Active Controls

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 10, 2012—The American Association for Homecare announces that it will give its annual Homecare Champion Award to Alan Landauer, chairman of Landauer Metropolitan, Inc., and to Van G. Miller, founder and president of the VGM Group.

Jeffrey S. Baird is chairman of the Health Care Group of Brown & Fortunato, a law firm based in Amarillo, Texas. He represents HME providers, pharmacies and other health care providers throughout the U.S. The following is a Q&A he authored.

To test system changes, Medicare claims administration contractors will be holding some institutional provider claims containing 2012 services for up to the first 10 business days of January 2012—Sunday, Jan. 1, through Tuesday, Jan. 17. Claims will be released as system testing is completed, and the hold should not have a minimum impact on provider cash flow because electronic claims are not paid sooner than 14 days after date of receipt, Medicare officials said in a release.

The federal Department of Health and Human Services recently announced that states will have more flexibility to define the “essential health benefits” provisions of health care reform that establish health insurance exchanges in states. AAHomecare says this makes it important for HME stakeholders to work with state governments to ensure that home medical equipment and services are included as essential benefits. Comments about the announcement can be submitted to HHS by Jan.