industry

HME

  • Manual Wheelchairs

    Sunrise/Manual Wheelchair Quickie Ti Titanium Call 888/333-2572. Web site: www.sunrisemedical.com Circle 425 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. Wheelchairs of Kansas/Manual Wheelchair BCW Advantage Call 800/537-6454. Web site: www.wheelchairsofkansas.com Circle 433 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. Essential Medical Supply/Manual Wheelchair Ultimate Heavy Duty Transport Chair Call 800/826-8423. Web site: www.essentialmedicalsupply.com Circle 428 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. Tuffcare/Manual Wheelchair Venture Dual Axle Model 287 Call 954/977-4450. Web site: www.tuffcare.com Circle 430 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. TiSport/Manual Wheelchair TiLite Evo Call 800/545-2266. Web site: www.tisport.net Circle 427 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. Convaid/Manual Wheelchair Rodeo Tilt-in-Space Call 888/266-8243. Web site: www.convaid.com Circle 431 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. ConvaQuip/Manual Wheelchair Model 900XL Series Call 800/637-8436. Web site: www.convaquip.com Circle 424…
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  • You Should Be Committed

    It always rewards me to hear from home medical equipment providers — the conversations are great. These entrepreneurs are always filled with unique ideas about ways they plan to improve their businesses and increase their profits. They tell me how they will remodel and change their showrooms. I applaud their efforts and always encourage these providers to follow through on their ideas. But, when I ask the same providers a few weeks later how they are progressing with their plans, too often I hear something like this: “Well, Shelly, you know how busy we are and I just never got around to it.” This does not sit well with me. Why? These providers did not make a commitment to themselves to follow through on good…
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  • Latest HME News

  • Congressional Outlook

    Against the backdrop of war, Congress is trying to go about its regular business. At this writing, both houses are working to pass budget resolutions for 2004. Fortunately, the House of Representatives’ budget resolution, which originally called for severe cuts in Medicare, has been modified so that Medicare is protected. This favorable change came about as a result of the strident protests of health care providers and suppliers, including the American Association for Homecare and its members. Although the nearly evenly divided Senate just passed a budget resolution, whether that resolution can be reconciled successfully with the House version is questionable. However, whether or not a budget resolution is finally enacted, and no matter what that resolution contains, we can expect Congress to attempt to…
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  • Searching for Peace in Rehab

    Advances in medicine and technology, and the demographics of an aging population provide unprecedented opportunities for growth in the rehab industry. But rather than enjoying the ride, there is dissent in the air. Over the years, the word rehab has been used to describe the mobility products and assistive technology market of the home medical equipment services industry as if it were one product segment. It is not. In fact, three distinct market segments that fall under the rehab label. And, not only do these segments not look like each other, they don’t much like each other. Standard Products The standard rehab products market segment includes walkers, canes, crutches, standard wheelchairs and other items that are used to rehabilitate individuals who are recovering from strokes,…
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  • AAHomecare Meets with Key Policy Advisors

    Washington One way to influence Congress’ decisions is to convince the policy advisors who provide data to lawmakers. Following this model, the American Association for Homecare last month intensified its lobbying efforts, meeting with representatives from both the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission and the U.S. General Accounting Office, to discuss drug pricing and national competitive bidding for durable medical equipment. AAHomecare first met with representatives from the GAO, the government office in charge of evaluating the success of Medicare’s two DME competitive bidding demonstrations. Representing the Coalition for Access to Medical Services, Equipment and Technology, AAHomecare and several consumer advocates told the GAO that competitive bidding is not good for providers, manufacturers or consumers. “I think we demonstrated to the GAO how complex this issue…
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  • AAHomecare Task Force Submits Code Applications to CMS

    Alexandria, Va. In its ongoing effort to clarify and expand Medicare’s and Medicaid’s coding system for rehab and assistive technology products, AAHomecare’s Re/hab and Assistive Technology Council Coding Task Force last month submitted more than 20 code applications to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The task force, which consists of rehab suppliers and manufacturers, has worked for more than two years to develop consensus proposals for codes in the categories of alternative positioning, ambulatory products, bath safety, configured seating, manual wheelchairs and wheelchair accessories. Its mission —” to identify coding deficiencies in the current Medicare [HCFA Common Procedure Coding System] with respect to rehab products” — is critical in light of upcoming regulatory deadlines, AAHomecare said. “All private and public payers must use…
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  • Connaughton Explains Decision to Resign as AAHomecare President

    Alexandria, Va. After serving three years as the public face of the Ameri-can Association for Homecare, Tom Connaughton March 21 announced he will resign as president of the association, effective mid June, 2003. “This decision is indeed a bitter sweet one,” Connaughton told HomeCare. “I have loved working with this industry and with my staff, and I believe very strongly in the importance of this industry. However, an opportunity has arisen in a company that I have represented in the past, and, at this time in my career, it’s something that I want to do.” In his new position — at the helm of a medical manufacturer’s Washington office — Connaughton likely will not address home care issues, he said. Cook Group, based in Bloomingon,…
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  • New Products

    Editor’s Choice: The Sunrise Medical Standard Wheelchair Line Guardian Easy Care Wheelchair Family Call 888/333-2572. Web site: www.sunrisemedical.com Circle 500 or visit www.homecaremag.com for company information. Manufacturer’s Note: “In speaking with our customers, we were often asked to provide a line of standard wheelchairs that offered industry compatibility at a competitive cost. Our new line of Guardian Easy Care wheelchairs provides our customers with an excellent alternative to many of the current standard wheelchairs on the market. Our customers now will be able to offer their clients a variety of manual mobility products unequaled in the industry. Whether our customers need a cost-competitive, industry-compatible wheelchair such as the Guardian Easy Care or a highly innovative lightweight product such as the Quickie Ti Titanium, we will…
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  • OIG Warns: No Telemarketing

    Washington For the second time this year, the U.S. Office of Inspector General has posted a special fraud alert concerning telemarketing and durable medical
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  • What About Service?

    Perhaps more than ever before, home medical equipment providers face issues that present direct challenges to their business success. Competitive bidding,
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  • Balancing Act

    Last year, the four durable medical equipment regional carriers issued supplier-manual updates requiring home medical equipment suppliers, in certain circumstances such as pre-and post-pay audits, to submit physician progress notes to substantiate medical necessity for a particular claim. Then, in December, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, in its certificate of medical necessity submission to the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, reported “suppliers and physicians will complete these [CMN] forms and as needed supply additional routine supporting documentation necessary to process claims.” To put it plainly, CMS and the DMERCs have placed the burden on DME suppliers to provide to the DMERCs copies of physician progress notes to determine whether the medical necessity criteria were met for a particular claim. The CMN…
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  • National News Wire

    Regulatory: CMS Publishes Contractor Standards: The Baltimore-based Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Feb. 25 published an announcement in the Federal Register, describing the criteria whereby Medicare will evaluate its durable medical equipment regional carriers during 2003. “The results of [these] evaluations are considered whenever we enter into, renew or terminate a … DMEPOS regional carrier contract or take other contract actions,” the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services wrote. Although the proposed standards — which include criteria for claims processing, customer service and fiscal responsibility — took effect March 3, CMS will accept comments on the standards until March 31. More information about these standards is available at www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/a030228c.html, under the CMS heading. FDA Publishes Device User-Fee Rates: The Feb. 28 Federal Register included…
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