Archive: November 2010

It's diabetes awareness month—oh wait. It just ended (where does the time go?). I digress. Among the usual awareness raising campaigns and events, alongside calls to arms, I mean action, against America's obesity—and therefore TYPE 2 epidemic—a little debate among those of us in the know seems to have picked up a bit of steam. The big question: Should TYPE 1 be renamed (one could as easily argue in favor of re-branding TYPE 2)? It's an interesting question. While I, and I think...

AUSTIN, Texas - Inova Labs isn't going to sell its portable oxygen concentrator, LifeChoice, to just any old HME provider. "To the HME who says, 'I just want a couple of units,' the answer is, 'No,'" said President David Shockley. "I'm interested in the one who says, 'I agree. We need to change our business model. We need to go non-delivery. We have to expand. We have to add new patients. Let's do this together.' That is the company we are looking for." After a soft rollout in 2009, Inova Labs...

The Sun Sentinel in Florida took on wheelchair pricing this week in a feature it calls "Waste Watch: Investigating Where Our Tax Dollars Go." I probably don't have to tell you that the author of the article compared Medicare vs. Internet pricing for wheelchairs. She states, for example, that Medicare paid $800 for a provider to supply a manual wheelchair to the wife of one Alan Siegel of Fort Lauderdale, a wheelchair that any Tom, Dick or Harry can buy for $99 online. The author cites other...

I had an interesting chat with provider Bert Berns today. Berns has been in a wheelchair since 1982. When a person is first injured, he told me, it's hard to believe life isn't over. "No matter what they tell you," he said, 'that's eveybody's initial thought." But life isn't over. You just have to do things differently, said Berns. "It's rolling instead of walking," he told me. That might be a good thing for providers to keep in mind as they nervously await competitive bidding. If one can consider...

ROCHESTER, Mich. - Wright & Filippis has a cab ride in Las Vegas to thank for a new initiative that will not only save the provider money but also make it more “green.” “Our leadership was attending Medtrade West three years ago and took a cab that was powered by propane,” said Tom Hopkins, the distribution and fleet manager at Wright & Filippis. “A.J. Filippis (president) came back and said, 'We should be looking into this.'” Fast forward to Medtrade...

It's the day before Thanksgiving so I don't want to tee off on anyone—at least not excessively. But really, what's up with some seniors out there? They are giving the "Greatest Generation" a bad name. I say this after reading through a recent HME News Poll. According to this poll, an overwhelming majority of providers—92%—report that their customers are having more trouble paying out of pocket this year than last year. That makes sense. Most seniors are on fixed incomes and with...

During an update at Medtrade on the separate benefit for complex rehab, attendees were given the chance to ask questions of  steering committee members, including Don Clayback, chairman of the committee and executive director of NCART. I always find it interesting to hear what providers are concerned about. Here are a few of their questions and Clayback's answers. Will the benefit include additional accreditation requirements for complex rehab providers? Clayback says if providers are accredited...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - HME providers in Alabama are taking in stride recent changes to Medicaid and Blue Cross Blue Shield. In October, the state's Medicaid program became the second in the country to require that certain HME providers obtain surety bonds, according to Michael Hamilton, executive director of the Alabama Durable Medical Equipment Association (ADMEA). The first: Florida. "We negotiated exemptions for most of our members, so we did good," he said. Exemptions include HME providers who...

Q. How can providers encourage their consumers to actively support HME legislation? A. During visits to Capitol Hill this past spring, one provider put it this way: "One consumer's voice equals the input of 100 providers' voices when it comes to communicating HME funding needs to legislators." The provider was right on the money. Legislators do truly recognize those with disabilities as the ultimate stakeholders in HME legislation and they listen to them when approached. However, the challenge...

WASHINGTON - With the industry's chances of repealing competitive bidding before Jan. 1 looking slim to none, HME stakeholders are pursuing an administrative delay of the program. "The association has always been trying to stop this program because of its fatal flaws, either through legislation or an administrative delay," said Walt Gorski, vice president of government affairs for AAHomecare. "It has become increasingly more difficult to believe that the program can be stopped legislatively because...