Florida Providers Form New State Association

DORAL, Fla. — Sunshine State members of the Accredited Medical Equipment
Providers of America have banded together to form a new state
association, the Florida Alliance of Home Care Services, the group
announced Wednesday.

The news comes in tandem with this week’s announcement that the
Florida Association of Medical Equipment Services, which quietly
closed in January, is being restructured (see the upcoming March 23
issue of HomeCare Monday for more).

FAHCS grew out of calls from Florida home medical equipment
providers for stronger representation in the state and a state
voice at the national level, said Rob Brant, president of AMEPA and
owner of City
Medical Services in Miami.

“[AMEPA] members wanted to have representation in Tallahassee,”
Brant said, noting that legislators in Florida’s capital city are,
among other things, discussing cuts to Medicaid programs, bringing
competitive bidding back
for Medicaid and making changes to state licensure.

As well, he said, CMS is set to make another go at national
competitive bidding and Florida has two of the largest MSAs in the
first round of the program. So it is important, he said, for
Florida’s voice to be united on the national level as the battle
continues to sideline the DMEPOS bidding program permanently.

“We need stronger representation,” Brant said.

Roger Ribas, owner of Hometown
Medical Supply in Doral and president of the new organization,
said serious issues at both state and national levels demand that,
in order to be heard, state provider associations be strong and
effective in getting their message across.

“We really didn’t have any representation … We really had
no voice,” said Ribas, who told his fellow providers that FAHCS had
to exist “because no one has. There has been a hole in leadership
in this state and our patients are too important not to have a
voice.”

According to Sean Schwinghammer, a senior advisor to AMEPA who
will serve as acting director of FAHCS, more than 20 AMEPA members
from Florida attended AAHomecare’s Washington fly-in last month.
“Legislators wanted to know what our state association was,”
Schwinghammer said. “Our state association didn’t even have a phone
number.

“This is a major state in the number of providers, patients per
capita and therefore, it is vital that we have an active, engaged
organization to represent providers,” he added.

Once the decision was made to organize, the fledgling group
kicked into gear, talking with leaders in other successful state
associations and creating bylaws and a code of ethics for its
members. In addition to Ribas and Schwinghammer, the Alliance has
named Deana Rollyson of Matrix Medical, Plant City, as vice
president; Rudy Hernandez of South Florida Medical, Doral,
treasurer; and Jerry Hall of Hall-Moore Medical, Jacksonville,
secretary.

The new state association will not be a part of AMEPA, Brant
said. However, all Florida AMEPA members who have renewed their
membership in 2009 or who became members after June 30, 2008, will
automatically become FAHCS members. AMEPA has more than 130
accredited provider members from Florida, Brant said, and 20
additional Florida associate members such as manufacturers, billing
companies, consultants, attorneys and other industry vendors.

This week’s announcement that FAMES was reorganizing did not
deter FAHCS from moving forward. “FAHCS is not opposed to any group
that is trying to better the industry,” Schwinghammer said. The
important thing is that Florida providers get the leadership they
need on a state level, he said, and he believes FAHCS can provide
it.

“There was a lack of leadership and inability to respond at the
biggest crisis in the history of the industry,” Schwinghammer said,
referring to last year’s industry fight to derail competitive
bidding and halt the 36-month oxygen rental cap.

“We have many providers who are Medicaid providers,” he added.
“There has been no voice in changing state licensure issues, fraud
issues. We want to be really engaged with the state legislature and
the [Florida] Agency of Health Care Administration on rules and in
making sure the direction of government comports properly with the
reality of patient care and business.”

In addition, he said, “We have a code of professional conduct
that the board has already adopted and members will need to agree
to. We understand that Florida has been a hotbed of fraud, and it
needs to have a state association that is exceedingly active in the
elimination of fraud. We’ve got to be active in advising on
licensing, checks and balances to eliminate fraud … Combating
fraud is a prime issue of this organization. No one needs to do it
more than us.”

Continued Schwinghammer, “It’s vital that we speak and that we
lead. We’ve got to be active as the state representative, active on
the state level, active in education, active as the spokesperson
for the industry and very active in standing up for the
industry.”

While the organization’s Web site is not yet effective,
Schwinghammer invites inquiries at [email protected].