Home Health & Hospice Week

Publicly traded home care companies are seeing bigger and bigger revenues, but that may not translate into bigger profits.

Gentiva Health Services Inc. announced a big jump in revenues for the quarter ended April 2. The Melville, NY-based giant reported $243.2 million in revenues, compared to $207.1 million in revenues for the year-ago quarter, prior to its Healthfield Group acquisition. But Gentiva net income grew from $4.1 million to just $4.4 million during the time period.

The large jump in revenues but not profits mirrors Amedisys Inc.'s recent earnings report after acquiring Housecall Medical Resources Inc. last year.

The Baton Rouge, LA-based regional chain's net income grew slightly from $7.1 million to $7.3 million in the latest quarter, while its revenues jumped from $70.4 million to $127.2 million (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XV, No. 18).

Louisville, KY-based Almost Family Inc. bucked the trend, reporting net income of $911,740 for the quarter ended March 31, compared to $559,062 for the same period last year. During the same period, revenues for the Caretenders parent grew from $18.3 million to $20.8 million.

• Home health agencies' requests for anticipated payment (RAPs) will be exempt from the across-the-board Medicare payment hold slated for Sept. 22 to Sept 30 this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services confirms in May 5 Transmittal No. 940 (CR 5047). The hold also doesn't apply to cost report settlement and other non-claim payments, the transmittal says.

Contractors must date and pay held claims, including home health final claims, Oct. 2, CMS instructs in the transmittal.

• Durable medical equipment suppliers doing business in Washington state may soon be subject to a new tax. A decision announced May 2 by a state appeals court defines Medicare beneficiaries who use DME as "buyers" of the equipment. As such, they are subject to the state's sales tax on such items, according to the court.

The decision has a direct affect on DME suppliers, says the Court of Appeals of the State of Washington, Division II. That's because the court holds that vendors are liable to the state's Department of Revenue for taxes on DME sales even if they did not collect the tax from Medicare beneficiaries (Aaro Medical Supplies Inc. v. Washington, Wash. Ct. App., No. 32486-5, 5/1/06).
 
The decision affirms an earlier determination that state code requires a vendor to remit sales tax to the revenue department.

• Vermont's certificate of need issues for HHAs still aren't quite settled. The Vermont Assembly of Home Health Agencies on May 10 appealed to the state Supreme Court a state regulatory decision to grant a CON to Winooski-based Professional Nurse Service Inc., according to the Associated Press.

VAHHA argued that the state's reasoning for granting the CON was faulty and warned of access problems for costly patients if the CON process is opened up, AP reports. PNS says it will serve patients' unmet needs.

• If you'd like an explanation of Remittance Advices, you can get it for free. CMS is offering a free CD ROM explaining RAs at http://cms.meridianksi.com. Hard copies will be available later this year.

• VistaCare Inc. went into the red in the latest quarter. The for-profit hospice chain reported a net loss of $2 million on revenues of $55.9 million for the quarter ended March 31, compared to a $1.1 million profit on $57.5 million in revenues for the same period in 2005.

VistaCare CEO Richard R. Slager pointed to $2 million the Scottsdale, AZ-based company spent to get its decertified Indiana locations new certification (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XIV, No. 38). VistaCare also spent $800,000 on developing inpatient units, Slager says in a release.

The company has replaced a number of key executives this quarter.

• For-profit hospice chain VITAS has opened a new location in Fairfield, CT, the Miami-based company says in a release. The new office serves patients living in Fairfield County and parts of New Haven County. VITAS has two other Connecticut programs and 40 locations nationwide.

• Medicare may soon cover Johnson & Johnson's high-tech iBot Power Mobility System, a power mobility device with advanced features. CMS says, however, that coverage will extend only to a basic version of the iBot; bells and whistles such as the stair-climbing function will not be covered.

CMS outlines the proposal in an April 28 memo, stating that the chair's more unusual features "do not serve a medical purpose or are generally inappropriate for use in the patient's home."

To see the memo, go to www.cms.hhs.gov/mcd/ncpc_view_document.asp?id=5.

• A Texas HHA is on the receiving end of a Department of Labor lawsuit accusing it of failing to pay 56 licensed vocational nurses $145,987 in overtime pay. The suit carries $38,500 in civil money penalties, the DOL says in a press release.

A DOL Wage and Hour investigation covering 2002 to 2005 determined that Missouri City-based CN Healthcare Services paid hourly employees straight time even for hours worked over 40 in a week--a Fair Labor Standards Act violation, the release notes. CN failed to count hours worked at multiple locations or hours spent in training, in-service and orientation and didn't keep required payroll records, the suit charges.

The suit also names as defendants related CN companies and president Godwin C. Ugwuanyi, director of nursing Edith Jonathan and general manager ChiChi Ugwu.

"This employer has been investigated several times for violating overtime provisions of the FLSA," Cynthia Watson, Wage and Hour regional administrator in Dallas, says in the release. "The civil money penalty reinforces the department's commitment to ensuring that employers stay in compliance."

• A defrauder of Medicare has been stripped of her freedom, her medical license--and her title.

After U.S. District Judge David Hittner sentenced Callie Hall Herpin to ten years in prison for health care fraud, he ordered her never to call herself a doctor again. "I consider you a disgrace to every physician in this country," he told her according to the Houston Chronicle.

Herpin was convicted of prescribing unnecessary wheelchairs in a scheme that defrauded Medicare and Medicaid of $13 million. She must repay $12.9 million. She also allegedly ran a clinic that didn't treat any patients, but instead churned out false prescriptions for Vicodin and codeine-fortified cough syrup.

If Herpin ever calls herself a doctor after she gets out of prison, Hittner will send her back inside for violating his order, he said. "You will, from this date forward, immediately correct any individual or entity referring to you as doctor, M.D. or physician," Hittner instructed.

Hittner wanted to sentence her to 27 years instead of 10, but her plea agreement capped her sentence at the federal maximum.