DULUTH, Ga., and WATERLOO, IOWA--Last week The VGM Group and Brightree, an HME business services company, announced an exclusive 10-year partnership that will deliver an array of Internet-centric services to providers.

"Through this partnership, we intend to create a large, virtual VGM/Brightree 'community' that can leverage a wealth of services that no individual provider could ever assemble alone," said VGM President Ron Bendell.

By all accounts, the effects of CMS' proposed revision and expansion of supplier standards for DMEPOS will be far-reaching. In a special series for HomeCare Monday leading up to the March 25 deadline for comments, health care attorney Neil B. Caesar, president of the Health Law Center, Greenville, S.C., will help provide clarification and insight on several provisions of the draft rule. This week, Caesar's comments are directed to proposed Standard No.

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — A new study by two economics professors at Robert Morris University in Moon Township, Pa., blasts the underpinnings of Medicare's competitive bidding program, saying its implementation will result in "substantial market failure," at least 21,000 lost jobs and prices that spiral up instead of down.

COLUMBIA, S.C.--A fourth-quarter widespread prepay review of negative pressure wound therapy claims turned up charge denial rates of 90 percent in Jurisdiction A and 61 percent in Jurisdiction B, according to TriCenturion, the DME PSC for those regions.

In both instances, the reviews were sparked by high 2006 CDRs for claims using HCPCS E2402, 75.5 percent in Jurisdiction A and 83.72 percent in Jurisdiction B.

By all accounts, the effects of CMS' proposed revision and expansion of supplier standards for DMEPOS will be far-reaching. In a special series for HomeCare Monday leading up to the March 25 deadline for comments, health care attorney Neil B. Caesar, president of the Health Law Center, Greenville, S.C., will help provide clarification and insight on several provisions of the draft rule. This week, Caesar's comments are directed to an expansion of existing standard No.

WASHINGTON--HME champion Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., grilled Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt about cuts to the sector during a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday on President Bush's 2009 budget proposal.

Roberts' remarks condemned proposals that would reduce the current oxygen rental cap from 36 to 13 months and eliminate the first-month purchase option for power wheelchairs.

LAKE FOREST, Calif.--Apria Healthcare Group announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and twelve months ended Dec. 31, 2007, and the numbers are up.

Providing home infusion, respiratory therapy and HME through 550 locations, on Dec. 3, 2007, Apria completed its acquisition of Coram Inc., which the company said strengthened its infusion business and future earnings capacity.

In a special series for HomeCare Monday leading up to the March 25 deadline for comments, health care attorney Neil B. Caesar, president of the Health Law Center, Greenville, S.C., will help provide clarification and insight on CMS' proposed revision and expansion of the DMEPOS supplier standards. This week, Caesar's comments are directed to changes in existing standard No. 11, which deals with methods of contact with Medicare patients:

BALTIMORE--HME providers beware: As of March 1, Medicare claim submissions must contain a National Provider Identification number or an NPI/legacy pair in the required primary provider fields or the claim will be rejected, CMS officials emphasized during a national roundtable call on Wednesday.

And on May 23, all Medicare claims submitted with anything other than an NPI will also be rejected, they said.