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It's a Go for Home-Based Sleep Testing
BALTIMORE--Late Friday, the Medicare Evidence Development and Coverage Advisory Committee recommended changes to CMS' national coverage determination on coverage of continuous positive airway pressure therapy for obstructive sleep apnea....
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House Subcommittee Appeals to SBA for Competitive Bidding Delay
WASHINGTON--The House of Representatives Committee on Small Business, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, sent a letter to the U.S. Small Business Administration Wednesday to use its muscle with CMS and intervene to delay competitive bidding. ...
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Fate of Last-Minute Cuts to HME Uncertain
WASHINGTON--Unable to settle on a Medicare package last week, the House of Representatives threw up its hands, tossing the hot potato to the Senate. The move could ultimately benefit HME providers, some Washington insiders said. ...
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Providers Unhappy with NBC Segment on Medicare Fraud
MIAMI--Just weeks after scathing reports on the home medical equipment industry by National Public Radio and the New York Times, HME took another body blow last week, this time delivered in a two-part series that aired on NBC. ...
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Florida Companies under Medicaid Microscope
TAMPA-ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.--On the heels of Medicare's supplier fraud demonstration in South Florida's Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties, HME companies in the state's Tampa-St. Petersburg area are coming under the Medicaid microscope. ...
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PSCs Dump Requirement for ATP Evaluation of PWC Benes
BALTIMORE--CMS' DME Program Safeguard Contractors have eliminated a requirement for a certified Assistive Technology Practitioner (ATP)--a credential bestowed by the Rehabilitation Engineering & Assistive Technology Society of North America--to evaluate beneficiaries receiving certain power wheelchairs. ...
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MSA Selection Could Miss $1 Billion; Look Out, Anchorage
MELBOURNE, Fla.--When CMS chooses the next 70 MSAs for competitive bidding, the agency could be excluding $1 billion in annual Medicare DME expenditures from the program, according to industry consultant Wallace Weeks of Weeks Group. ...
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CMS Begins 2008 Provider Satisfaction Survey
BALTIMORE--CMS has begun its third annual provider satisfaction survey of Medicare fee-for-service contractors, who process and pay more than $280 billion in Medicare claims each year. ...
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Industry Reels from Another Shot at HME
WASHINGTON--After a scathing article in the New York Times blasting what reporter Charles Duhigg described as Medicare overpayments for home oxygen, the American Association for Homecare issued a statement late Friday explaining HME companies' services in providing the therapy and asking for "a genuine debate" about appropriate payment for oxygen. ...
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NPI Registry Could Reveal Social Security Numbers
BALTIMORE--In yet another glitch with the fledgling Internet registry of National Provider Identification numbers and other health care provider data, CMS cautioned last week that the Social Security numbers of some providers could be disclosed to the public under the Freedom of Information Act. ...
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Bidding Timeline, Fraud Demo Discussed at CMS Open Door
BALTIMORE--While there were no big explanations at CMS' Open Door Forum last week, HME stakeholders did glean a few nuggets of information on the agency's national competitive bidding project and its ongoing fraud demonstration. ...
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Ohio Company Indicted in 'Power Chair Scooter' Billing Scam
CINCINNATI--Ohio company Active Solutions of Worthington conspired to defraud Medicare and Medicaid through a "bait-and-switch" scheme that selectively targeted people who wanted portable scooters, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. ...
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Invacare Pulls Out of Medtrade in 2008
ELYRIA, Ohio--Invacare will be absent from both Medtrade shows next year, instead switching its focus to specialized trade shows and "more customer-oriented training activities," the company said last week. ...
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Pre-Payment Reviews Continue, Point Up Huge Denial Rates
COLUMBIA, S.C.--HME providers in Jurisdictions A and B have been slammed with claim denials in a number of areas this year, according to the results of several pre-payment reviews released by TriCenturion, the regions' DME PSC. ...
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Family Crime Ring Sentenced in S. Fla. Kickback Scheme
TAMPA, Fla.--Four family members who owned a series of Miami DME companies and outpatient rehab facilities have each been sentenced to 57 months in prison for Medicare fraud, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida announced Nov. 9. ...
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