HomeCare News

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga.(March 5, 2014)—A Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) occurs in approximately two million Americans each year. The result can be serious illness, disability and in some cases, death. The good news is that DVT is preventable and treatable, if discovered early. Because 74 percent of adults have little to no awareness of DVT, SIGVARIS is on a mission to help raise awareness in the United States.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (March 7, 2014)—The Board of Certification/Accreditation (BOC) won a Stevie Award for Sales and Customer Service in the Best Use of Technology in Customer Service category. This was the second consecutive year BOC was honored with a Stevie Award. Winners were announced Friday, Feb. 21 at the eighth annual Stevie Awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

LAKE WALES, Fla. (March 5, 2014)—3B/BMC, announced the integration of voice recognition and patient auto-dialing within iCodeConnect, 3B Medical's cloud based patient management portal. Obtaining sleep compliance data for reimbursement is a major challenge for DME providers. Modems create costs and logistical problems in the inventory and movement of modems. SD Cards also are not ideal as they require physically transporting the SD card. 3B Medical's iCode is the solution.

MUNDELEIN, Ill. (March 3, 2014)—Medline Industries, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of medical and surgical supplies, will open a new state-of-the-art distribution center in Lincoln County, N.C., in early 2015, the company announced.

LAS VEGAS (March 3, 2014)—Judges named the winners of the Innovative HME Retail Product Awards last week. The biannual awards, sponsored by HomeCare magazine, honor HME products that are particularly suited for retail sale. “There were some really impressive and innovative entries this year,” said Jim Greatorex, owner, Black Bear Medical, Portland, Maine, and a member of the judging panel. “We had lots of discussion about each entry. To pick the top six, we really had to get nitpicky.

WASHINGTON (March 5, 2014)—President Obama released his 2015 budget this week and, as expected, provisions targeting DME were included. Two of the prominent provisions suggest using Medicare bid rates for Medicaid reimbursement to save money, and implementing prior authorization as a means of fighting fraud. AAHomecare has strongly opposed the Medicaid proposal for a number of years and has successfully kept it from going into effect.

(Feb. 27, 2014)—According to modernhealthcare.com, providers, payers and claims clearinghouses can look for no relief from the looming, Oct. 1 compliance deadline for the nationwide conversion to the ICD-10 family of diagnostic and procedural codes, the head of the CMS said Thursday, Feb. 27. But some case-by-case exemptions will be made for providers having a tough time meeting their Stage 2 meaningful-use targets, she said.

BALTIMORE, Md. (Feb. 24, 2014)—According to a CMS Fact Sheet released on Feb. 24, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it will seek public comment as it moves toward nationwide implementation of the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program.

WASHINGTON (Feb. 26, 2014)—Because of the contract cycle, Feb. 21 was the last day a recovery auditor contractor (RAC) could send a post-payment additional documentation request (ADR) to providers. However, CMS has extended the current contracts through Dec.

LAS VEGAS (Feb. 24, 2014)—Above all, exhibitors and providers view Medtrade Spring as an opportunity to discover solutions. However, if you don’t attend, you’ll never know. “It’s our job to fashion the best possible show that we can,” says Kevin Gaffney, group show director, Medtrade. “But we can’t help if you’re not here.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Feb. 24, 2014)—Jaysec Technologies, LLC., announced Gibran Ameer as chief operating officer. Jaysec has experienced tremendous growth over the last two years mainly due to the regulatory and reimbursement pressures in home care. Gibran will be responsible for overseeing the overall operations ensuring continued value and efficiencies for a rapidly evolving market. Gibran comes to Jaysec from Medical Services of America where he was a member of the executive team.

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (Feb. 27, 2014)—O2 Concepts, LLC announced Rob Kent has been appointed to serve in the newly created position of president and chief operating officer. Kent has served in various capacities within O2 Concepts for more than a year and most recently served as the manager of its testing, compliance and assurance operations.

ELYRIA, Ohio (Feb. 27, 2014)—After 27 years of service, Lou Slangen, executive vice president and chief product officer, will retire from Invacare Corporation at the end of February. Slangen has been an integral part of the Invacare senior leadership team, and he has been a driving force behind many of Invacare’s greatest branding, marketing, product and business successes.

SPRING HOUSE, Pa. (Feb. 25, 2014)—The Compliance Team, Inc. (TCT), the nation’s only certified woman-owned health care accreditation organization to hold Medicare deeming authority to accredit Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, Supplies (DMEPOS) providers is celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2014, founder and president, Sandra C. Canally, RN and Steve Simmerman, vice president of operations announced recently at the firm’s Philadelphia headquarters.

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio (Feb. 20, 2014)—ACU-Serve Corp., a provider of billing and collection services to home medical and durable medical equipment companies, announced cofounder Jim Knight as chief executive officer—a role he has shared with cofounders Angie Barone and Tim Barone, who have decided to pursue other opportunities. Joining Knight in leading ACU-Serve is new business partner Tom Meadows and Cindy Hoyt, CPC, MBA, chief operating officer.

TAIPEI, Taiwan (Feb. 24, 2014)—Apex Medical Corporation, a leading player in the respiratory therapy and pressure area care sectors, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) agreed on Feb.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Feb. 17, 2014)—Home medical equipment (HME) providers, hospitals, physicians, hospice and home health agencies have been assaulted by unprecedented numbers of audits. The latest numbers from recovery audit contractor (RAC) publications show that in the first quarter of fiscal year 2013, RACs collected $744.8 million in overpayments.

In a recent Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA) forum on the overwhelming administrative law judge (ALJ) appeal backlog, AAHomecare’s Tom Ryan and Jay Witter listened to Chief Judge Nancy Griswold and others from CMS discuss the situation and their proposed solutions.

WASHINGTON (Feb. 20, 2014)—AAHomecare’s Regulatory Council recently submitted two letters to the General Counsel at CMS. Both letters are related to continued confusion caused by CMS’s guidance on the face-to-face encounter requirement. The first letter focused on an inconsistency between the unambiguous language requiring a face-to-face encounter written by Congress and CMS’s implementing guidance.

AAHomecare (AAH) recently submitted a letter written by its Regulatory Council to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner commenting on the recent final end-stage renal disease (ESRD) rule. The rule moved many items from the inexpensive and routinely purchased category to the capped rental category.