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Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Notes:

State Aims To Toughen Up Surveys

Published on Wed Feb 02, 2005

More frequent surveys, Web site on deck.

Home health agencies in North Carolina may be in for a heightened level of scrutiny - and other states could follow its lead.

The budget proposed by Gov. Mike Easley (D) would give the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services five more inspectors to cover non-Medicare agencies, the Winston-Salem Journal reports. The state wants to put the private duty agencies on the same three-year inspection cycle as Medicare-certified HHAs.

But Medicare agencies may see changes too. One lawmaker says he soon will introduce a bill to require inspection of agencies every year instead of every three years, the newspaper reports. And the state wants to create a Web site that will list providers' inspection activity and survey actions taken against them. The state also wants to publicize its toll-free complaint line and use the new surveyors to respond more quickly to consumer complaints, the Journal says. 

  • Power wheelchair manufacturers will have to submit test results and an application for their products to the Statistical Analysis Durable Medical Equipment Regional Carrier (SADMERC) by Sept. 1, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says.

    The new HCPCS codes for the devices posted last month include performance standards, and every power wheelchair product must be tested at one of the approximately 30 testing facilities worldwide certified by the Rehabilitation Engineering and Assistive Technology Society of North America. The purpose of submitting the application and test results is to verify the code the product will get under the new set of power wheelchair codes announced Feb. 3.

    Starting Jan. 1, 2006, Medicare will not pay for products under the old codes, nor will it pay for products under the new codes that have not been tested and received a coding verification from the SADMERC. More details are at     www.cms.hhs.gov/suppliers/dmepos/PWC-codingupdate.pdf.
     
  • CMS has made several technical corrections to the code descriptions for power wheelchairs since posting the codes Feb. 3. Detailed information is at www.palmettogba.com/SADMERC. 
     
  • Genesee Region Home Care and ViaHealth Homecare, both in Rochester NY, will merge to form Lifetime Care, reports the Rochester Business Journal. The merger creates the region's largest HHA with more than 300 nurses and 700 home health aides, the newspaper says. The deal has been planned since 2003.
     
  • VITAS Healthcare Corp. of Pennsylvania has acquired Hospice of Greater Pittsburgh Comfort Care in Pittsburgh, PA for undisclosed terms, VITAS parent Chemed Corp. says in a release. The acquisition will add 85 patients to the company's census. 
     
  • A Riviera Beach, FL provider of home care services and medical supplies is facing charges of defrauding the state's Medicaid program by billing for visits and supplies that beneficiaries never received, according to Attorney General Charlie Crist.

    Neglaga Onesmus Asphipala, also known as Patricia Ann Major, improperly billed more than 1,600 Medicaid claims resulting in overpayments of more than $60,000, prosecutors allege.

    If convicted of a grand theft charge, Asphipala faces up to five years in prison and $5,000 in fines.
     
  • A DME supplier is in trouble following a crackdown on health care fraud in New York.

    Abraham Kahan, owner of Healthstar Industries of Brooklyn, allegedly paid thousands of dollars in kickbacks to two employees of Oxford Health Plans Inc., a managed care company based in Trum-bull, CT, to refer DME business to him and to fraudulently inflate the prices paid for the equipment, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The complaint alleges that Oxford incurred losses of at least $200,000 as a result of the scheme.

    If convicted, Kahan faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
     
  • Jupiter Medical Center in Jupiter, FL is deliberating on whether to sell off its JMC Home Health unit based in Jupiter Farms, reports the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. One possible buyer is VNA of Martin County, the paper says. The Medical Center may not make a decision any time soon, though, according to a hospital official.

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