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Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Notes:

SURVEYORS TO SEARCH FOR FIRE SAFETY VIOLATIONS THIS FALL

Published on Mon May 19, 2003

Hospices with inpatient facilities had better make sure their fire safety measures are up to snuff or face deficiencies starting in September.

On Sept. 11, state surveyors will begin assessing facilities including hospices and Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) for compliance with the 2000 edition of the Life Safety Code of the National Fire Protection Association, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says in a May 8 letter to survey agencies (S&C-03-21).

CMS published the new fire safety requirements in the Jan. 10 Federal Register (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XII, No. 2, p. 16).

However, providers will get some extra time to comply with two of the toughest new provisions - replacing existing roller latches with positive latching devices and making sure emergency lighting provides illumination for at least 90 minutes. Hospices and others will have until March 13, 2006 to meet those requirements, the letter says.

  • Pricing corrections for some of the new thoracic-lumbar-sacral-othoses codes (L0450 through L0490) will be put off because CMS found errors in the revised prices, CMS says in the durable medical equipment fee schedule quarterly update for July. DME regional carriers will use local gap-filled fee schedule amounts for claims with those codes after June 1, and national and regional amounts after the July update is in place, CMS says in May 9 program memorandum AB-03-071.

    The update will also move E1161 (manual adult size wheelchair with tilts in space) and E1231 through E1238 (pediatric wheelchairs) from the capped rental to inexpensive or routinely purchased category (see story, in article 2).

  • Intermediaries have 30 days to either accept or reject a provider's cost report as incomplete, including when a provider's cost report diskette is "bad or damaged," CMS says in a recently posted transmittal. The intermediary will quickly test the diskette and, if necessary, send the provider a letter requesting a new diskette within 15 days from receipt of the letter, says Transmittal No. 22. The new diskette must come within the original 30-day period or the intermediary will reject the whole cost report as incomplete, CMS says.

  • CMS is gearing up to implement the much dreaded - and oft delayed - therapy cap. Medicare claims processors should begin applying the cap starting July 1, CMS declares in May 2 program memorandum AB-03-057. The cap applies to outpatient occupational therapy and physical therapy (including speech-language pathology), but not therapy furnished under a home health plan of care.

  • Advocates for the disabled and labor groups are urging New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey (D) to push legislation that would have the state take over New Jersey's home care industry, reports The Star-Ledger. Home health agencies underpay their workers while executives get rich, the groups claim, leading to high aide turnover.

    McGreevey's office said it is reviewing the proposal as it reviews all proposals, the paper says.

  • Nashville, TN-based hospital giant HCA is a step closer to putting an epochal fraud and abuse probe behind it. The Department of Justice approved May 7 a $630 million settlement of a series of consolidated whistleblower suits against the company, formerly known as Columbia/HCA. As soon as the federal court judge presiding over the case approves the settlement, it'll be a done deal.

  • Pediatric Services of America Inc. saw profits dip slightly but revenues rise in the quarter ended March 31. PSAI reported net income of $1.128 million on revenues of $53.6 million, compared to income of $1.139 on revenues of $48.1 million for the same period in 2002.

    Due to potential Medicaid changes, the Norcross, GA-based company has implemented cost-cutting measures including staff reductions at "selected locations," it says.

  • Option Care Inc. saw rosy earnings for the quarter ended March 31. The Buffalo Grove, IL-based infusion company reported net income of $4 million on revenues of $92.6 million, compared to a $3.5 million profit on revenues of $72.7 million for the year-ago quarter.

    Days sales outstanding stood at 77 on March 31, compared to 79 days in the prior-year quarter, although it was 75 days in the directly previous quarter. The two-day increase was due to payment from one large client in Option Care's specialty pharmacy business, chief financial officer Paul Mastrapa says in a statement.

  • The owner of Greystone Medical Group and Viles Medical Supply may not have succeeded in his plans to buy Allied Medical from bankrupt MedShares Inc., but he's coming close - he's moving in next door.

    Greystone and Viles owner Greg Pilant managed Allied for three months and signed its employees to contracts, planning to buy Allied and merge it with Viles to form At Home Medical, reports the Memphis Business Journal. But a bankruptcy judge put Allied up for bid and it went to American Health Centers Inc., a nursing home operator headquartered in Parsons, TN.

    Pilant is going ahead with the At Home venture, and is locating it one door south of Allied in Memphis, TN, the paper says.

  • For-profit hospice chain Odyssey Health-care Inc. has acquired two new hospices, Home Care Hospice Inc. in Valdosta, GA and Mahogany Hospice Care Inc. in Memphis, TN, the Dallas-based provider says. They will become Odyssey HealthCare of Valdosta and Odyssey HealthCare of Memphis, respectively.

  • Florissant, MO-based United Seating & Mobility has opened an office in the Greater Kansas City area to serve 21 counties in Northwestern Missouri and seven counties in Kansas, says the company with 20 locations in 11 states.

     

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