Apria Begins Billing Office Consolidation

LAKE FOREST, Calif. — As part of a consolidation of its
billing offices announced earlier this year, Apria Healthcare will
move at least 200 employees into a new facility in Overland Park,
Kan., by the end of the summer.

The 101,000-sq. ft. office location, part of Sprint Nextel’s $1
billion headquarters campus, will expand to between 450 and 550
employees in three to four years, according to Apria Executive Vice
President Lisa Getson.

The current billing and collection jobs will be moved from
“other relatively large respiratory/HME billing centers” in
Washington, Oregon, Hawaii, Illinois, Ohio, Florida and
Connecticut, Getson said. Those facilities will gradually
consolidate into the Overland Park center and two others in
Jackson, Tenn., and Tempe, Ariz.

In all, 13 billing centers will be affected over the next 12
months, closing by mid-2010.

Separately, Getson said, two large Medicare respiratory/HME
billing centers will consolidate into a single location in
Canonsburg, Pa., on the same timeline.

“Unfortunately, Medicare cuts are translating directly into
staff reductions in these states,” said Getson, adding that “Apria
is doing everything it can to minimize the impact on employees.”
The company announced the closings internally in mid-April and is
offering career counseling and relocation assistance if affected
employees want to move to one of the three consolidated centers or
to other jobs within the Apria network.

Apria already has 250 employees in Overland Park area offices,
including respiratory/HME branches, a home infusion therapy
pharmacy and an inhalation therapy/diabetic supply pharmacy.

Citing home oxygen cuts of 27 percent this year due to the
36-month cap and the 9.5 percent DME reimbursement reduction,
Getson said “the company must continue to find ways to lower costs
to become even more efficient in order to position itself to
navigate the cuts in the short term and continue to serve patients
over the long term.”