HomeCare News

BALTIMORE--The “drop dead” date for mandatory DMEPOS accreditation has been set for Sept. 30, 2009, but last week, CMS announced a Special Open Door Forum to address exemptions to the deadline as outlined in a new subparagraph of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, or MIPPA.

ELYRIA, Ohio--It’s the home medical equipment industry’s age-old problem: Costs are going up, reimbursements are going down. Only this time the squeeze is so substantial that unless providers reshape their businesses, they may not be able to survive.

COLUMBUS, Ohio--Medicare competitive bidding is on hold nationally, but a similar Medicaid program called “value purchasing” is on the table in Ohio, and members of the Ohio Association of Medical Equipment Services are prepared for a fight.

BALTIMORE--Industry stakeholders seeking answers to questions about accreditation, compensation for competitive bid winners and other home medical equipment issues for the most part came away empty-handed from CMS' Open Door phone call last week.

BALTIMORE--In January, Medicare patients in Arizona and Utah will test a new CMS pilot program that allows them to maintain their health records electronically, CMS announced Aug. 8.

Under the pilot, a beneficiary may choose one of the personal health record, or PHR, vendors CMS selects, and Medicare will transfer up to two years of the individual's claims data into the PHR.

Arcadia Announces First Quarter Results
INDIANAPOLIS--Arcadia Resources reported net revenues of $37.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2008, down slightly from net revenues of $38.0 million for the same period a year ago. Sales in the company's HME segment, which includes home health equipment, Internet home health product sales and DME, increased to $5.5 million in the quarter versus $5.3 million for the same period a year ago.

WASHINGTON--Strong words from the Government Accountability Office are again focused on DME fraud--but this time, the blame is not falling solely on providers but rather on CMS and its DMEPOS enrollment contractor.

WASHINGTON--With Medicare fraud and abuse a hot topic on Capitol Hill and CMS pushing tougher supplier standards and accreditation as a catchall fix in the DMEPOS sector, just how easy is it to bilk the system by pulling the wool over CMS’ eyes?

Well, according to a recent Government Accountability Office report, it’s not hard.

ATLANTA--In a disconcerting surprise to many home medical equipment providers, those that service hospices must be accredited by Dec. 2, 2008, in order to keep their contracts, according to the finalized “Conditions of Payment” for Medicare and Medicaid hospices published recently in the Federal Register.

ATLANTA--While DMEPOS competitive bidding has garnered the industry's most recent headlines, a slew of other changes has emerged for home medical equipment providers that may have gotten lost in the chaotic competitive bidding shuffle.

ATLANTA--Millions of U.S. residents with chronic conditions are not receiving appropriate care because they are uninsured, according to a new study, "A National Study of Chronic Disease Prevalence and Access to Care in Uninsured U.S. Adults," published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

ATLANTA--Amid its trumpeting of the need to squelch fraud and abuse in Medicare's DME sector, CMS has recently taken steps that some industry stakeholders see as contrary to the cause--namely, reappointing Palmetto GBA as the National Supplier Clearinghouse and dropping accreditation deadlines for round two of competitive bidding.

WASHINGTON--In a Senate conference on Monday, Sens. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, discussed the need for the federal government to shift its policies regarding Medicare fraud.

In June, the senators introduced the Seniors and Taxpayers Obligation Protection Act of 2008 (S.3164), or STOP Act, which they said will give federal agencies the tools they need to crack down on fraud before it occurs.

LOS ANGELES--On Tuesday, a California Superior Court judge failed to stop an across-the-board 10 percent Medi-Cal cut for services provided after July 1.

NEW YORK--Like a bad penny, negative press for the HME industry always seems to turn up--most recently, in a report for NBC by senior investigative correspondent Lisa Myers.

The report, which aired July 26 on the “Nightly News with Brian Williams,” had the following introduction:

Q2 Revenues Down at American HomePatient
BRENTWOOD, Tenn.--On Thursday, American HomePatient announced revenues for the second quarter ended June 30 decreased 12.4 percent compared to the same quarter in 2007.

COLUMBIA, S.C.--In a move that could delay the long-awaited manual wheelchair code set revision, the SADMERC will transition to a new carrier next month.

Noridian Administrative Services will be the new Pricing, Data Analysis and Coding Contractor--or PDAC--taking over the duties of Palmetto GBA, the Statistical Analysis DME Regional Carrier, effective Aug. 18. CMS announced the change last week.

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa.--Air Products has announced plans to sell its U.S. Healthcare business, which operates in over 80 locations, has approximately 1,700 employees and serves 120,000 patients mainly throughout the eastern half of the country.

WASHINGTON--Last week the HHS Office of Inspector General assured Medicare providers they will not risk sanctions if they do not collect retroactive fee increases from beneficiaries because of payment changes under the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, or MIPPA.

ATLANTA--With the passage of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008, accreditation deadlines for round two of competitive bidding have been discarded, but CMS' DMEPOS accrediting bodies are still rallying behind the cry: “Don't wait! Apply now!”