Noteworthy

NIH Selects Omron for Study: The Bethesda, Md.-based National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health has selected Omron Healthcare's Intellisense HEM-907 professional digital blood pressure monitor for use in a 10,000-patient study designed to help reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in individuals with Type 2 diabetes.

CMS: Providers Covered During Emergency: The Baltimore-based Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services urged home medical equipment providers and other health care businesses in Manhattan, Washington and Pittsburgh — the areas targeted by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City and a portion of the Pentagon in Washington — to serve persons needing care without worrying about their Medicare, Medicaid or SCHIP enrollment status.

To contact CMS about a payment question related to the emergency situation, call 410/786-2000 or e-mail Emergency@cms.hhs.gov or check the Web site, www.cms.hhs.gov.

Research

Health Care Companies' Market Value Falls in 2001 Fourth Quarter: The home care segment of the health care industry lost $313.9 million, or 6.1 percent, in market value during the first quarter of 2001 compared with the fourth quarter of 2000, according to a new report.

Overall, the 68 public health care providers covered in the Quarterly Healthcare Report by Chicago-based middle-market investment bank Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin, lost about $8.9 billion in market value for the quarter. The report included hospital management, nursing home, assisted living, home care, specialty providers and physician practice management segments.

The hospital management segment posted the largest drop in market value, down $5.2 billion, or 9.2 percent. Specialty providers took the next biggest financial plunge for the quarter, losing $3.4 billion, or 17.5 percent, of its market value. The home care and assisted living segments lost a combined $328.4 million, while physician practice management increased by $108.8 million and nursing home by $1.8 million.

The health care industry is not, however, in complete shambles. According to the report, the median net income margin for the last 12 months showed the hospital management segment up 4.2 percent, with specialty providers and physician practice management also posting positive numbers with 5.2 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. However, home care dropped 1.9 percent, followed by the nursing home segment at 2.0 percent. Assisted living posted the biggest drop in profitability, 11.6 percent.

For more information about this report, call Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin at 888/875-5277, or access the Web site at http://www.hlhzhealth.com.

Sleep Disorders, Technology Focus of AAHomeCare Task Forces: The American Association for Homecare's HME/RT Council has formed two industry task forces, one on sleep-disordered breathing and the other on information technology.

The Sleep Disordered Breathing Task Force is made up of providers and manufacturers and addresses the policy and educational issues facing sleep-disorder conditions.

Likewise, the IT Task Force is made up of technology professionals and addresses those issues facing the industry.

AAHomecare members interested in serving on either task force should contact Melva Mazur via email at melvam@aahomecare.org or by calling (703) 836-6263.

CMS Needs to Improve Program Safeguard Contractors, Report Says: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has come up short in setting up its program safeguard contractors to combat Medicare fraud, according to a General Accounting Office report, “Opportunities and Challenges in Contacting for Program Safeguards.”

“[CMS] has not followed a systematic, strategic approach for testing and evaluating how best to use the PSCs to promote program integrity,” states the report. “Also, [CMS] has not yet developed clear, measurable criteria to evaluate PSCs' performance on the individual task orders. By addressing both of these issues, [CMS] would be in a better position to ensure that the PSCs are used most effectively.”

The GAO concluded that CMS needs to develop a long-term strategy that better focuses its PSC resources and provides a basis for determining how to use the PSCs to promote integrity.

People & Places

HSC Gets New VP: The Washington-based Center for Studying Health System Change has named Len Nichols, Ph.D., as its vice president. Nichols, currently a principle research associate at the Urban Institute, will shape HSC's research agenda to provide information to policymakers about reforming the nation's health system.

Region B Names New Ombudsmen: Angela Collins has joined the ombudsmen team for the Region B durable medical equipment regional carrier, representing Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota. Collins has been with the Region B DMERC, Administar Federal, since May 1994, serving as appeals counselor, auditor and trainer.