Archive: July 2017

Laura Cox has served as Shield Healthcare's ostomy living expert for 3½ years. She was hired by the company after CEO Jim Snell saw her speak about her ileostomy on an episode of Tosh.0. She talks about her interest in telling her story to educate and break down the stigma around ostomy.  HME News: How does sharing your personal experience help others?Laura Cox: People get an ostomy for all sorts of reasons. Mine was inflammatory bowel disease. When I was doing my own research, there wasn't...

WATERLOO, Iowa - The VGM Group has been assisting members for more than 25 years, but it acknowledges it doesn't reach all members.That's how Clint Geffert, president of VGM & Associates, recently summed up his organization's decision to tap Craig Douglas for the newly created position of vice president of payer and member relations.But that's only half the equation.The other half reflects the organization's recognition of how dramatically the HME landscape has shifted due, primarily, to Medicare's...

VALENCIA, Calif. - Shield Healthcare recently announced a renewed push to market its ostomy services to Medicare patients nationwide. As part of that effort, Shield has developed an extensive online presence to engage and educate ostomy patients. That presence includes Ostomy Life expert, Laura Cox, who has been living with an ostomy since she was 19 years old.As part of Shield's Ostomy Life marketing campaign, Cox, 24, makes videos, writes blog posts and interacts with other people who are living...

A. Maintaining compliance is key to running a successful HME company. Regulations continually change not only for accreditation and equipment criteria, but also for maintaining your insurance contracts. Paper documentation and filing cabinets can be daunting and expensive to sustain, and leave room for human error. Companies spend $20 in labor to file a document, $120 to find a misfiled document and $220 to reproduce a lost document, according to Fujitsu's Pam Doyle. In the face of an audit,...

KEW GARDENS, N.Y. - In mid-June, the United Spinal Association held its 6th Annual Roll on Capitol Hill, which brought hundreds of members to Washington, D.C., to advocate on behalf of individuals living with spinal cord injuries and disorders.HME News recently caught up with Bill Fertig, director of the association's Resource Center and a wheelchair user, to hear about the event and how it's changed from year to year.HME News: How was this, the 6th Annual Roll, different from previous years?Bill...

A push to break its paperwork logjam and speed up the billing process prompted MedCare Equipment Company to switch to a mobile delivery system just over a year ago.The HME provider partnered with Apacheta, a mobile solutions provider, to cut paperwork, standardize delivery and reduce its days sales outstanding number. Using Apacheta's software, MedCare transitioned to a paperless environment using mobile devices to transmit information between departments and optimize travel time for drivers.In doing...

OWINGS MILLS, Md.- As payers increasingly focus on the quality and competence of DME suppliers, those suppliers are increasingly recognizing the value of having one or more certified DME specialists (CDME) on staff. And for that, they are turning to the Board of Certfication/Accreditation (BOC). That interest in DME certification is one reason why BOC recently moved to an office space nearly 50% larger than its former space, explains Claudia Zacharias, president and CEO of the not-for-profit organization. But...

A. An important part of 24-hour care is successful implementation, with the goal of improving function, activity, participation and quality of life for the individual.The starting point is a comprehensive assessment of the individual's and the caregiver's needs and lifestyle, specific to their environments. By assessing and understanding the need, it's clear how to implement the provision of equipment, services and care over the 24-hour period.The assessment process will require an all-inclusive...

WASHINGTON - When wheelchair users rolled onto Capitol Hill in June to advocate for a number of issues, they had official support from NRRTS for the first time. NRRTS was a “Capitol” sponsor for the United Spinal Association-organized Roll on Capitol Hill, a $20,000 commitment. “As the (manufacturer, provider and user communities) work together more, we saw this as an opportunity to show our cohesiveness,” said Weesie Walker, executive director of NRRTS. “We're...

DAVISON, Mich. - Interoperability is very much a buzzword in health care today, but at Universal Software Solutions (USS), the idea that software systems should be able to “talk to” each other is an idea that dates back to the company's founding in 2000.“Interoperability is how we got our start,” Vice President Dave Golen said, noting that the ability to adapt to any customers existing software system is first among the company's principles.The ultimate goal, Golen explained,...