Jeffrey S. Baird is chairman of the Health Care Group of Brown & Fortunato, a law firm based in Amarillo, Texas. He represents HME providers, pharmacies and other health care providers throughout the U.S. The following is a Q&A he authored.
HomeCare News
WASHINGTON, June 21, 2012—The American Association for Homecare reported that House and Senate leaders reached an agreement on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Safety and Innovation Act, which includes a measure to improve the regulation of medical gases.
WASHINGTON, June 21, 2012—An HME industry working group has asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to add practical guidelines for making claims on surety bonds. At issue is a recent decision by CMS to start making unannounced claims on surety bonds to collect relatively small overpayments from providers.
CINCINNATI, June 15, 2012—CarePoint Partners, a leading alternate-site infusion therapy and specialty pharmacy provider, announces the acquisition of Pinnacle Infusion Inc. of Albany, Ga. The acquisition will complement CarePoint’s presence in Atlanta and Florida. This is the 16th acquisition by CarePoint in less than five years. It now serves more than 6,500 patients daily and has 28 sites in 10 states. Go to www.carepointpartners.com.
EL PASO, Texas, June 20, 2012—United Access, a mobility equipment and wheelchair van company, announced the acquisition of New Horizon Vans LLC. This will allow United Access to expand its service to locations in El Paso and Albuquerque, New Mexico. United Access has 10 other locations nationwide. Visit www.unitedaccess.com.
INDIANAPOLIS, June 13, 2012—Home Health Depot, Inc., announces that it has acquired Medical Mobility LLC, a medical equipment company located in Fort Wayne, Ind. After the acquisition, Medical Mobility’s retail store was moved to Home Health Depot’s Fort Wayne location. This is Home Health Depot’s third acquisition this year. Learn more at www.hhdepot.com.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass., May 17, 2012—Brian Simonds of Baystate Home Infusion & Respiratory Services has been named member of the year by the New England Medical Equipment Dealers Association. The award is presented annually to a member of NEMED who has promoted the home medical equipment, rehab-assistive technology, respiratory or infusion industry. Simonds has served on the NEMED board of directors since 2000, and was president from 2003-2005.
More than 700 members of a broad coalition of medical technology companies and leading associations have signed a letter to congressional leaders urging repeal of the 2.3 percent medical device tax scheduled to take effect next year. The signatories included the Medical Device Manufacturers Association, the Advanced Medical Technology Association, the Medical Imaging & Technology Alliance, the U.S.
DALLAS, June 8, 2012—RemitDATA, Inc., a leading provider of comparative analytics for provider productivity and financial data, announced that it has named Matthew Hargus as its new chief technology officer. He will lead the company’s software development group and report directly to RemitDATA CEO Dave Ellett. Hargus brings more than 15 years of technology experience to the CTO position, having spent more than a decade working with Fortune 500 companies.
WASHINGTON, June 11, 2012—Home health and hospice leaders will meet July 15-17 in Dallas for the Financial Management Conference and Exposition. The event offers continuing education credits and presentations by industry leaders. There are four learning tracks: leadership, home health, hospice and technology. The conference is co-sponsored by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and its affiliate, Home Care & Hospice Financial Managers Association.
WATERLOO, Iowa, June 7, 2012—The 2012 VGM Heartland Conference, which ran June 4-7, attracted 544 members of the organization, 75 exhibitors, 350 vendor representatives, 70 speakers and other industry experts.
WATERLOO, Iowa, June 8, 2012—VGM Group, Inc., is asking providers to contact legislators and ask them to send a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to stop a recent ruling. The CMS ruling, posted June 7 on the CGS Jurisdiction C DME MAC website, requires providers to replace a capped rental item if it is determined that it is incapable of lasting five years.
MINNETONKA, Minn., June 11, 2012–UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest health insurer, announced that it will continue to offer popular protections included in the 2010 health care reform law, no matter how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on the law’s constitutionality.
WASHINGTON, June 12, 2012—Updated government estimates published in the journal Health Affairs indicate that health care spending in the U.S. will engulf almost one-fifth of the economy by 2021.
Actuaries from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Service estimated that health spending would rise from 17.9 percent of gross domestic product in 2010 to 19.6 percent in 2012.
WASHINGTON, June 14, 2012—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has done an about-face on DMEPOS items provided on a recurring basis. CMS now states that billing must be based upon prospective instead of retrospective use.
Essentially, that means providers of refills to an original order must now contact beneficiaries before dispensing refills. They may no longer automatically ship on a predetermined basis, even if the beneficiary authorizes it.
WASHINGTON, June 8, 2012—The American Association for Homecare is bringing attention to a report by the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) suggesting that Medicare is denying far too many DMEPOS claims because of technical problems with documentation.
Tyler Wilson, president of AAHomecare, said the report shows that the documentation process for Medicare reimbursements must be addressed in a substantial way.
ATLANTA, June 13, 2012-Registration is open for Medtrade, again taking place at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta October 16–18. Early bird rates are $25 for an expo pass and $99 for the conference, which includes access to 120 sessions. Pre-show seminars and workshops are available—click here for the schedule.
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 4, 2102—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is offering regional webinars on Version 5010 for health care providers, clearinghouses, vendors and others on June 20. Health care organizations that submit transactions electronically are required to upgrade from Version 4010/4010A to Version 5010 transaction standards. Organizations were required to use Version 5010 starting Jan.
BOZEMAN, Mont., June 1, 2012—The Comfort Company has announced the addition of a new division devoted exclusively to custom seating. Comfort Designs was created to handle an important, growing market within complex rehab. "Our Custom Seating Division seeks to bridge the gap between multi-use functionality and specific needs," Steven Dufresne, director of product development, said in a prepared release.
HONOLULU, June 1, 2012—The Hawaii Department of Human Services is restoring Medicaid services for outpatient rehabilitation, prosthetics and optometry to nondisabled adults younger than 65 years old. Earlier this month, the department restored coverage for home medical equipment. The services had been eliminated because of budget cuts, and were restored after savings were generated by reduction in eligibility, reduced reimbursement rates and other measures.