ATLANTA — Home medical equipment providers and other industry stakeholders vowed once again last week to muster forces to fight CMS' second attempt at DMEPOS competitive bidding.
And this time, they said, they feel like they have a lot more leverage, thanks to supporters in Congress and the ravages of a devastated economy.
ARLINGTON, Va. — Late Friday, the American Association for Homecare released details of a sweeping reform plan to make oxygen therapy "a more patient-centered benefit" under Medicare.
The plan would change the legal status of oxygen companies from "suppliers" to "providers" in recognition of the services provided to beneficiaries, remove oxygen from competitive bidding and eliminate the 36-month cap.
ATLANTA — In an effort to aid HME providers who must now secure surety bonds if they are to participate in Medicare, two major industry organizations announced last week that providers could work through them to obtain the bonds required by CMS.
BALTIMORE — In a transmittal issued on New Year's Eve, CMS said the National Supplier Clearinghouse Medicare Administrative Contractor will begin a "fraud potential analysis" of all DMEPOS applicants and current providers.
ATLANTA — CMS got an earful from home medical equipment providers, respiratory therapists, physicians, beneficiaries and a host of other entities that weighed in with comments about the agency's 2009 physician fee schedule final rule, which includes payment policies that apply to reimbursement after the 36-month oxygen cap.
ATLANTA — As the 36-month oxygen cap kicked in Jan. 1 and CMS' new post-cap payment rules took effect, beleaguered providers struggling to implement those rules said they still have unanswered questions about procedures, billing and the like. They also said they're not giving up on getting the cap repealed.
BALTIMORE — With 340 listeners on the call at a special Open Door Forum Thursday, CMS' Sandra Bastinelli, who has oversight of the agency's DMEPOS accreditation program:
AMARILLO, Texas — With all the confusion surrounding CMS' new post-cap oxygen payment rules, it's time for some answers. In a special series for HomeCare Monday, Lisa K. Smith, Esq., an attorney with the Health Care Group at Brown & Fortunato, P.C., a law firm based in Amarillo, Texas, responds to several of home medical equipment providers' most common questions about the new rules.
WASHINGTON — The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee held the first confirmation hearing Thursday for former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., nominated as the new secretary of HHS.
According to press reports, during the hearing Daschle discussed the urgent need to reform health care, the growing problem of the uninsured and the need for collaboration between the incoming administration and Congress in reshaping the health care system.
ELYRIA, Ohio — Invacare Corp. has named Anthony C. LaPlaca senior vice president and general counsel, replacing Dale C. LaPorte, who retired in December. LaPlaca will report directly to A. Malachi Mixon, III, chairman and CEO. He will be responsible for all legal affairs, risk management and intellectual property matters and will also serve as the company's corporate secretary.
In conjunction with its announcement of a new surety bond requirement for HME providers, CMS also said it has revoked the billing privileges of 1,139 providers in the Los Angeles and Miami areas.
CMS was busy Dec. 31. In yet another transmittal issued New Year's Eve, the agency clarified that signature and date stamps are not acceptable for use on CMNs and DME MAC information forms (DIFs) after Feb. 2.
"The method used should be handwritten including facsimiles of original written or an electronic signature" to sign an order or other medical record documentation for medical review purposes, the agency said.
According to a notice from National Government Services, CEDI has discovered duplicate claim files were delivered to the DME MACs on Jan. 2. These were claims received after the last files were created for delivery on Dec. 31, 2008, through the holiday on Jan. 1, 2009, and Jan. 2, 2009.
U.S. health care spending by both the public and private sectors grew at a rate of 6.1 percent to $2.2 trillion in 2007, down from growth of 6.7 percent in 2006.
Last week The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission approved a recommendation that would increase reimbursements to primary care physicians by 1.1 percent in 2010 and give hospitals a full market basket update for both inpatient and outpatient care. The commission also recommended reducing payments to home health agencies and increasing payments to long-term care hospitals and dialysis centers, according to CQ Healthbeat.
Providers appealed more improper payment decisions made by its Recovery Audit Contractors than CMS first reported, the agency said last week. Of the more than 525,000 overpayment determinations made by the RACs between 2005 and 2008, providers appealed more than 118,000, or 22.5 percent.
ATLANTA — A contingent of seven Republican senators on Friday called on CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems to "revise and, if necessary, delay" the Jan. 1 implementation of the 36-month oxygen rental cap.
WASHINGTON — On Wednesday, the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy filed comments with CMS asking that the agency do a better job analyzing the economic impacts of the 36-month O2 cap on small oxygen providers.
WASHINGTON — Oxygen providers who bill Medicare will be about $850 million short in reimbursement in 2009, according to a new study on Medicare payment policy and home oxygen therapy.
AMARILLO, Texas — With all the confusion surrounding CMS' new post-cap oxygen payment rules, it's time for some answers. In a special series for HomeCare Monday, Lisa K. Smith, Esq., an attorney with the Health Care Group at Brown & Fortunato, P.C., a law firm based in Amarillo, Texas, responds to several of home medical equipment providers' most common questions about the new rules.
