Archive: October 2015

ATLANTA - A bill that would soften the blow of the national expansion of competitive bidding is coming, AAHomecare officials told Medtrade attendees last week.Stakeholders already have Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., committed to introduce the bill, but recently they were able to sign on Rep. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., as a lead co-sponsor, making the effort bi-partisan; and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., as the lead on a companion bill.“You want to see the bill already,” said Tom Ryan, president and...

CLEARWATER, Fla. - Lincare is in discussions to buy Brentwood, Tenn.-based American HomePatient from investment firm Highland Capital Management, Bloomberg reported Oct. 23. A deal could be announced as early as this week, according to people familiar with the deal. If Lincare buys American HomePatient, it would be one of three remaining nationals in the HME industry, with Apria Healthcare and Rotech Healthcare. AHP has reportedly been on the market since last year. The Deal, a publication...

WASHINGTON - AAHomecare members will receive discounted pricing on DMEPOS surety bonds and liability insurance from VGM insurance, per an agreement hammered out at Medtrade last week. Under the new agreement, AAHomecare memebrs will receive a 10% discount on surety bond and liability insurance premiums. VGM also offers other insurance products specifically for HME providers, including property, business auto, workers' compensation and cyber liability. The agreement is timely, the two groups say,...

WASHINGTON - AAHomecare members will receive discounted pricing on DMEPOS surety bonds and liability insurance from VGM insurance, based on an agreement hammered at Medtrade this week. Under the new agreement, AAHomecare memebrs will receive a 10% discount on surety bond and liability insurance premiums. VGM also offers other insurance products specifically for HME providers, including property, business auto, workers' compensation and cyber liability. The agreement is timely, the two groups say,...

ATLANTA - Pride Mobility took top honors with its Go Go Folding Scooter at the 2015 Innovative HME Retail Product Awards held last week at Medtrade.KT Recovery + Patches by KT Tape won second place and DayDreamer Lift Chair from Golden Technologies came in third.“We had a lot of customers and providers coming to us saying, 'We want something more compact, something we can store, something we can take on vacation,'” said Renae Favata, eastern regional sales director for Jazzy and Retail...

ATLANTA - Mark Higley laid to bare his predictions for the upcoming Round 2 re-compete during a session at Medtrade last week.Higley, vice president of regulatory affairs at the VGM Group, says that the next round of competitive bidding, scheduled to go into effect July 1, 2016, will see more contract offers, with fewer to out-of-state providers and low-ball bidders.Higley based his findings on surveys of hundreds of HME providers that submitted bids as part of the program, and data requests to CMS.The...

I don't know if you've had time to devour Show Daily 2 and I know you haven't seen Show Daily 3 yet (we're working on it right now in a secret room off one of the show entrances), so I thought I might share with you some gems from the issues. You're not alone This year more than ever I realized that, while Medtrade has some excellent education, a lot of what attendees crave from the event is the opportunity to talk to each other. When I hounded Jerri McLamb for our Question of the Day on Tuesday,...

ATLANTA - Traffic was steady on the Medtrade show floor on Tuesday, and attendees and exhibitors alike were smiling.“It looks good, feels good, feels different,” said Kevin Gaffney, group show director. “People seem less cautious and more optimistic. They are dealing with this bidding thing and figuring it out.”It's the expansion of bid pricing to rural areas that brought Tara Ellington from Alaska to Atlanta.“It's super important for us to talk to people who have been...

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Aeroflow Healthcare has acquired Abbeville Area Medical Center's Home Medical Equipment business out of Greenwood, S.C., to further enhance its position in the upstate of South Carolina. Aeroflow already has offices in Greer, Gastonia and Hendersonville. In addition to lending their experience, resource and support to Abbeville Area Medical Center, Aeroflow has made a donation to the center's foundation for education, research and continued service to the area and its residents.

Today, while hanging at the HME News booth (1755), I had the pleasure of meeting someone who reads my blogs. “Hi Theresa, you're the Type 1 of the group, aren't you?” I almost said, “No, that's Liz” before I realized he meant Type 1 as in diabetes, not Type A as in, uh, personality. Turns out his daughter has Type 1, so he can relate. When I told Liz this story, she immediately had the same confusion. “What! That's not you!” Great minds think alike, even when they...