ATLANTA--Competitive bidding and accreditation have dominated the industry's headlines in 2008, but HME's newest concern might be related to pressure at the pump.
Providers are worried about skyrocketing gas prices, and a disturbing new trend that has surfaced with them.
Last week, a report from ABC's Salt Lake City affiliate detailed a robbery at Alpine Home Medical, where the provider was hit for more than 100 gallons of gas.
ATLANTA--While it confused some in the HME industry and rattled others, a National Government Services' LCD for sleep studies issued last week was not the one that industry stakeholders are awaiting, according to Kelly Riley, director of the National Respiratory Network for Lubbock, Texas-based The MED Group.
HALIFAX, Va.--In late February, the National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers introduced an online petition to stop competitive bidding.
Today, the petition has more than 5,100 signatures.
“The response has been great,” cheered NAIMES Chairman Wayne Sale, president of Health First in Richmond, Va., adding the organization will continue to send reports from the petition site to state HME associations.
ARLINGTON, Va.--As part of a push to suspend round one of competitive bidding, the American Association for Homecare announced Friday it will hold a Washington fly-in May 21 “to convince Congress to take action to address the numerous problems that plague the bidding program.”
WASHINGTON--AdvaMed, a 1,600-member medical technology innovator and manufacturer association, has added its voice to those urging CMS to postpone competitive bidding.
SAN DIEGO--A federal court ruling has stopped a competitive bidding demonstration for clinical laboratory services in its tracks and could open the channels for a legal battle on Medicare’s DMEPOS bidding program.
WASHINGTON--The so-called “doc fix” is back. And, once again, that could mean trouble for HME.
Unless Congress acts, a 10.6 percent pay cut for Medicare physicians will take effect July 1, with additional cuts to follow in 2009 and after. The reduction had originally been scheduled for Jan. 1 of this year but, shortly before Christmas, Congress passed a law that put it off until July.
LEXANA, Kan.--When Gerald Sloan saw the new oxygen allowable under round one of competitive bidding, he knew he was out of the oxygen business with Medicare.
Sloan, the owner of Progressive Medical Equipment in Lenexa, Kan., had bid on oxygen in the Kansas City CBA but was not awarded a contract. And the new rate under competitive bidding--$149.40 in Kansas City--sealed the deal. There would be no grandfathered patients for his company, no subcontracting for a bid winner.
BALTIMORE--Providers who are not tapping into CMS' educational articles might be missing critical information that could help them do business better in the competitive bidding environment, according to Mark Higley, vice president of development for Waterloo, Iowa-based VGM Group.
ATLANTA--Hoping for a helpful tool to evaluate competitive bidding contract offers, providers instead reaped a load of troubling questions when CMS revealed the number of contracts it had offered for round one, HME stakeholders said last week.
At the prodding of the American Association for Homecare and others, on March 28 CMS issued a chart showing the number of contracts it had offered in each product category and CBA. It also issued a disclaimer.
ATLANTA--Between contacting CMS and Congress, industry organizations have had their hands full attempting to minimize the impact of competitive bidding on the nation's providers.
That includes potential lawsuits contesting the program from the American Association for Homecare, VGM, the National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers and others. To outline each organization's game plan, here is what HomeCare Monday has learned.
WASHINGTON--Joining the growing numbers of those voicing major reservations about DMEPOS competitive bidding, over the last 10 days, three senators and four representatives have called on CMS to postpone further implementation of the program.
ATLANTA--According to Dave McCausland, CMS' recent announcement that 64 percent of the contract winners in round one of competitive bidding are small providers “may fall under the category of 'statistics can prove anything.'”
ATLANTA--The industry is reeling from the across-the-board cuts set in round one of competitive bidding, but nowhere is this more true than in the complex rehab sector.
Averaging 15 percent of current reimbursements, the reductions, coupled with the scant number of contracts offered in the product category, were shocking to members of the rehab community, which has been fighting--thus far unsuccessfully--to have complex rehab equipment excluded from the bidding program.
BALTIMORE--Last Wednesday's Open Door Forum started out as same ol', same ol'--reemphasis on accreditation deadlines and basic information on competitive bidding--but when CMS officials began fielding questions from the teleconference's more than 400 listeners, things got a bit more interesting.
MIAMI--Competitive bidding has thrown HME into a veritable hurricane of activity--and, amid appeals to CMS, letters to Congress and preliminary moves by various industry groups toward legal action, a new organization has also come on the scene.
Provider Rob Brant of City Medical Services in North Miami Beach, Fla., said he started AMEPA--Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of America--just last week “to unify the accredited medical equipment providers.”
ATLANTA--As complaints of mishandled bids continue to pour in, industry organizations including the American Association for Homecare, VGM and the National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers are rallying providers to fight what many see as yet another miscarriage of justice in a fatally flawed program.
ATLANTA--A week after CMS revealed the new fee schedule for DMEPOS items in the 10 MSAs in round one of competitive bidding, industry stakeholders were still reeling from the potential effects of the figures--which slashed payment amounts by an average 26 percent--and voicing concerns about how those rates were calculated.
ARLINGTON, Va.--Calling them “overly prescriptive,” the American Association for Homecare last week urged CMS not to adopt its proposed supplier standards for Medicare DMEPOS enrollment and instead institute tough onsite inspections for new suppliers.
ATLANTA--While many HME providers felt they had missed the opportunity to sell their businesses, the release of pricing for round one of competitive bidding may have opened the door for some, say merger-and-acquisition specialists.
