Invacare Expands North American Presence
Invacare Corp, based in Elyria, Ohio, has become a larger driving force in North America.

A. Malachi Mixon III

In March, the Invacare subsidiary Kuschall, a Swiss designer and manufacturer of lightweight and ultra-lightweight wheelchairs, entered the North American market. With 20-plus years of experience in the HME industry, Terry Mulkey will lead Kuschall North America as general manager of North American Operations. Mike Nordquist, director of sales and marketing, also with 20-plus years of HME industry experience, will lead Kuschall’s sales and marketing efforts in North America.

Also in March, Invacare acquired Freedom Designs Inc, a Simi Valley, Calif-based company that designs and manufactures seating products and wheelchairs with a particular focus on pediatric equipment.

Freedom Designs will operate as an independently run unit of Invacare, in a manner similar to that of a number of other subsidiaries at Invacare, such as Motion Concepts Inc, purchased in 2003. It will retain its own design and engineering staff and sales organization. Terms of the cash purchase were not disclosed.

“We are very pleased to have a company with a strong brand and product position in the pediatric market join Invacare,” says A. Malachi Mixon III, Invacare’s chairman and CEO. “The addition of Freedom Designs continues Invacare’s goal of adding accretive acquisitions to our core markets of home care and long-term care.”

William Post HME Insider As clinical evidence linking untreated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to co-morbidities such as heart disease continues to emerge, the implications of OSA are becoming more and more significant while the OSA patient population grows at a record rate, says William Post, president of the Homecare Division of Respironics, Murrysville, Pa. Dealer/Provider spoke with Post about how this trend stands to affect patients and home health care providers. Q How do you see the CPAP market changing in the future? A It’s reasonably easy to project sustained growth in this market. While millions of people are affected by OSA, the market has only been penetrated to a relatively shallow extent since the public and attending physicians have been less than fully aware of the syndrome. As awareness drives both of those camps, new patients are being mined every day. The second thing to expect is continued technology evolution. Technology is being developed to make the CPAP therapeutic modality more elegant and comfortable. That will prove to be important in helping patients adapt to therapy and remain compliant with the regimen. Q What is Respironics doing to address the issue of OSA and co-morbidities? A Co-morbidities and their linkage to OSA are becoming more and more evident, and fundamental to that is clinical research. We’re doing our share to sponsor and fund this kind of research, as are most of the serious players in the marketplace. Clinical evidence derived from the research is fueling the clinical community’s acceptance of the idea that OSA can lead to more than excessive sleepiness. We also work to promote a growing awareness in both the primary care clinical community and public sector. Q What are the implications for home health care providers given the public’s increasing awareness of the link between OSA and co-morbidities? A The implications for the provider should come in the way of the market’s prospects for growth, a more concerned clinical community, and a more motivated group of patients. Once co-morbidities are better understood and become less arguable by virtue of clinical data, primary care physicians and other nonsleep specialties should develop an increasing interest and concern regarding OSA. As a result, I think it’s fair to expect them to take a more top-of-mind approach to considering sleep disorders in their care of a patient, pursuing the sleep consult and diagnostics to a greater extent, and, in the process, discovering more of these previously undiagnosed patients. Meanwhile, as the public’s awareness and understanding grow, affected patients are likely to think about OSA differently. They should be more motivated to seek help and better comply with prescribed therapy, which should prove interesting for the provider who can often find it burdensome, frustrating, and costly to manage a non-compliant patient. Reimbursement is a whole other thing. Once insurers and payors who are behind reimbursement of items such as CPAP face data that unequivocally supports the linkage to co-morbidities, it’s not unreasonable to forecast that reimbursement may change. Ultimately, the payors have to respect the value of an OSA patient being diagnosed and the intervention of CPAP therapy having a favorable effect on the risks and costs associated with hypertension, stroke, or cardiovascular disease.

Apria Picks Up TracMed e-CMN Service
In March, Trac Medical Solutions Inc (TracMed), a subsidiary of AuthentiDate Holding Corp based in Schenectady, NY, signed an agreement with Apria Healthcare Group Inc to deliver and implement its CareCert system of electronically processing Certificates of Medical Necessity (CMNs) and physician written orders. The Lake Forest, Calif-based Apria says making the program available to its 425 branch locations throughout the United States will drive down administrative costs. Annually, Apria processes approximately 3 million CMNs and written orders throughout its network.

“We believe that the eCMN software will accomplish three things,” says Larry Higby, president and CEO of Apria Healthcare. “It will significantly improve the efficiency and productivity of our employees who are dedicated to managing and retrieving CMNs...it will streamline the process for our referring physicians and their staffs, and it will play a major part in our ongoing corporate compliance program.”

TracMed’s CareCert technology allows providers to deliver CMN forms in a secure electronic format compliant with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations. The system incorporates the use of the US Postal Service Electronic Postmark®, which enables online verification of content authenticity, provides tamper detection, and stores evidence of electronic content for 7 years.

While financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, Trac Medical says it will generate revenue through per-location license fees and transaction fees.

Pride Rolls Out 5th Seminar Tour
For the fifth consecutive year, representatives from Pride Mobility Corp, Exeter, Pa, will visit cities nationwide to train providers, physical therapists, and occupational therapists in the latest advances in Pride’s technology and services. The 32-city Pride seminar tour began in March and will continue until early October. This year’s tour features a two-part course designed to educate participants on uniting clinical applications with quality-of-life options and justification for the high-end client, assuring accurate and timely reimbursement. The course has been approved by the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Rehabilitation Science to award participants with 0.6 continuing education units (CEUs).

Other courses focus on innovations and applications as well as the fundamentals and business strategies for mobility products. Two technical courses are also offered—a beginner’s introduction and an advanced course on troubleshooting. The courses run from 1 to 3 days long, and all offer CEUs. Contact Pride at (800) 800-8586 for more information.

Fidelis Releases Updated Software Application
Fidelis Software Inc, Duluth, Ga, in March deployed a new version of its Brightree Web-based technology application featuring enhanced functionality for the HME/oxygen industry. The application, which features an easy-to-use browser interface and Microsoft .NET technology, allows HME/oxygen organizations of any size to access, share, and manage critical business information in real time over the Internet. Brightree Version 2004’s enhanced functionality addresses inventory management, patient information, orders, billing, certificates of medical necessity, accounts receivable, and reporting.

Medicare Assigns Payment Codes to Suction System
Kimberly-Clark Health Care’s Ballard Trach Care closed suction system has been approved for Medicare reimbursement. Medicare has approved codes for both 24-hour (A4609) and 72-hour (A4610) usage of the system, which is designed to safely suction patients on mechanical ventilation.

“Now doctors can specify the use of Trach Care in the home health setting and know that the product is eligible for reimbursement,” says Tim Dye, general manager, global strategic marketing for Kimberly-Clark Health Care, Roswell, Ga. “The previous lack of reimbursement eligibility caused reluctance with some physicians to specify the product, knowing it could be cost-prohibitive for chronically ill patients who depend on this form of respiratory care.”