Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/31507
■ Special Report: Five ways you should be using the Internet. See page 38. ■ Medtrade Spring Products: Check out the dozens of new products that you’ll find at this year’s show in Las Vegas, like MedQuip’s Penelope Panda. See pages 44-49. HME NEWS POLL ■ More than half of denied claims get reversed on appeal. What percentage of your claims do you appeal? See results on page 62. VOLUME 17 — NUMBER 4 APRIL 2011 $7.00 THE BUSINESS NEWSP APER FOR HOME MEDICAL EQUIPMENT PRO VIDERS NEWS ■ CMS leaves contract suppliers hanging. PAGE 8 ■ GAO: Stop bundling oxygen payments. PAGE 14 ■ Associations hire PR firms. PAGE 16 SMART TALK ■ This month, our columnists tackle employee morale, self-audits, intake and e-commerce. PAGES 22-23 COMMENTARY ■ “Don’t hit the panic button on competitive bidding,” writes John Shirvinsky, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Medical Suppliers. Instead, it’s time to redouble efforts to repeal the program. Now is not the time to go wobbly, he writes. PAGE 21 DEPARTMENTS PROVIDERS ■ Maldonado Medical goes green, saves green. PAGE 25 ■ Q&A: Jack Evans. PAGE 25 ■ Apria posts loss. PAGE 27 REHAB ■ Stakeholders make case for separate benefit. PAGE 29 ■ Proposal would ‘destroy’ benefit. PAGE 29 ■ Scooter Store leaves AAH. PAGE 30 RX & SPECIALTY PROVIDERS ■ AASM launches accreditation program for home sleep tests. PAGE 35 ■ Reliable Respiratory’s CPAP Road Tour. PAGE 35 ■ Provider opens sleep labs. PAGE 35 VENDORS ■ Graham-Field’s Lumex: Made in U.S.A. PAGE 55 ■ VirtuOx goes wireless. PAGE 55 ■ CMS downcodes E0217. PAGE 55 WWW.HMENEWS.COM A new bidding bill for the Hill ‘We hate competitive bidding,’ says AAHomecare’s Walt Gorski. ‘It will not work for health care’ BY THERESA FLAHERTY Managing Editor WASHINGTON – When indus- try stakeholders convened for AAHomecare’s Washington Legislative Conference on March 16-17, they had an important piece of paper with them. Complex rehab ‘CMS is going to go berserk’ BY LIZ BEAULIEU Editor WASHINGTON – With the first-month purchase option eliminated for standard power wheelchairs, CMS is on high alert that providers will try to move more Medicare beneficiaries into complex power wheelchairs, according to industry stakeholders. “We’ve already started to see it happen,” said Ron Reed, owner and CEO of Benchmark Mobility in Indianapolis. “At least one provider we know of is trying to jam beneficiaries into tilts, because they’re going to get paid faster. CMS is going to go berserk over this.” In January, CMS started paying for standard power or Group 2 wheelchairs over the course of 13 months, instead of in one lump sum in the first month. The policy CONTINUED ON PAGE 32 Stakeholders keep an eye on Round 2. PAGE 4 ■ ■ CMS’s Jonathan Blum gets an earful. PAGE 4 ■ Accrediting agencies report increase in complaints. PAGE 6 On March 11, Reps. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and Jason Altmire, D-Pa., introduced H.R. 1041, the Fairness in Medicare Bidding Act to repeal competitive bidding. “Yes,” said Walt Gorski, vice president of government relations HME that’s hip not hospital OMHU WAS CREATED TO BRING “COLOR, STYLE AND DESIGN” to a field where many products currently offered “looked like they belonged in a hospital, rather than a home,” says Susan Towers. Towers co- founded the com- pany with Susy Corb and Rie Norregaard. Omhu’s first product, a cane introduced in December, is “made from skateboards, bicycles and hiking boots,” jokes Towers, because it uses materials traditionally used by those three products to produce a sleek, colorful, lightweight design. See story page 56. for AAHomecare. “All our efforts (have been) behind getting the bill introduced by the legislative conference.” This year’s annual event drew more than 250 providers to the Westin Washington. CONTINUED ON PAGE 8 Sleep Auditor misreads Medicare policy BY THERESA FLAHERTY Managing Editor FARGO, N.D. – CMS plans to halt auto- mated CPAP audits in Jurisdiction D after learning that its contrac- tor has misinterpreted Medicare policy, AAHomecare reported in March. Medicare policy requires an approved sleep test for CPAP and supplies. HDI, the recov- ery audit contractor (RAC) for Noridian Administrative Services, the Jurisdiction D DME MAC, interpreted that to mean that CONTINUED ON PAGE 60 One provider’s adventures in advertising BY LIZ BEAULIEU Editor CONCORD, Calif. – Almost a year ago, provider Mike Kuller opened his first retail location, Allstar Medical Supply, and began tinkering with advertising and gauging its impact. So what has he learned? Kuller, who’s also president of Allstar Oxygen Services, which bills Medicare, has learned that newspaper ads should stress discounted products. “Our competitor’s ads showed products on sale, while our CONTINUED ON PAGE 27 MIKE KULLER (c) at his retail location.