HME News is the monthly business newspaper for home medical equipment providers. This controlled circulation publication reaches 17,100 home medical equipment services providers, including traditional HME dealers & suppliers, hospital- and pharmacy-o
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VOLUME 21 — NUMBER 1 JANUARY 2015 $7.00 HME NEWS POLL ■ The HME community is full of leaders building a better future for home care, says Tom Ryan, AAHomecare CEO. See page 7. ■ Product Spotlight: This month we feature wheelchairs and scooters like the Maverick from Drive Medical. See pages 18-19. ■ Do you currently use outcomes data to market yourself to referral sources? What kind of data do you think is most important? See results on page 23. Sweet Action Executives from Binson's Home Health Centers fl ew to Los Angeles in November to watch fi lming of its new TV ad campaign starring Wilford Brimley. The Center Line, Mich.-based pro- vider, whch holds a national mail- order contract, hopes to increase its diabetes supply business. See story page 16. N E W S ■ Industry presses CMS for bundling details. PAGE 3 S M A RT TA L K ■ This month, our columnists tackle LinkedIn, marketing. PAGES 8-9 C O M M E N TA RY ■ Having well-defi ned and formalized processes is a key driver of operational excellence and successful revenue cycle management, says Chris Calderone. PAGE 7 D E PA RT M E N T S PROVIDERS ■ Snow had providers on alert. PAGE 10 ■ Audits spark restructure. PAGE 10 MOBILITY ■ Providers wary of bundling. PAGE 13 ■ MAC launches prepay probe. PAGE 14 RX & SPECIALTY PROVIDERS ■ M&A;: Supplies next big thing? PAGE 16 ■ Provider launches tool. PAGE 16 VENDORS ■ 'Momentum' drives Inogen. PAGE 20 ■ Sigvaris launches video. PAGE 21 W W W . H M E N E W S . C O M BY THERESA FLAHERTY, Managing Editor WASHINGTON – Less than a year after a massive appeals backlog at the Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) level fi rst came to light, that back- log has nearly tripled. "They confirmed that there's more than 900,000 appeals in the backlog and they are getting 14,000 a week," said Kim Brum- mett, senior director of regulatory affairs for AAHomecare. "Do the simple math: with 72 ALJs, even with no new appeals, they will BY THERESA FLAHERTY, Managing Editor PITTSBURGH, Pa. – With its acqui- sition of Klingensmith Health- care, Allegheny Health Network (AHN) has a "key piece" in its mission to expand health care beyond hospital walls. "We aim to provide servic- es to all of our patients and Appeals backlog soars catch up in 12.5 years." B r u m m e t t , along with Jay Wi t t e r, s e n i o r vice president of public policy for A A H o m e c a r e , met with staff of Chief ALJ Nancy Griswold on Nov. 12 to discuss the appeals backlog and possible solu- tions to relieve the burden on HME providers. "I think they a re w i l l i n g t o work with us, but the scope of what they can do is limited," said Brummett. "We're all screaming, 'stop the audits until you catch up,' but that's not within their purview." The industry fi rst learned of the appeals backlog when Griswold said, in a Dec. 31, 2013 memo, that the Offi ce of Medicare Hear- ings and Appeals (OMHA) had seen its workload increase 184% since 2010, resulting in a then- backlog of 357,000 appeals. As a result, OMHA has suspended the assignment of hearings for appeals. At an Oct. 29 forum, OMHA MONEYLINE Regional health system snaps up Klingensmith this was one of the key missing pieces to be able to really wrap total home based services around patients," said Brian Holzer, senior vice president of diversi- fi ed services for AHN. "We get the highest level of clinical qual- ity and infrastructure that Klin- gensmith has built and merge it Liberty Medical sold BY THERESA FLAHERTY, Managing Editor PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. – Palm Beach Capital outbid 32 other parties to acquire Liberty Medical for $22 million above its asking price— a "stunning" result, say industry analysts. "If there are that many people bidding, clearly there's value in what they are doing and a lot of people think there's a platform there to grow a business," said Patrick Clifford, managing direc- tor at The Braff Group. "It's stunning." The fi nal tally: $68.5 million. Liberty in October proposed selling the majority of its assets with a stalking horse minimum bid of $46.5 million. The pro- vider of mail-order medical supplies has been in Chapter BY TRACY ORZEL, Associate Editor WASHINGTON – HME stakehold- ers are deeply concerned about CMS's plan to bundle payments for power wheel- chairs and the impact that will have on patients and provid- ers' bottom lines. In a fi nal rule issued Oct. 31, CMS stated that it would implement a demo project in 12 competitive bid areas, in which providers would sub- mit a single bid for furnishing standard power wheelchairs, related accessories and servic- es needed on a monthly basis. Bundling is not an unrea- sonable concept, but CMS' application of it could be, says Don Clayback. "Bundling could probably work in certain situations, but when you look at products that have a wide variety of con- fi gurations and a wide variety of situations that you're trying Bundling 'problem' for power chairs Steve Azia Seth Johnson B A C K L O G S E E PA G E 4 D E M O S E E PA G E 2 2 L I B E R T Y S E E PA G E 5 K L I N G E N S M I T H S E E PA G E 2 2 At current pace, it could take ALJ more than 12 years to catch up NSM makes buys See story page 13 T H E B U S I N E S S N E W S P A P E R F O R H O M E M E D I C A L E Q U I P M E N T P R O V I D E R S