Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/50323
s Meet Teresa Glass Owens, winner of the 2011 HME Excellence Award for Best Rehab Technology Provider. See page 12. s Product Focus: This month, we asked manufacturers to submit their fl agship scooters and scooter accessories, like this Buzzaround XL 4-Wheel Scooter from Golden Technologies. See pages 28-29. HME NEWS POLL s More than three quarters of HME providers set and track business goals every year. What are some of their top goals for 2012? See results on page 34. VOLUME 18 — NUMBER 1 JANUARY 2012 $7.00 THE BUSINESS NEWSP APER FOR HOME MEDICAL EQUIPMENT PRO VIDERS NEWS s Super committee fails to reach deal. PAGE 4 s RAC expansion a bad idea PAGE 4 s Q&A: Kevin Hill of TAHCS. PAGE 10 SMART TALK s This month, our columnists tackle indemnifi cation clauses, marketing platforms, ALJ hearings and customer responsibility. PAGES 14-15 COMMENTARY COMPETITIVE BIDDING Countdown to Round 2 begins BY LIZ BEAULIEU, Editor BALTIMORE – If you're an HME provider in a Round 2 competi- tive bidding area, you're running out of excuses not to get ready for the program, industry stake- holders say. CMS announced on Nov. 30 a s Vet all job applicants, especially their education and experience, say Lisa Wells and Carrie Robinson. PAGE 13 DEPARTMENTS PROVIDERS s Apria racks up losses. PAGE 17 s CareCentrix speaks. PAGE 17 s Collins Home Medical celebrates 80 years in business. PAGE 18 MOBILITY s GOP sponsor needed for separate benefi t bill. PAGE 21 s Demo: Stakeholders react. PAGE 21 s Hoveround launches infomercial. PAGE 22 RX & SPECIALTY PROVIDERS s AOPA meets with CMS. PAGE 25 s Diabetes event draws crowd. PAGE 25 s RN Plus likes managed care. PAGE 26 VENDORS s Invacare, FDA in negotiations over shut down. PAGE 30 s Drive Medical bets on big. PAGE 30 s GF enhances bed facility. PAGE 31 more detailed timeline for Round 2, including a registration that kicked off Dec. 5, and a bid win- dow that opens Jan. 30 and closes March 30. "Providers need to start get- ting everything ready—their 855S form, their credit report, their billing system," said Wayne Grau, DeVilbiss re-emerges BY LIZ BEAULIEU, Editor SOMERSET, Pa. – DeVilbiss Health- care's split from Sunrise Medical may seem like old news, but it's not. Sunrise Medical announced in 2007 that it would split into two independent companies— Sunrise Medical for mobility products and DeVilbiss Health- care for respiratory products— but the move wasn't completed until 2010. DEVILBISS SEE PAGE 10 WWW.HMENEWS.COM vice president of contracting and business services for The MED Group. "If they start investing four or fi ve hours a week on this thing, they're going to be ready. They can't stick their head in the sand and hope it goes away." Until its Nov. 30 announce- ment, CMS had provided only a vague timeline for Round 2. It had stated, for example, that it would begin registration in "Fall 2011" and begin bidding in "Win- ter 2012." Industry stakeholders recom- mend providers in Round 2 areas register for competitive bidding BIDDING SEE PAGE 10 Tubes for Tots Sunset Healthcare Solutions donated a portion of sales from every six-foot CPAP tube sold in December to the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. The Chicago-based manufacturer and distributor of CPAP and oxygen products also collected donations and toys for what it calls its annual "Tubes for Tots" campaign. CMS details wheelchair demo Physicians will bear responsibility for documentation in second phase BY ELIZABETH DEPREY, Associate Editor Open Door Forum. In the fi rst phase of the demo, WASHINGTON – Physicians and practitioners, not HME provid- ers, will submit prior authoriza- tion requests for power mobility devices (PMDs) to CMS in the second phase of a new demon- stration project, officials told listeners during a Dec. 2 Special starting Jan. 1, all PMD claims sub- mitted by providers will be subject to a prepay review process. But in the second phase, scheduled to begin three to nine months later, physicians and practitioners will bear that responsibility as part of a prior authorization request process. They will receive reimbursement of about $10 per request for addi- tional time spent preparing and submitting requests. "Improper payments is really what this is all about," said Mela- nie Combs-Dyer, deputy director of CMS's Provider Compliance Group, citing an error rate of 75% DEMO SEE PAGE 23 Sleep program drives Re-peat biz BY THERESA FLAHERTY, Managing Editor AMHERST, N.Y. – Providers like to talk about CPAP and APAP, but the staff at C-Pap Xpress is just as likely to talk Re-PAP with their customers. "People initially started coming in for supplies—that was initially our focus—but we had people saying, 'I've had my CPAP for 10 years, maybe I'd like to upgrade to something newer,'" said Peter Storey, president. So, the provider called around to insurance companies and Medicare and found that most will allow a new machine after fi ve years, although a doctor's approval is often needed, said Storey, and the Re-PAP program RE-PEAT SEE PAGE 27