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Home Health & Hospice Week

Fraud & Abuse:

BEWARE BAD PRESS IN POLICY FIGHT

Published on Tue Nov 13, 2007

Negative reports' timing couldn't be worse.

Now may be the perfect time to try to gain some positive publicity for your stand-up home medical equipment company. But at the very least, know that policy makers in Washington have been getting an earful.

Fact: The industry has been slammed lately with a barrage of media reports casting the entire HME industry in a negative light.

"The negative press is driving everyone crazy," says Wayne Stanfield of the National Association of Independent Medical Equipment Suppliers.

One-two-three punch: First came a report on National Public Radio. That segment painted the HME industry as overwhelmingly fraudulent and highlighted a report from the HHS Office of Inspector General that maintained Medicare could save millions if it reimbursed providers for power wheelchairs at the same prices found on the Internet.

Next was negative coverage in the New York Times. A Nov. 30 article claimed that Medicare is vastly overpaying for oxygen compared to "what somebody might spend at a drugstore."

The final blow, at least so far, was a two-part series on "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" that aired Dec. 10 and Dec. 11. NBC reporter Mark Potter focused on the "many blatant and outrageous schemes" committed by HME suppliers.

Fighting back: Suppliers and other stakeholders are taking the media to task for painting the entire industry with an unflattering broad brush--and for failing to point out that federal regulators and their contractors are responsible for facilitating fraud.

Some posting to NBC's report online asked if the media were pointing their finger at the right players: "I don't understand how something like this could have been authorized by Medicare," mused Claudia Muller of Alamo, TX.

Another comment: "I have to wonder why the Medicare program is giving provider numbers to companies that don't have a location," said Brennen Garry, of Kansas City, MO.

"The question we should be asking is, 'Why don't we hold [Medicare] contractors accountable?' If we don't, we have no chance of stopping this fraudulent activity," notes Stanfield.

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