Posts from — October 2006

The quick read:

1. Medicare reduces reimbursement about 35% November 15
2. CMS spokesperson Ellen Griffith said “Medicare was paying for the equipment at a much higher rate than what it was being sold for on the market”
3. Cara Bachenheimer — vice president of government affairs for Invacare, the largest U.S. manufacturer of power wheelchairs — said, “Most suppliers do not have the kind of margins to sustain these cuts.”
4. Jim Greatorex — president of Black Bear Medical, the largest supplier of home medical equipment in the Northeast — said, “These prices are just absurd. This policy change is motivated strictly by saving money and does not take into effect the devastating effect it will have on the consumer, supplier or manufacturer”

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11 000 ‘medics’ face fees axe - South Africa
11 057 health practitioners have not paid their license fees for the year and will be “struck off”. [Read more →]

Following on from the report yesterday on the new dramatic cut in CMS reimbursement for power chairs: More Bad News For The Powered Wheelchair Industry AND The Powered Wheelchair Consumer

RAMP - Restore Access to Mobility Partnership issued the following statement:

Huge Cuts in Medicare Mobility Equipment Prices Will Restrict Access for Medicare Beneficiaries (US Newswire)

“Reimbursement Cuts of 21 Percent to 41 Percent Will Force Lay-offs, Put Suppliers Out of Business”.

The point from my perspective is the impact of access to critical healthcare for consumers. There is no doubt that irrespective of layoffs etc, this is is huge blow to people who often need help with this life supporting and enhancing technology the most.
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American Journal of Cardiology - Clinical and Angiographic Outcomes After Placement of Multiple Overlapping Drug-Eluting Stents in Diffuse Coronary Lesions In this recently published clinical trial by Cheol Whan Lee, [Read more →]

It seems to be common sense that innovation is one of the most intelligent ways to flee the price war in the rehab industry. In two weeks we all will see a lot of innovative products at Europe’s biggest rehab show in Duesseldorf. But is the common sense also proven truth? I doubt as far as Germany is concerned.
Firstly, innovation is a brought term. I will use a pragmatic approach and take “any new product “ as an innovation. This includes also products which are only renewed in order to keep the pricelevel by adding additional features. Not very innovative from a technical point of view, but thecompanies have invested R&D capacity in these products. The goal was show something new to protect/enlarge the profitability.

On the German market the most innovative company over the last 7 years is without any doubt Invacare if you count newly launched products per year. There is also no doubt that it was not the most successful company. The lowest level of innovation during the same period showed Sunrise. Among the big players in Germany it is certainly the one which protected its position best.
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Health Affairs Blog
Health Affairs has entered the blogosphere as a new means of engaging readers in the health policy debate

Just last week RAMP - Restore Access to Mobility Partnership - who’s members comprise American Association for Homecare; Invacare Corporation; the MED Group; Mobility Products Unlimited, LLC; and Pride Mobility issued a press release stating among other things

RAMP welcomes the additional assurances from CMS that down-coding will not occur, but we emphasize that several policy revisions are still necessary, and the industry must thoroughly evaluate the yet-to-be released pricing information for the new policy and process to be successful.

Industry heavyweight Mal Mixon CEO of Invacare was quoted as saying “We have made progress…CMS has engaged in a constructive dialogue with stakeholders”, while Dan Meuser, President of Pride USA was quoted “The resolution of this issue exemplifies what can be accomplished when CMS and stakeholders work together”.

Also last week - Mike Hammes - CEO of Sunrise Medical, in an editorial in HME News entitled - Sunrise CEO tells providers to ‘face reality’ - went on to appeal to homecare providers to enlist the support base of consumers in opposing unreasonable CMS plans.

Well it seems the the glimmer of optimism was somewhat short lived. [Read more →]