ATLANTA — Amputees receive prosthetic legs with relatively little payer resistance. Wheelchairs are a different matter.
Why do O&P professionals get the funding that home care providers can only dream of? "There are a lot of reasons," said Ann Eubank, MSSW, OTR/L, ATP, at a Nov. 17 Medtrade session on consumer advocacy. "One of them is that in our culture we do not value wheels."
ELYRIA, Ohio — Invacare Corp. announced last week that Gerald B. Blouch has been named president and CEO effective Jan. 1, 2011, after serving as interim CEO since April 30, 2010.
WASHINGTON — AAHomecare reports that in his first appearance at a Nov. 17 hearing on health reform before the Senate Finance Committee, CMS Administrator Donald Berwick, M.D., singled out national competitive bidding program as an example of how the federal government can save money.
NEW YORK — Despite several factors that would normally lead to strong growth — including the aging population and efforts to move chronic care patients from expensive institutional care to less costly home care — competitive bidding will "significantly" limit growth in many segments of the home care products market in the coming years.
LUBBOCK, Texas — The MED Group will begin its Medicare Suppliers Network series this week designed to help both competitive bidding winners and losers maneuver through the changes. The seminars, free to registered providers, will include information on marketing strategies, sales training, product support programs for the greatest margin, subcontracting and Internet tools to support referral capture in the CBAs.
BALTIMORE — CMS has issued MLN Matters MM7073 on licensing, accreditation and other mandatory quality requirements.
ARLINGTON, Va. — AAHomecare's board of directors has appointed Pete Coburn of Sunrise Medical to fill a vacant seat on the board. Coburn is president of U.S. commercial operations for Sunrise, based in Fresno, Calif.
Coburn replaces Joel Mills, president and CEO of Advanced Home Care in High Point, N.C., who resigned from his seat after many years of service in leadership, the association said.
ATLANTA — With just six weeks before the start of competitive bidding's Round 1, attendees at last week's Medtrade in Atlanta made retail sales presentations a hot ticket. Time is short for the first nine regions caught up in Round 1, but those who could be involved down the road listened closely as consultant Scott Marcus reviewed key ingredients of cash-based sales.
ATLANTA — Competitive bidding, audits and other government challenges loomed over Medtrade this year like the rain clouds on the first day of the show.
ATLANTA — AAHomecare officials at Medtrade acknowledged that's it's not easy to bring down an 800-pound gorilla. The beast in question is national competitive bidding, and without a legislative Hail Mary, the program will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2011, in nine cities across the United States.
ATLANTA — DMEPOS competitive bidding was topmost on providers' minds at Medtrade last week, along with dealing with audits and changing the way their businesses run. While many attendees said they were optimistic about the future for the HME industry, the dilemma, they said, is figuring out how to remain in it by keeping their companies viable.
ARLINGTON, Va. — CMS' proposal to broaden its screening tools for providers enrolling in government insurance programs is on the right track to curb fraud and abuse, but the American Association for Homecare says the rule still needs to be modified to prevent potential problems with the proposal.
ATLANTA — Invacare and Motion Concepts announced last week the two companies have combined product portfolios and sales organizations. "This partnership creates the strongest and most clinically effective seating and positioning line in the industry," Brian Ellacott, vice president and general manager of commercial operations in North and South America for Invacare, told reporters at a press conference during Medtrade.
ATLANTA — Voted on by show attendees, award winners from Medtrade's New Product Pavilion include:
Provider's Choice Award
Serena Seat, Healthcraft Products
Merit Award
EasyLife
mask, Philips Respironics
BALTIMORE — As part of the continuing countdown to the Jan. 1 implementation date for competitive bidding, CMS' Competitive Bidding Implementation Contractor held part two of its educational teleconference for contract suppliers yesterday, and it soon became apparent that there is a lot more education for CMS to do.
BALTIMORE — Earlier today, CMS officially launched the new Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation to study various ways of delivering care and paying providers that could be possible money-savers for the massive health care programs and, at the same time, improve quality.
BALTIMORE — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hasn't heard the last of Peter Cramton. Nor has Capitol Hill or even the White House. The professor of economics at the University of Maryland — who spearheaded a September letter to Congress signed by 166 economists detailing the flaws of competitive bidding — continues to analyze the program, and he is not encouraged.
ATLANTA — Providers' hopes of eliminating or delaying competitive bidding before Jan. 1 might have been dashed by the election, the evaporation of time and CMS' full-steam-ahead attitude, but they can't afford to give up now, industry lobbyists said last week.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The name remains the same, but new owners say that buying power for The MED Group will increase dramatically. With the deal officially closing last week (terms were not disclosed), officials from Managed Health Care Associates (MHA) will soon be working with approximately 380 MED members representing 1,250 locations across the country.
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — A Riverside, Calif.-based provider is giving referral sources and beneficiaries across the country a helping hand via a new website that allows them to find Medicare contract providers in competitive bidding areas.
