ARLINGTON, Va.--In a letter sent Monday, the American
Association for Homecare and 27 regional and state home care
associations urged the White House Office of Health Reform, the
Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services to rescind the competitive bidding
interim final rule before it takes effect April 18.
HomeCare News
ATLANTA — With just days left before the interim final rule goes into effect, the HME community is hammering away to get the specter of DMEPOS competitive bidding eliminated.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Association for Homecare intends to put its reworked 15-point plan for oxygen reform before Congress following a "yes" vote by its board, the association said last week. But during a nationwide call Thursday, it was clear some stakeholders are not so sure about the move.
WASHINGTON — Invacare Chairman and CEO Mal Mixon was among a group of health care executives invited to a roundtable discussion April 8 with White House health reform chief Nancy-Ann DeParle.
WASHINGTON — On April 2, U.S. Reps. Zach Space, D-Ohio, and Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., introduced the Preserve Patents Access to Reputable DMEPOS Providers Act of 2009 (H.R. 1970). The bill would exempt pharmacies from having to post DMEPOS surety bonds.
ARLINGTON, Va. — Aiming to create a separate Medicare benefit for complex rehab, the American Association for Homecare's Rehab and Assistive Technology Council has launched a task force charged with drafting legislation toward that end.
ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Association for Homecare reported last week it has retained a Washington health care consulting firm to develop several cost estimates for eliminating national competitive bidding. In developing the estimates, the firm will mirror methods used by the Congressional Budget Office, which works up the costs of legislative proposals before Congress.
PITTSBURGH — The Braff Group said earlier this month that even amid a worldwide recession, there were a record number of mergers and acquisitions in some sectors of home health in 2008. Home medical equipment, however, was not one of them.
>MIAMI — The Accredited Medical Equipment Providers of America celebrated its first anniversary on Friday. It was on April 10, 2008, that "over 150 providers, manufacturers and industry representatives met at the Fort Lauderdale Sheraton to work together to stop competitive bidding from beginning July 1," said Rob Brant, AMEPA president, in marking the association's birthday.
BALTIMORE — CMS has scheduled a special Open Door Forum for Part B providers on its new Recovery Audit Contractor program Tuesday, April 14, from 2-3:30 pm ET. The agency has announced four permanent RACs and will expand the program to all 50 states in a gradual rollout during 2010. To listen in, call 800/837-1935 and reference Conference ID 92489480.
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi state lawmakers have refused to repeal a state rule that requires Medicaid beneficiaries to renew their enrollment in person each year, according to an April 2 report in the Miami Herald. Data show the number of uninsured children in the state has increased by 146,000, or 72 percent, since the policy was implemented in 2005, the report said. According to Gov.
OLIVETTE, Mo. — Home Delivery Incontinent Supplies will become "a broader one-stop shop for consumer health and wellness products" with its recent acquisition of Best Buy Healthcare, the company said. Founded in 1986, HDIS is a mail order marketer of specialty medical supplies for bladder control.
ST. LOUIS — Responsive Respiratory has expanded its warehouse and manufacturing facilities for the second time in two years; the company doubled its warehouse and office space in 2007. The recent increase makes room for the manufacturing of an expanded line of industrial carts and racks and the customization of products through RRI's Private Logo Program.
WASHINGTON--In a letter addressed to government officials,
Rep. Betty Sutton, D-Ohio, asks for rescission of the impending
interim final rule on competitive bidding. The IFR is
slated to take effect April 18 and requires a rebid of Round One in
2009.
WASHINGTON--Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House
Office for Health Reform, told thousands of AARP members Tuesday
that she is confident a bill to revamp the nation’s health
care system will be signed into law by President Obama this
year.
HALIFAX, Va.--A Tuesday afternoon update from the National
Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers said that
after more than 20 hours of teleconference calls, the New Oxygen
Coalition “has reached what seems to be an impasse over
details of the proposal to reform oxygen.
ATLANTA — Providers in the remaining Round One competitive bidding areas should get ready for a rebid. That was the advice from VGM Group's Mark Higley during a March 25 session at Medtrade Spring in Las Vegas.
ATLANTA — Working against a ticking health care reform clock, members of the New Oxygen Coalition put out a revised oxygen reform plan last week, but the HME sector is still divided over some of the plan's provisions, stakeholders said Friday.
BALTIMORE — At an Open Door Forum on Wednesday, CMS officials ticked through a raft of important dates for DMEPOS providers on accreditation, the interim final rule on competitive bidding, the Recovery Audit Contractor program and use of the revised 855S enrollment form. But it was clarification on several points about the agency's new surety bond requirement that garnered the most attention from teleconference listeners.
WASHINGTON — FDA regulation of tobacco moved closer on Tuesday with passage of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act in the House. Co-sponsored by Reps. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Todd Platts, R-Pa., the bill would give the FDA authority to oversee and regulate tobacco marketing and sales in the U.S.