Page 28 - HME Business, April 2017

HME Inventory
Heavy-duty 4-wheel scooter
The Panther offers a number of features to provide the user with a smooth and comfortable driving experience, including front
and rear suspension with pneumatic tires, easy free-wheel mode, one-touch tiller positioning
adjustment and ergonomic delta control handles for easy steering and throttle control. For optimal comfort, the Panther’s custom- izable features include height-adjustable
captain’s seat with a fold-down, reclining back- rest, adjustable headrest, and flip-back,
angle adjustable armrests.
Drive DeVilbiss Healthcare
(800) 371-2266
www.drivemedical.com
Creates the ability to stay active longer
CAIRE Inc. put the spotlight on the improvements made to the AirSep FreeStyle and FreeStyle 5 portable oxygen concentrators at Medtrade Spring. Introduced to the market in July, the newly updated model now features a redesigned, robust, metal power supply connector with no pins to align and no release button to press. Also, a new, front-loading, user-replaceable battery and improved battery life gives the user the ability to stay active longer. Batteries can be swapped easily on the go and the unit’s battery life has been increased to 3.5 hours at setting 2.
Renew
Renew
What’s Inside:
2016 New Product Award Winners . 12 News, Trends & Analysis . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Finer Points of e-Commerce. . . . 11 OxygenMarketOutlook .......... 27 Fisher&Paykel’sEson2..............31 BillingNon-Assigned .............. 34 As the HME Industry Changes and Evolves, so Do Its IT Tools
It’s become cliché to
say that the only constant is change, but in the HME marketplace, that well-worn expression rings true. Of course reimbursement is the biggest change. Programs such as competi- tive bidding, rental caps and audits not only constitute massive changes, but complete up-endings of the home medical equipment market.
And those changes aren’t isolated; they have a multiplier effect. A good example would the TRICARE program, which cranked up its reimbursement the moment CMS’s full rate reductions via the national bidding expansion were implemented on July 1. And TRICARE is just one example of many of those “Medicare multipliers.” Funding cuts aren’t the only changes the industry faces. There are changes in care; changes in product; changes in terms of supply; changes in patient lifestyle needs. The list of change goes on and on and on.
But there is one tool that helps providers manage that ever-shifting,
e i n v f e o r r - me x a p t i a o n n d t i e n c g h s n e o a l o o g f y c . h T a h n e g s e o : f t w a r e and technology tools that providers employ to manage their businesses
l c e h t a t n h g e e m s , n b o u t t o g n e l y t o s t u a t y i n o n f r t o o n p t o o f f t t h h e e ms e . Once again, we take our annual look at how those systems are evolving to keep pace with change.
Annual
Software Roundup . . . .
Page 20
D e c e m b e r 2 0 1 6 Volume 23, Number 12 hme-business.com
What’s Inside:
What’s Inside:
I N n e c r w e s a , s T i n r e g n R d e s f e& r r A a n l s a . l y . s . i . s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 8
MIncerdetmraednetaSlpRreintagilPSrealveiesw. . . . . . . . . . . 156 MobilityScooters .................. 26 AnHMECustomerJourney......... 30
Nightmare IT Scenarios Are Now a Fact of Healthcare Life
t E h e v h e e n a d l i a n e s c w a i l s l mu a a k e l o p n e e r t u h s i a n l g o f very clear: healthcare faces an ever- present data security threat. Local and national news continuously reports on hospitals and other healthcare enti- ties that fall prey to hackers. Why are hackers targeting healthcare? Because they know that healthcare businesses handle extremely sensitive data, and they will pay to protect that data.
A preferred method of attack is through ransomware. In a ransomware attack, malware is introduced into
the healthcare organization via an email attachment or similar method, and that software then takes over
the organization’s patient data. The hackers then contact the healthcare organization to tell it that they will release the data when the company pays a ransom.
Attacks on hospitals got so bad
last year that they accounted for 88 percent of all reported ransomware attacks in the second quarter of 2016. In fact, the plague of ransomware has become so mainstream that some
h t o a c a k s e s i r s s t a t c h t e u i r a l v l y i c ot i pm e s r a i n t e r e h s e t l o p r i dn eg s t k h s e i r data after paying their ransom.
And that threat looms just as large o r e v s e o r u t r h c e e H f o M r E p r i o n v d i u d s e t r r s y , . a I T n d i s n a o v w i t a i s l t h e time to protect it. Learn more in this month’s cover story.
DfoartHa MSeEcu . r .i .ty . . . . . . . . . Page 18
V o l u m e F 2 e b 4 r , u N a u r my b 2 e 0 r 1 7 2
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28 HMEBusiness | April 2017 | hme-business.com Management Solutions | Technology | Products
Natural pain relief through pain blocker
Buzzy is a breakthrough pain blocker that provides natural pain relief in seconds. Invented by an emergency pediatri-
cian and pain researcher, Buzzy combines a vibrating palm-sized
device with removable
ice wings. Together, ice
and vibration block sharp
sensations, numbing both
directly and for a few centi-
meters “downstream” in the
same nerve pathway. Buzzy has been
proven effective for injections, IVs, and phlebotomy and gives the same pain relief as numbing cream.
MMJ Labs
(877) 805-2899
www.buzzyhelps.com
CAIRE Inc.
(877) 704-0878
www.CAIREMedical.com
Special Bonus Publication Inside
DECEMBER 2016
hme-business.com
10 Trends that Will Frame the Year to Come
Taking Shape
Hacked.
Why HME providers must prioritize data security.
What’s Inside:
Breaking Into Compression . . . . . . . 24 News, Trends & Analysis . . . . . . . . . . 8
Support Surface Longevity. . . . . . . . . 12 Audits:TheRACisBack ........... 14 Medtrade Spring Products . . . . . . . . . .16 LeveragingMobileHealth.......... 34
Crossed!
After years of
Providers might finally get a break on Capitol Hill.
There was a while where competi- tive bidding seemed like a fact of life and any and all efforts to achieve even the smallest reforms took not only multiple legislative attempts, but multiple Congresses to achieve.
But, the recent general election brought a President that has priori- tized deregulation and who has put leadership in place at the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that is sympathetic to the industry’s concerns and needs. Moreover, there is a Congress in place that is willing to coordinate with those agencies to advance the kind of legis- lation that will benefit the industry.
Finally, the industry will work with its regulators instead of fight them. Bearing that in mind, what are the industry’s most pressing legislative and regulatory priorities, and how should it go about working to achieve those objectives?
Read this month’s cover story to learn more about how the industry’s prospects have improved on Capitol Hill and how the industry will move forward.
Legislative
Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 20
Remote Patient Monitoring . . . . . . . News, Trends & Analysis . . . . . . . . . .8
CompressionProducts............ ResMed’sAirFit20Masks ......... HMEInventory..................... HME’sIndependenceDay.......... 30
The New Year Could Bring
Big Changes for HME Providers Each January HMEB profiles 10 key trends that will impact the industry. This year will probably be one of the more exciting ones that we’ve profiled since we started out Big 10 list in 2008.
For starters, the United States will have new Presidential administration, as well as a new Congress. Add to
that the fact that longtime industry champion Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) and CMS Administrator Seema Verma
will be heading up U.S. healthcare, and the industry can hold onto some well-founded expectations that it will be working in a more accommodating public policy environment.
That environment will surely impact at least some of the industry and market trends that we’ve outlined for this year’s installment of the Big 10. That list includes: The outcome of rural relief efforts; the continued effort to reform competitive bidding as a whole; changes in Medicare audits; the ongoing evolution of retail HME; emerging verticals, such as women’s
h w e o a u l n t h d , c s p a r o e r t a s n t d h e p r a a i p n y m, o a r n t a h g o e p me d e i n c t s ; , connected care and remote patient monitoring; and cost vs. quality
p r e A s n s d u r t e h s o i s n e t a h r e e p j u r i s v t a s t o e m p e a y o e f r t w h o e r l d . trends we examine. Make sure to dive into this year’s Big 10 list to see the key trends that will impact your HME business over the next 12 months. Annual Big 10 . . . . . . . Page 20
J a n u a r y 2 0 1 7 Volume 24, Number 1 hme-business.com
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struggling through a hostile regulatory and
legislative climate — thanks primarily to the competitive bidding program — the industry is finally feeling some well-deserved optimism.
March 2017 Volume 24, Number 3 hme-business.com