industry

HME

  • Manual Wheelchairs

    TiLite/Wheelchair ZRA Call 800/545-2266. Web site: www.tilite.com Circle 450 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. Nova Ortho-Med/Wheelchair Star Standard Wheelchair Call 800/557-6682. Web site: www.novaorthomed.com Circle 449 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. Innovation in Motion/Wheelchair Jewel MPS Call 800/327-0681. Web site: www.vestil.com/wc Circle 448 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. Drive Medical Design & Mfg./Wheelchair Viper Plus Call 877/224-0946. Web site: www.drivemedical.com Circle 447 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. Market Insight “[The manual wheelchair market emphasizes] the influence of weight across the entire manual product category, rigids through manual tilt. Customer feedback [has been] to make a product as light and maneuverable as possible without compromising adjustability.” — Myria Crawford, Mobility Marketing Manager, Sunrise Medical Pride Mobility Products/Wheelchair Stylus Call 800/800-8586. Web site:…
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  • Prescription for Change

    It’s been a few weeks since Dec. 8, when President Bush signed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 into law. With regard to its impact on the home medical equipment industry, this is, without a doubt, the most devastating package of legislation ever passed by Congress. The following summary details some of the many HME-related provisions in the new law and explains the potential impact of those provisions on individual providers and the industry as a whole. Mandatory Accreditation The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services will establish and implement “quality standards” to be applied by independent accreditation organizations. Durable medical equipment suppliers must comply with these standards in order to furnish DME to Medicare beneficiaries and to receive and…
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  • Latest HME News

  • How Bad Is It, Really?

    Is the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 better or worse than we expected? How will it affect your company? Our lawyer friends would answer, “It depends.” There are some effects that we can quantify and that prove the lawyers’ answer right. For example, 13 million seniors not previously covered will get prescription drug coverage. Retail pharmacies will register a net increase in sales of about $12 billion in 2004 — a 6 percent jump that will grow at 13 percent per year. So, is it all bad if your company is a pharmacy or a combination pharmacy and durable medical equipment provider? Out-of-pocket spending for drugs by seniors is currently about $11 billion per year. Seniors will reallocate some of that…
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  • At the Head of the Troops

    For more than 12 years — and 25 if you count his experience in policy-making positions at various local, state and federal levels — David T. Williams has devoted his career to changing governmental policy for the benefit of home medical equipment providers, manufacturers and consumers. His co-workers and peers say Williams ranks among “the best minds in the industry” when it comes to developing and implementing strategies to influence the regulatory and legislative processes that govern the industry. And it is for his deep commitment to the industry that judges of HomeCare‘s HomeCaring Awards for 2003 chose Williams as a recipient of the honor. While much of his involvement takes place behind the scenes, in one clear example of his personal diligence, Williams sought…
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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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  • 10 Merchandising and Design DO’s for Home Care Retail

    The philosophy of designing a contemporary, successful home health care store is based on addres-sing the kind of image that today’s home medical equipment providers want to convey. Stores should communicate caring, warmth, convenience and information — all the things that customers are depending on you to provide. These attributes can be achieved through the effective use of store layout, product variety, decor and, of course, knowledgeable personnel. Using these tools, HME dealers can successfully overcome the “identity crisis,” long associated with home health care products, that comes from consumers’ lack of awareness that these products exist — and the fact that people would rather not have to use them. The challenge for providers is to educate both the patient and the caregiver, and to…
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  • Join HomeCare at Medtrade Spring for : Trading Spaces, HME Style

    Led by Jack Evans and Ed Lemar, two of the industry’s leading retail showroom designers, this special hands-on workshop will teach you how to redesign your own HME showroom. You will see what successful home health retail stores look like and how they: Once you’ve learned about these key components, work with others to “build” a better showroom, and talk with the session leaders about improving your own store. Toss out your old gondolas! Open up your towering shadowed aisles! Learn how to make your showrooms inviting, open spaces that can work to generate sales! Wednesday, March 17 8:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Medtrade Spring Las Vegas Convention Center Sponsored by HomeCare® “A successful and profitable retail showroom is not something that magically appears out…
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  • Medicare Reform Bill Passes, Includes Competitive Bidding

    WASHINGTON — After months of intense debate and political infighting, including a pre-dawn vote in the House of Representatives and a day-long showdown in the Senate, Congress passed a sweeping Medicare reform bill in late November. At press time, President Bush was expected to sign the measure into law on Dec. 8. Negotiated in conference committee since the summer, the final version of the reform package is a compromise agreement that gained late favor after endorsement by AARP, the powerful seniors group with 35 million members. The main component of the legislation, which marks the first major overhaul of Medicare in its 38-year history, is a new prescription drug benefit for the 40 million beneficiaries now covered by the vast government program. But the bill’s…
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