Still considering attending Medtrade Spring? If you arrive at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas in person Tuesday, March 11 or Wednesday, March 12, just mention “special discount” at the registration desk for a truly great deal on an Expo Floor Pass. Visit medtrade.com for more information about the show.

March 11, 2014 Mandalay Bay Convention Center, South Pacific Room F Las Vegas, Nev. 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. Be a part of the home care sector’s premier advocacy event and one of the top networking opportunities at Medtrade Spring. Stand with industry leaders and stand up for home care by supporting our efforts to get factual, positive information about homecare to the people who need to hear it most—Congress and the media.

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia (March 6, 2014)—Umbian, Inc., a provider of cloud-based health care compliance solutions, announced that key features of its U-Sleep compliance monitoring solution have been integrated into Universal Software Solutions’ Healthcare Data Management System (HDMS) billing management platform. The end result is a more efficient mechanism for merging practice management and billing-related activities with patient usage compliance.

SOLON, Ohio (March 4, 2014)—Multi Radiance Medical (MRM), manufacturer and marketer of FDA-cleared lasers for drug-free pain relief, announced that LaserStim—the first and only FDA-cleared device to combine neuro-adaptive electrical stimulation and laser in a single emitter—provides non-invasive pain relief for a number of foot conditions including Plantar fasciitis and Achilles tendinitis. As a result, doctors of podiatry (DPM) optimize treatment and are positioned to expand their practices.

PEACHTREE CITY, Ga.(March 5, 2014)—A Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) occurs in approximately two million Americans each year. The result can be serious illness, disability and in some cases, death. The good news is that DVT is preventable and treatable, if discovered early. Because 74 percent of adults have little to no awareness of DVT, SIGVARIS is on a mission to help raise awareness in the United States.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. (March 7, 2014)—The Board of Certification/Accreditation (BOC) won a Stevie Award for Sales and Customer Service in the Best Use of Technology in Customer Service category. This was the second consecutive year BOC was honored with a Stevie Award. Winners were announced Friday, Feb. 21 at the eighth annual Stevie Awards ceremony in Las Vegas.

LAKE WALES, Fla. (March 5, 2014)—3B/BMC, announced the integration of voice recognition and patient auto-dialing within iCodeConnect, 3B Medical's cloud based patient management portal. Obtaining sleep compliance data for reimbursement is a major challenge for DME providers. Modems create costs and logistical problems in the inventory and movement of modems. SD Cards also are not ideal as they require physically transporting the SD card. 3B Medical's iCode is the solution.

MUNDELEIN, Ill. (March 3, 2014)—Medline Industries, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of medical and surgical supplies, will open a new state-of-the-art distribution center in Lincoln County, N.C., in early 2015, the company announced.

LAS VEGAS (March 3, 2014)—Judges named the winners of the Innovative HME Retail Product Awards last week. The biannual awards, sponsored by HomeCare magazine, honor HME products that are particularly suited for retail sale. “There were some really impressive and innovative entries this year,” said Jim Greatorex, owner, Black Bear Medical, Portland, Maine, and a member of the judging panel. “We had lots of discussion about each entry. To pick the top six, we really had to get nitpicky.

WASHINGTON (March 5, 2014)—President Obama released his 2015 budget this week and, as expected, provisions targeting DME were included. Two of the prominent provisions suggest using Medicare bid rates for Medicaid reimbursement to save money, and implementing prior authorization as a means of fighting fraud. AAHomecare has strongly opposed the Medicaid proposal for a number of years and has successfully kept it from going into effect.