CareTouch

•   FBI agents raid HME offices – 05/08/2012HME News StaffVISALIA, Calif. – FBI agents raided the offices of Care … http://t.co/yJMAJSzk #
•   CMS Delays Implementation of Physician Payments Sunshine Act – On May 3, 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Me… http://t.co/4kPMo1an #
•   Transportation industry evaluates workers' sleep – Boggs was diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), a s… http://t.co/E39foY0k #
•   RT @hmebusiness: Top Tips for a Successful Resupply Business
  http://t.co/MIYS64CY – hmebusiness: Top Tips for… http://t.co/wOlM1TQz #
•   RT @yatinjpatel: Treating Sleep Disorder Improves Psychiatric Outcomes http://t.co/wzKgqDdA via @yatinjpatel – http://t.co/umWlbBQM #
•   VOX POPULI – Why doesn’t Congress want to provide good healthcare to the elderly, the ill and others in need? … http://t.co/gjLs4whD #
•   GAO: More experience needed with DME bidding – 05/09/2012HME News StaffWASHINGTON – The Government Accountabil… http://t.co/upAyiIn7 #
•   Risk assessments for nonprofits – Whit Richardson05/09/2012While corporations see risk assessments as a busine… http://t.co/KbIBcvP5 #
•   RT @AASMOrg: Social jetlag – when you have a different sleep schedule during the weekends. Are you guilty of t… http://t.co/VE55Sq5p #
•   VGM Inks Vendor Agreement with BeClose – Providers can use BeClose wireless, web-based patient monitoring syst… http://t.co/gXIf2efJ #
•   RT @CMS_Sleep: Anyone else thinking that it's time for a nap? – CMS_Sleep: Anyone else thinking that it's time… http://t.co/jr19vW22 #
•   Industry Testifies to House on MPP, NCB – AAHomecare's Marx to Ways and Means: ' We do not oppose properly des… http://t.co/d3Mwys2r #
•   Providers Pledge to Activate Beneficiaries – More than 300 HMEs engage patients in the fight to stop competiti… http://t.co/Ah4EPfUU #
•   VGM Asks That You Report Any HME Businesses that Have Closed In and Outside of Round 1 of Competitive Bidding! – http://t.co/O5lYpdvv #
•   CARB Urges Tractor-Trailer Owners to Register Early for Flexibility – More > 4/23/2012 – FMCSA Withdraws S… http://t.co/QhWdtILt #
•   RT @ActivHealthcare: The risk of stroke appears in men w/ mild #OSA & rises with the severity of sleep apn… http://t.co/Ufe0tlrh #
•   RT @sleep_apnea: TIA sufferers often have sleep apnea, too – Arizona Daily Sun http://t.co/vUl3iQd6 – sleep_ap… http://t.co/SMbjn6uz #
•   Persistent Daytime Sleepiness Common Despite Effective CPAP – Both are approved by the Food and Drug Administr… http://t.co/8cQxcORJ #
•   NewsPoll: "One-stop-shop" approach is key to success, providers say – 05/11/2012Elizabeth DepreyYARMOUTH, Main… http://t.co/LM7T2Raw #
•   GAO releases Round 1 report on competitive bidding –
  The Government Accountability Office (GAO) last week re… http://t.co/wlcw6rft #
•   RT @ScienceofSleep: SOS Sleep Update How to make workplace healthier http://t.co/GRsNgFCD #health #sleep #tips – http://t.co/QWKq1YAo #
•   RT @davidbargmann: Healthcare a major focus in 2012 campaigns http://t.co/3C0ld35u – davidbargmann: Healthcare… http://t.co/U4xxqy42 #
•   HomeCare LinkedIn Group Fosters HME Communication—Join Today! –
  For nearly four decades HomeCare magazine ha… http://t.co/xG0hTcoQ #
•   Providers pledge to keeping fighting competitive bidding –
  More than 300 providers have signed the I’m… http://t.co/1BdZoVdU #
•   GAO: More experience needed with DME bidding – 05/11/2012Theresa FlahertyWASHINGTON – The Government Accountab… http://t.co/xE98uMUx #
•   CMS Provides List of Providers Who Need to Revalidate Their Medicare Enrollment – As part of healthcare reform… http://t.co/jBoXuGRx #
•   What is your business built on? – Liz Beaulieu05/14/2012Data has always been a hallmark of the HME News Busine… http://t.co/KGdwM7UD #
•   Security as customer service: Why not recruit guards from the hospitality sector? – Whit Richardson05/14/2012O… http://t.co/3vLQOMVi #
•   SLEEP APNEA NEXUS LETTER FROM DOC TODAY in VA … – He is now on CPAP for his sleep apnea with good compliance… http://t.co/2vUs9acT #
•   Factors influencing compliance with continuous positive airway … – Factors influencing compliance with conti… http://t.co/YXYULCFL #

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Including Infusion Therapy in the Round 1 Re-compete Could Affect Patient Care

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was urged by home infusion stakeholders and the National Home Infusion Association (NHIA) to rethink its plan to include certain home infusion therapies in the Competitive Bidding Program’s re-compete for Round 1 contracts. Stakeholders, who have worked for several years to create a more coordinated and comprehensive Medicare benefit for the therapy, believe that including home infusion in the competitive bidding process will needlessly disrupt patient care. They worry that out-of-state companies could win the bids because such therapy requires a local presence. When infusion patients don’t receive proper care, they are admitted back to hospitals or skilled nursing facilities at a much higher cost, stakeholders say.

This issue is in line with CMS’ April 16 announcement which called for bidding on infusion pumps and related supplies.

Letter Urges Sebelius to Recognize HME’s Role in Developing Cost-effective Medicare Policy

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius received a letter from the New England Medical Equipment Dealers Association (NEMED) urging her to consider the role of home medical equipment in developing cost-effective healthcare policy in Medicare.

The letter, in part, emphasizes the need for home medical equipment and the related services to be included in any discussion surrounding the evaluation of the healthcare delivery system with an emphasis on finding innovative, cost-saving solutions with the advancements that have occurred in technology over the years. It also mentions the Market Pricing Plan (MPP) as a way to keep the provider network intact, which could lead to a greater chance of success as well as inevitable expansion.

Senators seek Help from the Healthcare Community in Fighting Fraud, Waste and Abuse

A bipartisan effort to solicit ideas from the health-care community on ways to fight waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs was announced by six members of the Senate Finance Committee. In an open letter from the senators, they stated that federal efforts would be strengthened by input from members across the health-care community. To gather wisdom and accumulated insights from thousands of professionals and individual experiences create a fresh perspective and potentially identify solutions that may have been overlooked or underutilized, the senators added.

Interested parties were asked by lawmakers to submit white papers that offer recommendations and innovative solutions to improve program integrity, strengthen payment reforms and enhance fraud and abuse enforcement. Deadline for submissions is June 29.

Competitive Bidding to be Assessed by House Subcommittee

A hearing to measure the impact of Medicare’s Competitive Bidding Program on patients, suppliers and program expenditures was set on Wednesday, May 9, 2012, by the Health Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. The subcommittee will be looking at Round 1 of the Competitive Bidding Program, which was already implemented in nine metropolitan areas, and plans for implementation of Round 2 in 91 additional metropolitan areas.

The hearing is seen by the American Association for Homecare as an opportunity to highlight deficiencies in the bidding program and urge Congress to replace it with a Market Pricing Program, which is being advanced by the HME industry as an alternative way to save the same amount of money as Medicare’s competitive bidding, but allow more HME businesses to survive as Medicare providers.

Providers Engage Patients in the Fight to Stop Competitive Bidding

As part of the People for Quality Care’s I’m Still Fighting Pledge, more than 300 HME providers have pledged to engage their patients in the lobbying and industry advocacy effort to stop competitive bidding. Through the website www.peopleforqualitycare.org/fight, providers signed their pledge online as a way to take part in the fight against CMS’s flawed program. The commitment ranges from simple tasks, like giving out educational information about competitive bidding, to more complex tasks, like engaging local advocacy group, referral sources and media to help educate the public.

According to Kelly Turner, director of PFQC, which is the advocacy arm of the VGM Group, their goal is to help providers make these meaningful activities as simple and non-time-consuming as possible, so that providers’ will not be taken away from everyday business activities.