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Providers

News about HME providers and homecare companies, including expansions, acquisitions and business milestones.

  • Rotech Signs On with Gentiva Health Services

    Orlando, Fla. Last month, Rotech Healthcare signed an agreement with Melville, N.Y.-based Gentiva Health Services, the nation’s largest home health nursing company, to supply respiratory therapy and DME services to patients. Rotech now has primary preferred provider arrangements in 23 states and shared preferred arrangements in 10 states through Gentiva’s CareCentrix network, which provides managed care organizations with home care services including traditional home nursing, chronic and acute infusion therapies and DME and respiratory equipment. Rotech has also signed a three-year primary preferred provider agreement with Gentiva to provide CPAP devices and related OSA products for CareCentrix patients. Phillip L. Carter, Rotech’s president and CEO, said the company’s annual revenue from these contracts “could well be greater than $25 million as we enter 2005,” and…
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  • HME Providers Move into Wal-Mart

    On March 17, Lake Forest, Calif.-based Apria Healthcare opened a pilot store inside a Duncanville (Dallas), Texas, Wal-Mart. The Scooter Store, New Braunfels, Texas, is running branches in Wal-Marts in Montgomery, Ala.; Daytona Beach and Pensacola, Fla.; Hendersonville, N.C.; and Fort Worth, Texas. Salem, Mass., provider Hutchinson Medical has opened two branches inside Wal-Marts in Epping, N.H., and Waterford, Conn. And Lawrenceville, Ga.-headquartered National Vision Inc., which operates 400 eye care centers in Wal-Mart stores in the United States and Mexico, will open one or more HME test stores inside the world’s largest retailer in the second quarter. All of these companies hope to capitalize on Wal-Mart’s astronomical foot traffic. Worldwide, more than 138 million customers walk into the mass merchandiser every week. Its U.S….
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  • View from the Top

    2003’s Top Providers Gather Strength to Keep Climbing   As HME ascends the face of a politically insecure future, revenues and new market potentials remain strong. In 2003, most companies, large and small, reported peak sales, but as Washington winds up to cut reimbursements more deeply, the positive outlook is not universal. HME businesses will have to retrain themselves, like finely tuned athletes, to beat credibility issues on Capitol Hill and deal with new requirements mandated by the Medicare Modernization Act. But the numbers in HomeCare‘s Top Companies listings speak for themselves. The market is out there. The climb may be harrowing — but that much more worthwhile — in the years ahead.   Winning in the Field, Losing on the Hill   By Tom…
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  • Building on Success

    When Sandra and James Hoskin were leasing a small retail space in front of a Houston hotel in 1987, their landlord evicted them. He was selling the property to a buyer who needed the space. Vowing never to lease again, the co-owners of American Medical Equipment soon began property-hunting. This was the late ’80s, when “real estate wasn’t moving at all,” Sandra recalls. But the stale market ultimately worked to the couple’s advantage when they found a rundown piece of real estate — with enormous potential. “The owner really wanted to get rid of it,” Sandra says, adding that he actually dropped the price $100,000 and was willing to finance the purchase himself. The area had trash on the streets and relatively light traffic, “but…
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  • Medtrade Spring Planner

    In the spring, the HME industry’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of … Vegas, baby! Medtrade Spring 2004 gets under way March 16-18, with a host of products you need to see and information you need to know to sail your business safely through challenging times. The expo and buying event offers 75 educational sessions and 450 exhibitors at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The show provides an informal opportunity to connect with HME peers and learn the tools necessary to survive the imminent changes brought on by recent Medicare legislation. But Medtrade isn’t all business. On the following pages, you’ll find important schedules and hip post-show activities to help cool your heels after a long day on the show floor. Monorail Step outside the…
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  • Provider News

    WHI to Provide Home Care Services for United HealthCare Deerfield, Ill. In February, Walgreens Health Initiatives, through Walgreens Home Care Inc., began serving United HealthCare Insurance Co., one of the country’s largest managed care organizations. WHI will provide home care services, infusion, HME and respiratory services, including respiratory medication, to all United HealthCare plans and participating affiliates. WHI, a division of Walgreens, the nation’s largest drugstore chain with 4,290 stores, currently operates accredited home care facilities in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, Texas and Wisconsin, and will initially serve United HealthCare members in these states. SHMS to Acquire We Care Medical Boca Raton, Fla. Specialized Home Medical Services (SHMS) will acquire We Care Medical, a Michigan DME provider, for an undisclosed sum. According to…
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  • Manufacturer News

    Invacare Acquires Infusion Therapy Distributor Elyria, Ohio Invacare has acquired the assets of ACS, a Deer Park, N.Y.-based division of Mediq PRN Life Support Services, which distributes medical supplies with a focus on infusion therapy. ACS will be combined with Invacare Supply Group’s current distribution business, headquartered in Holliston, Mass., and ACS’ sales and customer service personnel will be employed by ISG. The company’s distribution system will be consolidated into ISG over the next several months. ResMed Launches Sleep Apnea Web Site San Diego ResMed has launched www.myresmed.com, a sleep-apnea treatment support Web site for people who use positive airway pressure devices. “MYResMed provides a free service to help dealers and sleep clinicians orient, educate and support new CPAP users. That’s the way to help…
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  • Industry Newsmakers

    Louis Feuer has joined The VGM Group as educational adviser. Feuer will work with Sara Bauer, VGM director of education, to provide sales and marketing information to VGM group members; serve as curriculum adviser to VGM U, the group’s online HME university; and offer a new program called “HME Express Orientation,” a four-module course for newcomers to the industry. Feuer, a monthly columnist for HomeCare, will continue to operate his Pembroke Pines, Fla.-based business, Dynamic Seminars & Consulting Inc. Aaron J. Kozloski has joined the Greenville, S.C.-based Health Law Center as senior counsel, and will run the firm’s new offices in Columbia, S.C. Kozloski was most recently general counsel and chief lobbyist for the South Carolina Medical Association and previously has served as administrator for…
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  • The Scooter Store Lays Off 200

    New Braunfels, Texas In January, The Scooter Store announced the layoff of 200 employees, a move the company attributes to the clarification of Medicare’s power wheelchair coverage policy, issued in December by the durable medical equipment regional carriers. “We deeply regret the necessity of reducing our work force,” Margaret McGuckin, the company’s executive vice president of marketing, stated in a press release. “Unfortunately, we have no choice since the unreasonable new ‘clarification,’ when its full impact is felt, may prevent us from serving thousands of disabled elderly people who, with power mobility, would have been able to continue to live independently.” Under the DMERCs’ clarification, issued as part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ 10-point plan to curb power wheelchair fraud and abuse,…
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  • Apria Signs OSA Suppliers, Does Not Renew Gentiva Contract

    Lake Forest, Calif. To accommodate the growing sleep apnea market, Apria Healthcare has extended its purchasing relationship with Murrysville, Pa.-based Respironics and has also signed shared primary supplier agreements with New Zealand-based Fisher & Paykel and Longmont, Colo.-based Sunrise Medical. Respironics will remain a shared primary supplier for all CPAP sleep therapy units and accessories. The company will be the primary supplier for all bi-level and smart CPAP devices for the sleep apnea market and the single-source supplier for all infant apnea and sleep diagnostic equipment. Respironics will also continue as a shared primary supplier for volume ventilators. Lisa Getson, Apria’s executive vice president, business development/clinical services, said the provider also named Fisher & Paykel as a shared primary supplier. Under terms of the agreement,…
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  • Walgreens Health Initiatives Acquires All-Care

    Deerfield, Ill. Walgreens Health Initiatives, through Walgreens Home Care Inc., has acquired selected assets of All Care Medical Supply and Interactive Cardio Pulmonary Inc. (together doing business as “All-Care”), effective Jan. 6. All-Care, a home medical equipment, respiratory and infusion services business, has provided services to patients in Daytona Beach, Okeechobee and Stuart, Fla., for the past decade. WHI, which is operated by Walgreens Co., the nation’s largest drugstore chain, currently operates other accredited home care facilities in Florida, as well as in Arizona, Illinois, Texas and Wisconsin. According to the company, its expansion into home care will continue in these states as well as others. For breaking news, go to www.homecaremonday.com, the electronic news service of the home medical equipment industry.
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  • Redefining Rehab: New Rehab Coalition Forms

    An independent coalition of advocates has formed to address specific issues in the home medical equipment industry’s high-end rehabilitation sector. The National Coalition for Assistive and Rehab Technology (NCART) will provide highly focused attention to the needs of suppliers and manufacturers who concentrate primarily on dealing in high-end rehab and assistive technology products. Based in Washington, D.C., the new organization was, at press time, scheduled to be operational in early February, according to Rita Hostak, vice president of government relations for Sunrise Medical, Longmont, Colo. Hostak will serve as NCART president and chairman of the board. “This is a critical time for rehab and assistive technology companies,” says Hostak. “There must be a concentrated effort in order to ensure access to the technology and services…
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