Sponsors

		Free Subscriptions
		Subscribe to HomeCare Magazine Subscribe to HomeCare Monday Weekly eNewsletter

SPONSOR MESSAGE Olympic Torch Powered by Quickie S626 Sunrise Medical announces that the Olympic Torch for the 2002 Olympic games was carried by Kevin Leonard of Dayton, Ohio, along Edwin Moses Blvd. as he rode is his Quickie S626. On Jan. 24, Tom Higgins of Spokane, Wash., carried the torch through the streets of Spokane in his new Stars and Stripes-patterned Quickie S626 chair. Look for full coverage of these historic events on the Sunrise Medical Web site. For more information on the S626 Stars and Stripes edition, call 800-333-4000. For more industry news, featured articles and highlights from our latest issue, please visit our website at www.homecaremag.com

Law Enforcement Escorts CHAP CEO from Premises, Source Alleges Misappropriation of Funds NEW YORK CITY-- New York State law enforcement officers escorted Melvin Lev, chief executive officer of the Community Health Accreditation Program, off the premises of the not-for-profit organization last Friday for alleged misappropriation of funds, according to a source named in an affidavit filed by the attorney general of the State of New York. Law enforcement officers were carrying out the mandates of a restraining order issued by Eliot Spitzer, attorney general for the state of New York, against Melvin Lev; Russell Lev, vice president of operations and corporate compliance officer for CHAP; Howard Lev, systems administrator; Aura Lev, an unspecified employee of CHAP; and the National League for Nursing. The defendants are scheduled to appear in court Wednesday to petition the order. In the interim, Terri Ayer, vice chairman of CHAP's board of directors, will serve as president and chief executive officer. Ayer was president of CHAP from 1996 to 1998. Ayer confirmed that Melvin Lev was served Friday with a temporary restraining order, but reserved further comments about the defendants until after Wednesday's hearing. "The board of directors went to the Attorney General when it became concerned about some irregularities," she said. When asked to expand on those irregularities, Ayer declined to comment. When asked what effect these developments might have on CHAP-accredited organizations, Ayer said, "Nothing. Our operations will continue as before, because the people who are gone aren't the ones who were involved in the accreditation process, or were involved, at the most, in a very peripheral way. "Harriet Olson, vice president of accreditation, Diane Feinstein, vice president of business development and the rest of the CHAP staff are here performing their everyday duties. And I was brought in to make sure everything runs smoothly during this transition," Ayer added. Obviously, more information will be made available after Wednesday's hearing, but regardless of the hearing's outcome, the defendants and the accrediting body are facing a rough road ahead, according to Neil Caesar, president and counsel to the Greenville, S.C.-based Health Law Center. "The challenge for CHAP and for the Levs is to do what they can to weather the questions, concerns and doubts that are going to come from the industry, including--but not limited to--their clients, from this controversy," Caesar said. "As more information starts to come out, there is the likelihood that much of it could be misinterpreted and blown out of proportion. CHAP will certainly have its hands full making sure things are kept in perspective, that people have the opportunity to be heard accurately and that the truth is what gets communicated. It is going to be a steep challenge, and I wish them well." According to the restraining order: --Melvin Lev is suspended as director, officer, member and employee of CHAP, and from exerting the authority of such positions; --Russell Lev is suspended as an officer and employee of CHAP, and from exercising the authority of such positions; --Howard Lev is restrained from acting as system administrator of the organization's computer network and from gaining access to or exerting control over CHAP's business and financial records, assets or affairs; --Howard Lev must disclose and turn over to CHAP all passwords to the organization's computer network; and --Melvin Lev, Russell Lev, Howard Lev and Aura Lev must surrender to a representative of CHAP--or to the Attorney General--all books, records and payment instruments of CHAP, as well as other organization property. Additionally, the defendants are excluded from accessing CHAP's computer network and are denied access to the organization's facilities and equipment. The defendants also are barred from election or appointment as director, officer or controlling member of CHAP or any other not-for-profit organization in the state of New York.

Week of March 4, 2024

HEADLINE NEWS CMS Unveils Dragnet for Excluded Providers BALTIMORE--Last week, Medicare issued a wake-up call to excluded providers and to the organizations that hire excluded individuals. Beginning as early as May 2002, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services hopes to implement a simpler, more-efficient exclusions database, designed to root-out claims from excluded providers before the government makes unnecessary payments. CMS does not have the authority to exclude providers from participating in Medicare. Instead, the agency relies on the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General to provide a list of excluded entities. But the information OIG provides is difficult for Medicare's regional carriers to decipher. "The data problems include a lack of standardized format for the cumulative exclusion database, incomplete data and a lack of a process to update exclusion data," CMS said in a Feb. 26 Federal Register notice. By contrast, the new database will be cumulative and will allow regional carriers to compare exclusion files against incoming billing files from providers, a CMS official told HomeCare. "In essence, we take OIG's exclusion list and standardize it," she said. Additionally, if vital information is missing from a certain record, the new database will highlight that record, thus alerting the regional carriers of possible exclusions, she added. The new system also will provide a mechanism for determining which organizations employ excluded individuals, the Federal Register notice said. For employers who want to avoid hiring excluded individuals--and thereby avoid potential reimbursement problems--OIG's Web site offers a way for the public to search exclusion files. "If you have a social security number," the CMS official explained, "the system will give you a match." After more than two years in the development stages, the new database finally is "ready to go," from a technical standpoint, the official said. As soon as the approval process is has run its course, she added, the database will officially be up and running. To read this Federal Register notice, go to http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/fedreg/frcont02.html, click on Feb. 26, and scroll down to the heading entitled, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. CMS Denies Coverage for Heat-Related Wound Therapy BALTIMORE--The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has denied national coverage for wound therapy that involves heating the wound to the temperature of the surrounding skin. On Feb. 15, CMS published a memorandum stating that Medicare will not cover Non-Contact Normothermic Wound Therapy devices after July 1, 2002. Until now, some durable medical equipment regional carriers have reimbursed the device on a case-by-case basis. However, when the device's manufacturer, Augustine Medical of Eden Prairie, Minn., decided to ask CMS for a national coverage decision, the company risked losing what little coverage NNWT already enjoyed. After studying the research on heat therapy for wounds, CMS determined that "there is insufficient scientific or clinical evidence to consider this device as reasonable and necessary..." This decision does not preclude reconsideration, however. "We don't say that NNWT doesn't work," a CMS spokesman explained, "just that there is not sufficient proof that it works." Nonetheless, many in the medical field have prescribed NNWT therapy and have been encouraged by the results, according to Peter Sheehan, chair of the Council on Foot Care for the Alexandria, Va.-based American Diabetes Association, and a physician at the Hospital for Joint Diseases in New York. "We believe that NNWT is of benefit for selected patients--specifically patients with foot ulcers," he said. "Others have used the therapy to treat pressure and venous ulcers as well." Sheehan hopes that a randomized, controlled study will support anecdotal evidence that using heat to increase blood flow in the area of the wound speeds healing. "In the meantime," he added, "I'm happy that the product is available for selected patients, because foot ulcers are a very difficult problem that can lead to amputation in 50 percent of cases. The more options we have available for treatment, the better it is for the patient and the care provider." To determine whether all three components of NNWT--which include a wound cover, a warming card and a temperature control unit--are necessary for healing, CMS and Augustine Medical are working together to design the appropriate research, according to Michele Olson, Augustine's public relations specialist. And, "while this national non-coverage decision is binding on our contractors, it is nonetheless permissible for providers to provide NNWT as part of their wound treatment therapy, as long as they do not separately bill Medicare for the service," CMS told the company in a letter. In addition to listing three codes for NNWT, the memorandum advised DMERCS to consider each NNWT therapy reimbursement case individually, between now and July 1. For more information on CMS' decision, go to http://www.hcfa.gov/coverage/8b3-hhh1.htm.

PROVIDER NEWS Canadian HME Franchise Opens 50th Location CALGARY, Alberta, Canada--MEDIchair last week dedicated its 50th location, ensuring the company's position as North America's largest home medical equipment franchise operation, according to a company press release. The company's retail stores now span Canada, the release said.Additionally, the company reported a net 2001 income of $6.7 million, or 64 cents per diluted share, compared to $13.7 million, or $1.10 per diluted share in 2000.The company also reported a 2001 net income of$71.9 million, or $1.29 per diluted share, compared to a net income of $57 million, or $1.06 per diluted share in 2000. MANUFACTURER NEWS Tyco: Some Shareholder Suits Dismissed PEMBROKE, Bermuda--The U.S. District Court of New Hampshire on Feb. 25 dismissed 38 class action lawsuits brought in 1999 against Tyco International on behalf of shareholders, the company said. However, since January 2002, when Tyco announced it would split into four separate companies, shareholders have filed more than 10 additional lawsuits, claiming that Tyco during the past two years misrepresented its finances to the market, thereby artificially inflating the company's stock price. Zandee Resigns from Harmar SARASOTA, Fla.--Robert Zandee has resigned from his position as president of Harmar Mobility. He has returned to consulting and is working with Sarasota-based The Zander Group, a company that he founded.

SPOTLIGHT Mobility Revenue to Skyrocket, Report Says SAN JOSE, Calif.--The North American mobility industry generated almost $766 million in revenue last year, according to a recent report from the market analysis firm Frost and Sullivan. Additionally, the report predicted that revenues for this industry--which includes wheelchairs, scooters and patient lifts--would increase steadily during the next six years, to more than $1 billion by 2008. The primary factors driving this growth, according to the report, include: --Medicare's recent approval of the Advance Beneficiary Notice provision that allows beneficiaries to upgrade equipment by paying the difference between covered and non-covered items; --The aging "baby boomer" population; and --An increased focus on protecting home caregivers from injury through the use of patient lifts. Peripheral factors boosting revenue growth for this industry include an increase in automobile drivers and accidents, and an increase in the number of sports-related injuries, the report said. Despite these promising revenue predictions, however, reimbursement cutbacks and price ceilings imposed by low reimbursements are restraining unbridled growth, the report added. "As providers enforce [the government's] tighter limits on reimbursements, manufacturers are discouraged from developing premium wheelchair models," the report explained. "As a result, suppliers and dealers promptly order more lower-cost wheelchairs." Although repairs and replacement parts can prolong the life of a wheelchair, thereby prolonging the average time between new purchases, Frost and Sullivan said that the impact of repairs on overall market growth is minimal. Another peripheral hindrance to growth is the refurbishment market, which repairs discarded wheelchairs and provides these wheelchairs to the public, the report said. To learn more about this report, read the spring edition of HomeCareXtra, or visit http://www.frost.com.

SOURCES SAY WASHINGTON--Exemplary Medicare providers deserve more than a pat on the back, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission. In a January report entitled, Applying Quality Improvement Standards in Medicare, the commission recommended that Medicare reward providers for high-quality service by offering financial incentives, reduced oversight and good publicity. "This approach also may address the concern that applying quality improvement standards differently to distinct plan and provider types could create an unfair market advantage for those required to comply with more rigorous standards," the report said. "Creating rewards for either level of performance or effort may lessen any market disadvantage." WASHINGTON--"Most Americans (86 percent) believe that people with a terminal illness would like to receive end-of-life care at home," according to a survey from the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in Washington. Additionally, "When it comes to helping a terminally ill patients receive end-of-life care at home with their families, three out of five Americans consider hospice most knowledgeable," the NHPCO said. LEWISTOWN, Idaho--When building the "Turnberry at Village Green Apartments," designers ignored a Fair Housing Act provision that requires every new multi-family housing community to be accessible to people with disabilities, the United States Justice Department said. Consequently, the federal government is suing the individuals involved in the construction project in Idaho's District Court. Not only is Turnberry inaccessible to people with disabilities, the U.S. alleges, the defendants have retaliated against disabled tenants who requested reasonable accommodations. "The Fair Housing Act has required newly constructed multifamily housing to be accessible for more than 10 years, but apartment and condominium complexes are still being designed and built so that persons with disabilities cannot live there," said Ralph Boyd, the assistant attorney general for civil rights. "Builders would be well-advised to build it accessible the first time, rather than have to take costly measures to fix it later." WASHINGTON--To improve medical care for America's growing elderly population, the federal government should try to boost the number of physicians specializing in geriatric care, according to Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, ranking member of the U.S. Senate's Special Committee on Aging. To that end, Craig last year introduced the Advancement of Geriatric Education Act of 2001. Motivated by recent reports on the shortage of health care providers for the elderly, Craig testified before his fellow committee members last week. "We need more doctors, pharmacists, nurses, mental health professionals and other health care providers specifically trained to address the needs of our rapidly aging population," he told them. "My legislation, the AGE Act, is an important first step to address this problem."

INDUSTRY BRIEFS John Spragle has been promoted to president of VGM Insurance, Waterloo, Iowa. Spragle has been employed at VGM since 1990. A and D Medical, a home diagnostic equipment supplier in Milpitas, Calif., has named James DiFalco its market manager. Previously, DiFalco was director of home care marketing for the Lumex, and Everest and Jennings divisions of Graham-Field. Ephraim Heller, vice president of business development for Alameda, Calif.-based Therasense, is leaving the company. Heller is the company’s co-founder and served as its first chief executive officer. Larry Huffman, vice president of international business development, will assume Heller’s responsibilities. In other Therasense personnel news, Mark Tatro, corporate controller, has been appointed vice president of finance; Nan Watanabe has been hired as vice president of human resources; and Charlie Liamos, already the company's chief financial officer, has accepted the additional role of chief operating officer. AmerisourceBergen stockholders have elected four members to the Valley Forge, Pa.-based company’s board of directors. The new board members are Rodney Brady, president and chief executive officer of Deseret Management; Charles Cotros, chairman and CEO of Sysco; Jane Henney, senior scholar in residence at the Association of Academic Health Centers; and David Yost, president and CEO of AmerisourceBergen. Reliant Care, a custom seating and mobility company in Norcross, Ga., has joined Lubbock, Texas-based The Med Group as a purchasing network member.

IN OTHER NEWS The Alexandria, Va.-based Health Industry Distributors Association has released a flyer, entitled "Common Signs of Poor Nutritional Health," that highlights common long-term-care patient risk factors such as weight loss, dehydration, pressure ulcer and tube feeding complications. The flyer, based on information developed by the Nutrition Screening Initiative and funded by the Ross Products division of Abbott Laboratories, is intended as a consultative selling and educational selling tool for long-term-care providers. Visit the HIDA Web site, http://www.hidanetwork.com, for a copy of the flyer. The Chicago-based Healthcare Financial Management Administration has launched an e-learning Web site for its members. The site, accessible at http://www.hfma.org/elearning, features self-paced, Web-based training on more than 1,000 topics, including compliance, billing and patient access. The courses, developed by HFMA or industry experts, are available for individual or organizational purchase. Powers Pyles Sutter and Verville, P.C., a Washington-based law firm, has expanded its practice group to offer legal, government relations and management services to health care, rehabilitation, and disability associations and businesses. As part of the firm’s expansion, John Kemp, a founding member of the American Association of People with Disabilities and former executive director of the United Cerebral Palsy Association, has joined the practice. The Decatur, Ala.-based Letco Companies, consisting of Letco Distributors, Letco Medical and Meridian Pharmaceuticals, have been named the preferred provider for West Des Moines, Iowa-based Medicap Pharmacy locations nationwide. Letco Distributors supplies compounding equipment and supplies to pharmacies treating respiratory patients, while Letco Medical is a wholesale drug company that specializes in respiratory medications. Meridian Pharmaceuticals provides compounding chemicals, supplies, equipment, and continuing education to pharmacies in the United States, Canada, England and Australia.

STOCKS Investment firm S.G. Cowen has upgraded Johnson and Johnson, New Brunswick, N.J., from a "buy" to a "strong buy" rating. Company High Low PE Ratio 2/22/02 3/1/02 Change Allied Healthcare (AHPI) 3.95 3.00 96.25 3.76 3.80 0.04 American HomePatient (AHOM.OB) 1.70 0.16 N/A 0.46 0.54 0.08 AmerisourceBergen (ABC) 72.00 42.00 30.22 64.45 68.00 3.55 Apria Healthcare (AHG) 29.85 19.50 16.36 21.94 22.35 0.41 Cardinal Health (CAH) 77.32 56.67 32.88 65.54 66.30 0.76 CareCentric (CURA) 3.50 0.46 N/A 0.91 0.97 0.06 Chad Therapeutics (CTU) 3.89 0.69 N/A 3.25 3.59 0.34 Coram Healthcare (CRHEQ.OB) 0.76 0.13 N/A 0.55 0.52 (0.03) Gentiva Health Services (GTIV) 25.50 15.60 28.18 24.16 24.28 0.12 Invacare (IVC) 41.25 28.50 30.22 34.87 33.70 (1.17) Johnson and Johnson (JNJ) 60.97 40.25 33.10 59.40 62.10 2.70 Lincare Holdings (LNCR) 34.39 22.25 20.46 25.27 24.55 (0.72) Matria Healthcare (MATR) 40.00 11.87 23.91 17.34 21.64 4.30 McKesson (MCK) 41.50 23.40 88.12 35.38 33.70 (1.68) National Home Healthcare (NHHC) 19.85 5.48 12.33 11.39 10.80 (0.59) Option Care (OPTN) 22.15 6.37 19.59 14.00 14.60 0.60 Pediatric Services of America (PSAI) 12.95 4.56 20.89 12.00 13.00 1.00 Praxair (PX) 58.90 36.50 21.93 57.55 58.25 0.70 ResMed (RMD) 62.20 35.20 80.80 37.53 36.46 (1.07) Respironics (RESP) 37.88 22.94 24.50 29.03 29.66 0.63 Transworld Healthcare (TWH) 4.83 2.21 N/A 4.00 3.90 (0.10) Tyco (TYC) 60.09 22.00 10.74 27.50 30.30 2.80 Walgreen (WAG) 45.29 28.70 45.21 38.07 39.49 1.42

Visit this week's sponsor at: www.sunrisemedical.com

HomeCare Monday is produced weekly by the editors and staff of HomeCare Magazine and HomeCare Extra. It is e-mailed on Monday 46 times a year by PRIMEDIA Business Magazines & Media 800/441-0294