industry

HME

  • Industry Standards

    One of the platforms I have preached for many years is that there are far too few standards for products offered to Medicare beneficiaries. The price CMS pays to DME dealers usually is the same for a quality walker as it is for a cheap knockoff. Invariably, the knockoff may look the same as the quality unit, but that is normally as far as it goes. The knockoffs often break down, and many do not have the same life expectancy as the quality items. Can you compare a walker that may cost the dealer $50 (or more) with one that is sold to him for $15 or less? We need standards, and they should be strict and enforceable. To push for standards, I recommend that…
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  • They May Not Need You Yet

    This is no Medtrade. That’s something Reece Franklin hears over and over from the home medical equipment businesses that exhibit at his Southern California Senior Expo. The first clue might be the large dance floor, last year placed in the back corner of the Ontario, Calif., Convention Center. Others might be the cruise ship exhibitors and the Lion’s Club booth. At this show, instead of manufacturers marketing to providers, providers market to consumers. At its inaugural event last October, roughly 6,000 people walked through the turnstiles onto the show floor. The expo sold 249 out of 250 booths and had 187 vendors. Among them, 11 were DME dealers, each marketing directly to potential customers, social workers and other referral sources. “There’s been an explosion of…
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  • Latest HME News

  • The Scooter Store Lays Off 200

    New Braunfels, Texas In January, The Scooter Store announced the layoff of 200 employees, a move the company attributes to the clarification of Medicare’s power wheelchair coverage policy, issued in December by the durable medical equipment regional carriers. “We deeply regret the necessity of reducing our work force,” Margaret McGuckin, the company’s executive vice president of marketing, stated in a press release. “Unfortunately, we have no choice since the unreasonable new ‘clarification,’ when its full impact is felt, may prevent us from serving thousands of disabled elderly people who, with power mobility, would have been able to continue to live independently.” Under the DMERCs’ clarification, issued as part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ 10-point plan to curb power wheelchair fraud and abuse,…
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  • The Scooter Store Lays Off 200

    New Braunfels, Texas In January, The Scooter Store announced the layoff of 200 employees, a move the company attributes to the clarification of Medicare’s power wheelchair coverage policy, issued in December by the durable medical equipment regional carriers. “We deeply regret the necessity of reducing our work force,” Margaret McGuckin, the company’s executive vice president of marketing, stated in a press release. “Unfortunately, we have no choice since the unreasonable new ‘clarification,’ when its full impact is felt, may prevent us from serving thousands of disabled elderly people who, with power mobility, would have been able to continue to live independently.” Under the DMERCs’ clarification, issued as part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ 10-point plan to curb power wheelchair fraud and abuse,…
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  • Industry Stakeholders Fight DMERC Power Wheelchair Clarification

    Washington In response to the policy clarification on power wheelchairs issued in December by the four DMERCs, industry stakeholders continue their opposition and have requested an open dialog with the Baltimore-based Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on the issue. According to the DMERCs’ new clarification, power wheelchairs will be covered only for “patients who are non-ambulatory.” (See “The Scooter Store Lays Off 200,” page 8.) Industry advocates have also said that the clarification’s medical review guidelines may be applied retroactively. “The application of these new policies to beneficiaries who have already received power wheelchairs that met the previously accepted coverage criterion will cause irreparable harm to both beneficiaries and suppliers,” said American Association for Homecare President and CEO Kay Cox. In a December letter…
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  • Apria Signs OSA Suppliers, Does Not Renew Gentiva Contract

    Lake Forest, Calif. To accommodate the growing sleep apnea market, Apria Healthcare has extended its purchasing relationship with Murrysville, Pa.-based Respironics and has also signed shared primary supplier agreements with New Zealand-based Fisher & Paykel and Longmont, Colo.-based Sunrise Medical. Respironics will remain a shared primary supplier for all CPAP sleep therapy units and accessories. The company will be the primary supplier for all bi-level and smart CPAP devices for the sleep apnea market and the single-source supplier for all infant apnea and sleep diagnostic equipment. Respironics will also continue as a shared primary supplier for volume ventilators. Lisa Getson, Apria’s executive vice president, business development/clinical services, said the provider also named Fisher & Paykel as a shared primary supplier. Under terms of the agreement,…
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  • Court Blocks California Medicaid Reimbursement Reductions

    Sacramento, Calif. Citing potential beneficiary access problems, a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in December blocking provider cuts to Medi-Cal, the California Medicaid program, that were slated to go into effect Jan. 1. The cuts were part of a compromise budget proposal passed last summer by the state legislature and signed by then-governor Gray Davis. For California HME providers, the ruling affects those who sell disposable medical supplies such as incontinence supplies, said Bob Achermann, executive director of the California Association of Medical Product Suppliers (CAMPS). A 5 percent reduction of DME was “discretionary for the [California Department of Health],” he said. The department has not said it would enact the reductions yet, and they probably will not do so, he explained, “because of…
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  • Enough Already!

    For years, many of HomeCare‘s contributors have called for providers to take advantage of the opportunities that exist in retail. Unfortunately, according to sales guru Louis Feuer, “Most HME dealers seem to find cash a foreign substance. They often have no place to put it or store it, and find those CMNs so much easier to deal with.” Because over-the-counter sales are so unknown to some providers, Shelly Prial often quips that “cash” is not a dirty word. “The transaction is completed when money changes hands. No paperwork, no forms to fill out,” Prial says. The jokes are funny, but they reflect reality. According to our recent Retail Survey (page 22 in this issue), revenues generated from retail sales comprise only about 14 percent of…
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  • Bush Signs Medicare Reform Bill As Industry Braces for Impact

    Washington After a months-long battle on Capitol Hill, President Bush signed Medicare reform legislation into law Dec. 8. Among its provisions, The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 mandates a five-year Consumer Price Index freeze for DME beginning this year. It phases in DME competitive bidding in the nation’s top 10 metropolitan statistical areas in 2007 with expansion to the top 80 MSAs in 2009, after which the Department of Health and Human Services could extend competitive bidding nationwide. Beginning in 2005, the Medicare reform law calls for reimbursement cuts on a string of items, including oxygen, wheelchairs, nebulizers, diabetic suppplies, hospital beds and air mattresses, based on the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) median. The new law also reduces reimbursement…
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  • DMERCs Issue Power Wheelchair Policy Clarification

    Baltimore Following the 10-point initiative called Operation Wheeler Dealer by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services/Office of Inspector General to curb fraud and abuse of the Medicare power wheelchair benefit, last month the four durable medical equipment regional carriers announced a clarification of the local medical review policy for power wheelchairs and the adoption of “a consistent approach” to medical review of power wheelchair claims. The Medicare Coverage Issues Manual/60-9 states that Medicare will cover a wheelchair if the patient’s condition would otherwise confine him to a bed or chair. A power wheelchair is covered if the patient is unable to operate a wheelchair manually. According to the DMERCs’ new clarification, power wheelchairs will be covered only for “patients who are nonambulatory.” In bulletins…
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  • Provider News

    Genesis Health Ventures Completes Spin-Off, Changes Name to NeighborCare: Kennett Square, Pa.-based Genesis Health Ventures (GHV) has completed the spin-off of its eldercare and rehabilitation businesses into a separate publicly traded company, Genesis HealthCare Corp., and has changed its name to NeighborCare. NeighborCare, an institutional pharmacy provider, also provides infusion therapy services, home medical equipment, respiratory therapy services and community-based retail pharmacies. The company serves 32 states and the District of Columbia. Centura Health at Home to Launch Telehealth Program: Centura Health at Home, a Denver provider of home care, hospice, oxygen and home medical equipment, will launch a pilot telehealth program designed to reduce hospitalizations and emergency room visits for congestive heart failure patients. Medical products used in the patient’s home, such as an…
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  • The Sweet RING! of Retail

    How does your HME business compare to the industry norm when it comes to retail? To find out, check the following results of HomeCare‘s exclusive Retail Survey to determine the industry’s retailing benchmarks. An accompanying analysis by HME retail expert Jack Evans of Global Media Marketing looks at progress the industry has made in retail since HomeCare last conducted this survey in 2001 (not much, Evans says) and the opportunities that exist (a lot of them, he points out) in what could be (if you approach it correctly) a very lucrative area. A successful and profitable retail showroom for home medical equipment providers is not something that magically appears out of thin air. Rather, it is the result of careful store layout, a thorough understanding…
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