How do you view change?
10/03/2012Blockbuster Video got outflanked by competitors who found a way to give customers cheaper, more convenient movie rentals. Reading is thriving, yet bookseller Borders died after narrowly...
View ArticleTop denials and reason codes
11/02/2012Gaining insight into the procedures that are most commonly denied by payers and evaluating the reason codes that accompany the denials can help suppliers modify their clinical documentation...
View ArticleAre you thinking clearly?
12/05/2012Our first goal as business owners or managers is to bring clear thinking to our companies. Every day, ideas and decisions come from our desks that result in hundreds of ideas and decisions...
View ArticleIt's not about papers, but people
01/25/2013A top priority for the complex rehab industry in the new year and new Congress will be the reintroduction of the legislation “Ensuring Access to Quality Complex Rehabilitation Act,” which...
View ArticleWe give more than we take
03/12/2013Editor's note: This is one of three letters to the editor about competitive bidding that will appear in the April issue.The overwhelming question that came to everyone's mind after the latest...
View ArticleRACS open to reason
04/03/2013Discussion leads to change to ‘disruptive’ automated audit in Jurisdiction CMiraVista, in collaboration with providers of Group 3 products, successfully initiated discussions with the...
View ArticleTaking the AP to task
04/08/2013Editor's note: The following is in response to a recent article written by the Associated Press and picked up by news outlets across the country.We are very disappointed in the AP’s reporting...
View ArticleThe rest of the story
05/09/2013Editor’s note: This is an email that provider Patrick Naeger sent to the office of Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo, following the congressional hearing to review provider business practices and...
View ArticleLessons from a competitive bidding warrior
05/15/2013Editor’s note: The following is an excerpt from Blackburn’s membership address at the PAMS Annual Meeting in May.The toughest obstacle our industry has encountered over my three-plus decades...
View ArticleTalk about value
Michael Reinemer06/21/2013The home medical equipment sector needs to be part of the accelerating national conversation about healthcare costs, outcomes and value. While HME has to stay engaged in...
View ArticleFollow the yellow brick road
10/25/2013True or false: A pad prescription (order to dispense), blood gas study, ABG or oxygen saturation and a completed CMS 484 form is in compliance with CMS’s Oxygen Coverage Criteria Policy?True...
View ArticleCase managers have stacks of complaints
11/13/2013On Nov. 5, the North Florida Coalition of Home Medical Equipment providers coordinated a meeting between several of the largest hospital systems in North Florida, along with some nursing...
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CMS can't ignore outside input
01/15/2014There’s a great deal of activity regarding healthcare policy changes with the goal of providing quality care and services in the most cost-effective manner. But to be successful, the process...
View ArticleWhoa, Nellie: This thing is out of control
02/28/2014If you remember The Roy Rogers Show, you might remember Roy's sidekick, Pat, driving the old Jeep nicknamed Nellie Belle. On occasion, Nellie Belle would get out of control and Pat would...
View ArticleGet off your soft chairs
03/19/2014The DME/HME industry for the past 30 or more years has been cyclic. There have been changes, but most providers have experienced very good years.But the times are now rapidly changing. CMS...
View ArticleIs CMS preparing for hunting season?
04/11/2014As Elmer Fudd would say “Be vewwy, vewwy quiet...I'm hunting wabbits!” The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may not be hunting rabbits, but they’re hunting the very elusive...
View ArticleAudits put providers out of business
07/18/2014Editor’s note: The following is a letter to the editor from Van Miller that appeared in the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier in July. The letter is in response to another reader’s letter decrying...
View ArticleSales strategy: Black Friday, Cyber Monday
Guest Blogger11/20/2014We all know that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are nearly upon us, however we are in a very unique industry in that most people will not be purchasing medical supplies for gifts....
View ArticleMedicare sees a number, not someone’s mother
01/30/2015I need to call a patient's family and tell them that I either have to pick up the hospital bed they are renting from me, or they have to sign a document that states they are willing to pay...
View ArticleStaying paid
05/18/2015I would like to respond to Doug Harrison’s letter to the editor "Warning shot" (see below). I am on the side of those who think the PMD demo is working in as much as it does give the provider...
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