HomeCare News

BALTIMORE—CMS announced Wednesday it has scheduled the next Home Health, Hospice & DME Open Door Forum for Tuesday, June 30, from 2 to 3 p.m. ET.
 
To attend the meeting in person, an RSVP and security
clearance is required. RSVP no later than 2 p.m. ET, June 26 (Friday). 

SACRAMENTO—California HME providers are working feverishly to stave off the Medicaid hits that keep on coming as the beleaguered state tries to cut itself out of a budget mess that has left it $25 billion in the red.
           

HALIFAX, Va.—“It’s health-care-reform-crazy in Washington this week.” That’s how Wayne Stanfield described the Capitol Hill wrangling over reform proposals, which has risen to fever pitch as congressional committees with jurisdiction over health care issues scurry to figure out how to pay for the overhaul. 
 

BALTIMORE—CMS has set up a new Web site about health information technology as provided for under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
 
The site gives information on health IT infrastructure and standards and details on incentives for the adoption of electronic health records for physicians, hospitals and others. The agency said those incentives will begin in 2011.
 

WASHINGTON—Marking the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Olmstead decision, President Barack Obama has announced “The Year of Community Living,” an effort to assist Americans with disabilities.
 

MIAMI — Florida's Agency for Health Care Administration said last week it is zeroing in on home oxygen providers suspected of defrauding the Medicaid program.

BALTIMORE — According to a Thursday alert, CMS has become aware of a scam in which perpetrators are sending faxes to physician offices posing as the Medicare carrier or Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC).

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.

SANDWICH, Mass. — Cape Medical Supply CEO Gary Sheehan got the word out about home care to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick at a June 5 forum on health care reform. The invitation-only event was held at Boston's Tufts New England Medical Center.

NEW BERLIN, Wis. — Home Care Medical, founded by father and son David and Richard Rolfs in 1974, is celebrating its 35th anniversary. The company, which started with two employees and 1,100 customers in the Milwaukee area, had grown to serving most of southeastern Wisconsin by 1983.

DAVENPORT, Iowa — Kelly's Medical Equipment & Supply has moved to new digs in an effort to grow its retail business. Owner Bill Kellenberger told the Quad Cities Business News that due to Medicare cuts, "we needed more walk-ins." The company now occupies 7,500 square feet of a former Kunkels Sport Center building. Kelly's also has stores in Moline, Geneseo, Kewanee and Galesburg, Ill., and Clinton, Iowa.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Pediatric Home Service has earned The Joint Commission's certificate of distinction in disease-specific care for its pediatric asthma program, the only U.S. program independent of a hospital or health care organization with the certification.

On Wednesday, AARP threw its weight behind the bipartisan "Medicare Transitional Care Act," introduced by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., and Susan Collins, R-Maine. The legislation would create a new Medicare benefit to coordinate care during a person's transition from a hospital to their home or other care settings.

AAHomecare reported Wednesday that CNN is working on an investigative piece on HME spending and national competitive bidding. "AAHomecare has opened its doors to CNN and has methodically shared reams of information with the producers" and "is working to ensure accurate reporting and fair treatment by CNN," the association said. Stay tuned.