Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/45026
■ Dave Cormack says Brightree is tested and approved for new claims standards. See story this page. Sunrise Medical makes power play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 TENS on the chopping block? ...................... 41 Web tool automates feedback process. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 HQAA surveys billers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 BRIEFS Inogen secures Tricare contract GOLETA, Calif. – Inogen announced in Sep- tember that it has won a service contract to provide oxygen therapy to patients in Tri- care's 21-state western service region. The contract puts the company's Inogen One portable oxygen concentrators in the hands of active-duty military members, retired per- sonnel and their families. Tricare covers 2.7 million patients in the western half of the United States. VGM offers bid maps, wins workplace award WATERLOO, Iowa – The VGM Group in Sep- tember offered 100 zip code maps detailing the new competitive bidding areas (CBAs) for Round 2 of the program. The maps are designed to mirror the exact CBAs as re- leased by CMS, according to a press re- lease. In other news, The VGM Group was named one of the top workplaces in Iowa in the mid-sized company category by the Des Moines Register. The member services company was highlighted for being employ- ee owned and for coming off a record year of sales and profits. Nova's Sue Chen: 'Powerful Entrepreneur' Carson, Calif. – Nova Medical Products CEO Sue Chen has been named one of the 10 "Most Powerful Women Entrepre- neurs" in Fortune Magazine's November issue. The magazine chose the women from a pool of 131 applicants. Win- ners were selected for being innovators, game-changers and groundbreakers, and for running companies that generated $1 million to $25 million in annual revenue last year but appear to be poised to be- come large and global businesses. Fastrack Healthcare streamlines deliveries PLAINVIEW, N.Y. – Fastrack Healthcare Sys- tems has a new service that it believes will reduce fuel and overtime costs for the delivery operations of providers. The opti- mization service can process an unlimited number of orders and vehicles, and deter- mine which order should be allocated to a specific delivery truck. Considerations of the system include required time of deliv- ery and weight capacity of the vehicle. DeVilbiss, Jaysec partner SOMERSET, Pa. – DeVilbiss Healthcare an- nounced in September that its sleep ther- apy interfaces and IntelliPap supplies are now available through GoJaysec Technol- ogies' fulfillment program. Customers can benefit from GoJaysec's ability to track and contact their patient database for eli- gible replenishment supplies, resulting in reduced inventory to carry, no forecasting or backorders and no packing or shipping. The program also allows customers to increase their re-supply business without expanding personnel. The sun rises Sunrise Medical plans to introduce a handful of new products in the next few months BY LIZ BEAULIEU, Editor LONGMONT, Colo. – Sunrise Medical is back on the offensive in the power wheelchair market. Five years ago, when Medicare cut reimbursement for power wheel- chairs, Sunrise Medical downsized its product portfolio significantly, eliminating about 15 power mobil- ity devices, including all of those clas- sified Group 1 and Group 2. By the end of its fiscal year on June 30, 2012, however, the manufacturer plans to roll out a handful of new products. "Because of the funding challenges that the entire industry had to face, we dropped back into a defensive position with just four power wheel- chairs," said Dan Critchfield, product manager, power division. "We had to step back and say, 'What are we going to do in power?'" Between then and now, Sunrise Medical has researched repair needs and costs (the latter ranges from $80 to $200 a call, according to the com- pany), and gone back to the drawing board to manufacture simple and reli- able power wheelchairs. Sunrise Medical first dipped its toe back into the power wheelchair market about two-and-a-half years ago when it introduced the Quickie Pulse 6. "We put a proven product out in the field and we allowed it to season," Critchfield said. "The cry now is, 'You have a great power chair for Group 3, but we need something more.'" Leveraging the technology in the Pulse platform, Sunrise Medical plans in the next few months to introduce or re-introduce, among other prod- ucts, a wheelchair base that can do both single- and multi-power; a seat elevator; a heavy-duty wheelchair; and an 8-mph Group 4 wheelchair. SUNRISE SEE PAGE 42 Trouble for TENS? CMS puts industry on defensive about effectiveness of treatment BY LIZ BEAULIEU, Editor BALTIMORE – Never mind cutting reim- bursement. Manufacturers fear CMS may stop paying for transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) for the treat- ment of a certain condition altogether. In a recent transmittal, CMS cited a 2010 American Academy of Neurology (AAN) study that found TENS was inef- fective for treating chronic lower back pain, and stated that it has decided to review evidence of the use of TENS for that condition. "TENS has become the standard treat- ment for chronic pain over the years," said Tom Hughes, an attorney and execu- tive director of the newly formed Neuro- stimulation Device Alliance, which rep- resents TENS manufacturers and suppli- ers. "It's an effective alternative to pre- scription drugs, because it's non-system- ic and cost effective. So it's an important tool in the healthcare provider's toolkit." Interested parties had until Oct. 13 to submit evidence for CMS's consideration. CMS stated it was seeking, in partic- ular, "evidence to the health outcomes attributable to the use of TENS in home settings," and that's just what manufac- turers plan to give the agency. "There are two other meta-analyses that looked at more studies and found positive benefit from using TENS to treat not only chronic lower back pain but also chronic back pain overall," said John Velure, vice president of North American operations for Neurotech NA, and a founding member of the alliance. "We're surprised that they elected to only reference the AAN's meta-analysis." Not only is the evidence there that TENS is an effective treatment for chron- ic lower back pain, manufacturers say, but so is a "rigorous" review process to make sure TENS is doing its job. "Medicare pays for an initial rental of a TENS device, but then the patient has to go back to the physician so he can deter- mine whether the patient continues on the device," Hughes said. "That's another reason why we're surprised this came up." Manufactures hope the silver lining in CMS's review will be improved com- munication. "We want to work with CMS to make sure we've provided them with all the available evidence to make a wise deci- sion about continuing coverage for TENS," Hughes said. HME TENS market: Utilization E0730, TENS DEVICE, FOUR OR MORE LEADS: Allowed charges in 2010: $33,556,412 2009 vs. 2010: Up 11.45% TOP PROVIDERS BY REIMBURSEMENT IN 2010: EMPI Inc.: $11,554,646 International Rehabilitative Sciences: $3,042,789 Zynex Medical: $897,268 Pain and Rehabilitation Technologies: $564,762 Theratech: $530,854 Sources: Upcoming 2011 State of the Industry Report and HME Databank 5010, here we come BY LIZ BEAULIEU, Editor BALTIMORE – If all goes as planned, HME provid- ers won't have to lift a finger when Medicare transitions to HIPAA version 5010 on Jan. 1, 2012, software vendors say. That's because software vendors have spent a good part of this year, if not longer, updat- ing their systems to meet the new standards for electronic claims submissions that must be used by health plans, healthcare clearinghous- es and certain healthcare providers, they say. "Eighty percent of pro- viders are going to worry about this—they're going to say, 'I don't know what to do; I need to be trained,'" said Jay Wil- liams, the western regional sales manager for QS/1. "But if the software vendors have done it right, it's going to be totally transpar- ent. Providers are going to do things the way they've always done things." As part of the transition, software ven- dors must also be tested and approved by the contractor for Common Electronic Data Interchange (CEDI), National Government Services. Software vendors have put significant 5010 SEE PAGE 42 Jay Williams Invacare athletes win medals Riders using Invacare Top End Force Series Handcycles won a total of 11 gold medals and 16 overall medals at the UCI World Championships of Disabled Cycling Sept. 9-11 in Roskilde, Denmark. "Riders from seven different countries won medals using Invacare Top End handcycles," stated Chris Peterson, director of Invacare Top End, in a release. "It's great to see the international reach and power of these products." A total of 350 athletes from around the world partici- pated in the championships, which serves as the last qualifying event for the 2012 Paralympics in London. Vendors WWW.HMENEWS.COM / NOVEMBER 2011 / HME NEWS 41