July 2010

In the first glimmer of hope for mobility providers in a long while, a bill to delay elimination of the first-month purchase option for power wheelchairs could come through as early as this week.
While providers now have ready access to spreadsheet-type data files that list both physicians who are PECOS-registered and those whose registration is pending, the system is clearly still a work in progress.
In announcing its second quarter financial results, Lincare Holdings said it had accepted two oxygen contracts in Round 1 of competitive bidding in Miami and Charlotte. The company bid in all nine MSAs.
CMS has released a competitive bidding fact sheet for referral agents advising that when the program begins in January 2011, beneficiaries located in the nine CBAs must obtain bid items from a contract supplier.
In a recent widespread probe review of post-payment claims for CPAP devices, the Jurisdiction C DME MAC said the review "showed that suppliers are not following published Medicare guidelines and policies

In an announcement the HME industry has been both waiting to hear and dreading, the CMS has released new payment rates for the Round 1 competitive bidding rebid.
While it may be easy to sell a product, it is way more complicated and painstaking to create an acceptable and workable contract.

Various HME products, including: Asa Products' Mobo Shift; Homecare Products' EZ-BATHE Inflatable Bathtub; Invacare's FDX; Pride Mobility Products Corp.'s LC-900 Media Lift Chair; and more.
Then CMS ditched a reported June 25 deadline for release of the Round 1 bid rates, and my summer vacation suddenly went south.
Pediatric products, including: Freedom Concepts' Discovery Series DCP 12; Invacare's Spree 3G; Karman Healthcare's BU1 Deluxe Lightweight Stroller; and more.
Put together by the group's newest division, Accessible Home Improvement of America, the Heartland Home for Independent Living showcased the latest accessibility products from AHIA vendors.

Let's review the results of the DME MAC's prepayment complex medical review of oxygen and oxygen equipment, posted June 8.
Home medical equipment providers had been waiting for weeks on CMS to release the Round 1 rebid rates. But after they heard the July 1 announcement, many said they were struggling to regroup.
The Internet provides at least three non-intrusive ways to build relationships with referral sources, multiply the presence of each marketing rep and solidify relationships with customers.