BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Feb. 17, 2014)—Home medical equipment (HME) providers, hospitals, physicians, hospice and home health agencies have been assaulted by unprecedented numbers of audits. The latest numbers from recovery audit contractor (RAC) publications show that in the first quarter of fiscal year 2013, RACs collected $744.8 million in overpayments.

In a recent Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA) forum on the overwhelming administrative law judge (ALJ) appeal backlog, AAHomecare’s Tom Ryan and Jay Witter listened to Chief Judge Nancy Griswold and others from CMS discuss the situation and their proposed solutions.

WASHINGTON (Feb. 20, 2014)—AAHomecare’s Regulatory Council recently submitted two letters to the General Counsel at CMS. Both letters are related to continued confusion caused by CMS’s guidance on the face-to-face encounter requirement. The first letter focused on an inconsistency between the unambiguous language requiring a face-to-face encounter written by Congress and CMS’s implementing guidance.

AAHomecare (AAH) recently submitted a letter written by its Regulatory Council to CMS Administrator Marilyn Tavenner commenting on the recent final end-stage renal disease (ESRD) rule. The rule moved many items from the inexpensive and routinely purchased category to the capped rental category.

BOSTON (Feb. 11, 2014)—Better Rest Solutions (BRS), the creator of the SoClean 2 CPAP Cleaning and Sanitizing Machine, announced a strategic partnership with EasyBreathe.com, a supplier of high quality sleep apnea products to customers throughout the United States. Since its introduction in 2012, the SoClean 2 has become a top-rated product among CPAP users, and now it will be easier than ever for U.S.

LENEXA, Kan. (Feb. 11, 2014)—Mediware Information Systems, Inc., announced its partnership with Jaysec Technologies. This partnership offers a game-changing solution to HME providers by directly integrating Mediware products with Jaysec solutions to provide electronic referrals without having to manually input orders.

CINCINNATI, Ohio (Feb. 17, 2014)—FirstLight HomeCare, a provider of non-medical, in-home care, has been named as a Top 50 Franchise in the 2014 Franchise Satisfaction Awards. The Franchise Business Review hosts the awards, which are an annual ranking of franchise companies based on their level of franchisee satisfaction. FirstLight HomeCare appeared at number 12 on the list of companies with 100-249 locations (mid-size).

March 10, 2014 - March 12, 2014 Mandalay Bay Convention Center Las Vegas, Nev. medtrade.com Homecare works for patients. Medtrade works for you. Medtrade Spring is the second largest (Medtrade is the largest) tradeshow in the U.S. focused exclusively on the home medical equipment market.