Home Health & Hospice Week

A deadline is a deadline, and infusion provider Caremark Therapeutic Services wasn't able to bypass one with an appeal to federal court. Caremark missed the six-month deadline to appeal a decision by Part B carrier Noridian Mutual Insurance Company to disallow $185,000 in pharmacy and infusion services, says the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in a Jan. 29 decision in Caremark v. Thompson (No. 01 Civ. 11316 (VM)). Caremark admitted that it missed the deadline and blamed it on a discharged employee. When Noridian refused to reopen the decision, Caremark filed suit, charging that Noridian had violated Medicare due process and Administrative Procedure Act laws by refusing to review the case. Caremark also sought for the court to exert mandamus jurisdiction, used only in extraordinary situations. The court shot down Caremark's claims, noting that the company simply missed its deadline to appeal and would have to face the consequences. The HHS Office of Inspector General is hosting its third regional town hall meeting, this time for West Coast providers, April 11. The meetings aim to provide a forum for OIG senior staffers to meet face-to-face with the provider community. Regional meetings for other parts of the country will take place in the coming months. If you're in Region IX or X and are interested in attending, e-mail the following information to oigspeaks@oig.hhs.gov or fax it to 202-260-8512: name/title, organization, organization address, telephone number, e-mail address or fax number. Space is limited. As of April 1, the DMERCs will accept K0552 instead of A4232 for supplies with external infusion pumps, according to program memo AB-03-031. The new code will include the medication trepostinil. The aftermath of financier National Century Financial Enterprises' collapse has entered the back-stabbing phase. NCFE co-founder Rebecca Parrett filed suit last month against partner Lance Poulsen, charging him with orchestrating a "classic Ponzi scheme" where the company sold new bonds to pay off old investors, reports The Washington Post. By mid-1999, half of the company's receivables were worthless, says the suit that cites e-mails, internal memos and audit reports. Parrett claims she was kept out of the loop, according to the Post. Poulsen and the financial institutions named as co-defendants deny any wrong-doing. The suit says NCFE fraudulently advanced more than $400 million to a company Parrett, Poulsen and another partner owned, Homecare Concepts of America, even though it didn't provide required collateral and "had no ability to repay the money under any circumstances," says the Post. The suit seeks $50 million in damages. Meanwhile, Arizona's attorney general's office says it won't investigate the state treasurer's office for its $131 million investment in NCFE. VistaCare Inc. has reported a net income to common [...]