousand cuts — it just keeps coming … and you don’t know what it’s going to be or how bad it’s going to be.”
— Rick Glass, Steven Richards & Associates, Tarpon Springs, Fla.
On the 36-month oxygen rental cap: “What’s bad is that they believe a three-year cap will save money. But God forbid something happens to the patient and the patient ends up calling 911 and they end up going into the hospital. There’s a $5,000 or $10,000 bill right there, so that doesn’t make any sense to me.”
— Jonathan Perryman, physical therapist, Accellence, Reno, Nev.
On a positive note: “We’ve been in the business a long time and there are still lots of challenges and lots of bumps in the road, but that’s what makes it interesting. I’ve been around 25 years, and I’m going to be around another 25 years!”
— Shirley Curley (with husband Ed), president, Hudson Home HealthCare, Newington, Conn.

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