WASHINGTON—A radical Republican plan that would slice $6
trillion off federal spending over the next decade got a thumbs up
on Friday—but only by House Republicans. Every Democrat voted
“no.”
By a vote of 235-193, the Republican-run House managed to push the
$3.5 trillion, 2012 blueprint for government spending from Rep.
Paul Ryan, R-Wis., onto the Senate floor, though by some accounts
there it is DOA.
HomeCare News
WASHINGTON—As thousands of HME providers and others met at Medtrade Spring in Las Vegas—many trying to figure out how to survive under competitive bidding—across the country in Washington Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., delivered an April 14 floor speech against the program in the House of Representatives.
LAS VEGAS—Do you bill mostly E0260 hospital beds vs. E0250? If so, said Wayne van Halem, president of The van Halem Group, Atlanta, watch out, because that means you could be facing an audit.
LAS VEGAS—“Life was pretty good on Dec. 21, 2010,” said John Geller, vice president of 61-year-old Medical Service Co. in Cleveland. “I put my head down on the pillow that evening and when I woke up on Jan. 1, no question it was a new day.”
WASHINGTON—A survey of HME companies released yesterday by the American Association for Homecare found that many HME power wheelchair providers have made “abrupt changes” in their operations to comply with new Medicare policies.
The regulatory changes, however, have made it difficult for some businesses to provide quality products and service, according to the association.
Following is AAHomecare’s release on the survey results:
WASHINGTON—As of Friday, 75 U.S. representatives have
signed on to H.R. 1041 to repeal competitive bidding. Introduced
March 11, the Fairness in Medicare Bidding Act has garnered broad
bipartisan support. Here’s how the American Association for
Homecare says you can keep the momentum going:
BALTIMORE—All is well. That was the word about Round 1 of
competitive bidding from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services at last week’s meeting of the Program Advisory and
Oversight Committee.
After all, agency representatives said, of the 54,000 calls the
1-800 Medicare line has received about competitive bidding, only 43
were complaints.
What?
COLLEGE PARK, Md.—“So the notion is how to get more
efficient prices than the current fee schedules that we have in
place throughout the country. What’s going to be the
structure? What’s going to be the mechanism that produces the
best possible, most stable, efficient prices?”
ELYRIA, Ohio—Citing the rising costs of raw materials,
fuel and other commodities, officials at Invacare informed
customers last week that prices were going up. Affected product
categories include home care beds and mattresses, custom manual
wheelchairs, personal care, manual wheelchairs, respiratory,
patient transport, power rehab and rehab parts.
BUFFALO, N.Y.—Draft legislation to establish complex rehab
technology as a separate
Medicare benefit is winding its way to the table, but a crucial
financial score is yet to come as stakeholders continue to lay the
groundwork with members of Congress.
If you think accountable care organizations, or ACOs, will only affect hospitals and physicians, says health care attorney Jeff Baird, think again. These new entities will be charged with treating patients across care settings to better coordinate and improve care for Medicare patients that will keep them out of the system. That presents HME providers with both opportunities as these new referral sources emerge—and the challenges of providing the services the ACOs want.
HME provider L. Jack Clark, RRT, CRT, PA, was fond of ending
many of his conversations with the phrase, “Now go be
successful.” Clark himself certainly was, and friends and
colleagues throughout the HME sector were saddened to learn of his
death April 7 at age 64.
A member of HomeCare’s Editorial Advisory Board,
Clark was clearly a pioneer respiratory practitioner as his license
number was one of the first ever issued, according to his
staff.
IRVING, Texas—The American Association for Respiratory Care has joined the list of more than two dozen patient and advocacy groups endorsing H.R. 1041, the bill to repeal competitive bidding. In a letter to Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., who introduced the legislation with Rep.
LUBBOCK, Texas—The MED Group announced Friday it has launched the National Orthotics & Prosthetics Network. Provider Tim Pederson, formerly of WestMed Rehab in Rapid City, S.D., will lead development of the group. “The changing reimbursement environment within the industry is creating the opportunity for more providers to expand into new business lines,” said Jeff Woodham, MED’s senior vice president and general manager, in a release.
INDIANAPOLIS—National Government Services is counting down the days in its vendor migration project, which mandates that all providers who currently use dial-up and point-to-point protocol (PPP) file transfer protocol (FTP) must switch to a network service vendor, or NSV, for their secured connection to the CEDI gateway. As of May 1, direct connections will no longer be supported. If you haven’t switched yet, NGS says you may get a busy signal with your dial-up service.
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The National Home Infusion Association has developed Standards for Ethical Practice that it says “reflect the industry’s commitment to the delivery of safe, high quality infusion therapy and reaffirm its members’ pledge to conduct business operations with the highest level of integrity.” A team of clinicians, health care providers and compliance experts developed the new standards.
CERRITOS, Calif.—Doug Shull, a quadriplegic from Morton, Ill., and his lifelong friend Chris Ackerman took part in the Honda LA Marathon on March 20 with the help of a wheelchair donated by ATG Rehab. Quantum Rehab manufactured the specially outfitted Litestream XF ultra light manual wheelchair.
CINCINNATI—CarePoint Partners announced April 4 it has acquired Infusion Technologies, a home infusion provider with offices in North Miami and Tampa, Fla. CarePoint has a Jacksonville, Fla., location, and the new offices will strengthen its footprint in the state, according to a company release. In January, the company added ivA Lifetec in the Houston, Texas, market.
WASHINGTON—If there’s a government shutdown at midnight tonight, U.S. troops won’t be paid but Congress will—and so will DME claims.
According to an HHS official, because Medicare fee-for-service claims are handled by contractors and paid from discretionary funds, there would be no immediate effect.
BALTIMORE—HME advocates at Tuesday’s meeting of the Program Advisory and Oversight Committee said CMS officials characterized the Round 1 implementation of competitive bidding as successful and smooth.
But speakers during the public comment period gave a different view of the program, which rolled out in nine cities Jan. 1.