ResMed Starts Obesity Program
Bariatric surgery not only affects weight, it also can impact continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment requirements—and ResMed Corp is wakening to the issue. The Poway, Calif-based company recently began an initiative that will help sleep laboratories and HME providers build partnerships with bariatric programs. The initiative is aimed at increasing the awareness and recognition of sleep apnea in patients preparing for bariatric surgery, and as part of it, ResMed is encouraging sleep laboratories and HME providers to work with surgeons to screen all gastric bypass surgery candidates for sleep apnea and provide patients with appropriate care.
ResMed also is sponsoring a symposium and an exhibition booth at this year’s American Society for Bariatric Surgery annual meeting in San Diego on June 16. The symposium will include a discussion of current practices for screening, diagnosing, and treating sleep apnea.
“Sleep apnea is extremely prevalent in obese patients, with more than 70% of bariatric surgery (gastric bypass) candidates suffering from the disorder. Unfortunately, apnea is often overlooked in these patients,” says Ron Richard, Resmed’s vice president of marketing, Americas. “Recent clinical studies have shown that sleep apnea in bariatric surgery patients is associated with increased complications and higher hospital costs.”
| HME Insider  Not only can a document imaging system make your life easier and save money, it also can be the vital component in complying with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) rules, says Esther Apter, CEO of Medforce Technologies, Monsey, NY. Dealer/Provider spoke with Apter about the benefits of electronically storing information and how to choose the best system.
What are the top three benefits of using a document imaging system at a home health care dealer?
Easy, instant, simultaneous access to all files by all employees from single or multiple locations. With a document imaging system you can eliminate the perpetual paper chase and search for lost files. The DME/HME industry is paper intensive. We are constantly going back to files to find attachments needed for claims, verifying information from the file, or producing documents for coinsurance, audit, and appeals. Document imaging enables you to accomplish this from your desk instantly. To retrieve a paper file you need to do all of the following: Go from your desk to the filing cabinet, find the file you need, bring it back to your desk, leaf through the file, find the document you need, take the document to the copier, copy it, put the original back in the file, and put the file back in the cabinet. With document imaging you open the file on the screen, select your document, and print. Imagine being on the phone with Medicare and being able to email or fax the document needed without leaving your desk! The right document imaging system will give you an excellent return on your investment. You save money on clerical staff, office space, and filing supplies and increase productivity of employees who need to access files by giving them instant access from their desks. Staff can now focus on providing better customer service and enhancing financial results by streamlining and improving billing and collections. You also can establish true HIPAA security and compliance—something that is almost impossible to obtain with paper files. What is the biggest risk to not switching to an electronic process?
Outdated procedures result in economic and compliance inefficiencies. Spending money on manual tasks lowers productivity of valuable staff. Reimbursement is being cut, and profitability depends on maximum efficiency. The tools exist—use them to maximize profitability! What are two vital components providers should look for when choosing a document imaging software package?
One is ease of use, training, and installation. Many different employees will need to use the system. You want to look for a system with a fast and simple learning curve. You should be able to install the system and start using it the same day. The second is indexing flexibility and industry-specific features. Indexing capabilities should be flexible enough to handle all the different kinds of documents the industry generates for easy storing and retrieval. A rigid indexing system will be limiting. Find a system that makes the transition from paper to document imaging possible without a major change in how you do business. Work with a vendor that intimately understands and recognizes the industry’s needs. |
Medcare Company To Help Professionals Enter Sleep Market
Gambling on the future success of the sleep industry, Medcare, the Reykjavik, Iceland-based manufacturer of diagnostic equipment for sleep treatment centers, will form a North American operating company called SleepTech Solutions, which will focus on the delivery of comprehensive solutions for sleep professionals and entrepreneurs interested in entering the sleep business.
Medcare plans to use SleepTech LLC, a Kinnelon, NJ-based manager of hospital-owned sleep treatment centers and developer of Web-based diagnostic measurement and management solutions, as the new company’s base. In May, Medcare was expected to close a deal to acquire 100% interest in SleepTech.
“For the past 18 months at least, Medcare has been focusing on transitioning from being a product company providing equipment and software for sleep diagnosis into an overall comprehensive solutions company,” says Medcare CEO Svanbjorn Thoroddsen. “By acquiring SleepTech, which is a highly skilled, competent, and profitable company providing turnkey management services to hospital-owned sleep centers, we believe we are taking a very big step in that strategic transformation.”
SleepTech Solutions will be headed by Vyto Kab, who along with his wife Patricia (who will continue with the company in a leadership role), founded SleepTech. The Kabs were coauthors of a study of National Football League players that linked sleep-disordered breathing and young athletes with large body masses. The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine in January 2003.
Invacare Wins Award for Power Wheelchair Design
Invacare Corp, Elyria, Ohio, has won a Medical Design Excellence Award, presented by the Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry magazine in its seventh annual competition, for the Invacare® Storm Series® TDX5™ power wheelchair with MK5™ electronics. Recipients are selected by a multidisciplinary panel of third-party jurors with expertise in biomedical engineering, human factors, industrial design, medicine, and diagnostics. Winning entries excel in the areas of product innovation, design and engineering achievement, end-user benefit, and cost-effectiveness in manufacturing and health care delivery.
The TDX5 incorporates five core technologies: center-wheel drive; stability lock, which prevents forward tipping or rocking; SureStep™ suspension technology, which keeps all six wheels of the TDX5 on the ground and enables users to climb thresholds of up to three inches in height; MK5 electronics, a system that simplifies programming and adds performance adjustments to meet the needs of users with different driver control preferences; and TrueTrack technology, which prevents the wheelchair from veering off course, regardless of terrain or obstacles.
Gerald E. McGinnis
Respironics’ McGinnis Receives Entrepreneurial Accolades
Two educational institutes recently honored Respironics’ board chairman and founder. Gerald E. McGinnis, who established the Murrysville, Pa-based company in 1976, in February received the 2004 Entrepreneur of the Year award from Washington & Jefferson College, a liberal arts college in Washington, Pa. In April, McGinnis received the Entrepreneur Award from the Carnegie Science Center of Pittsburgh as part of its Awards for Excellence 2004. The center’s Awards for Excellence recognize and celebrate individual achievement in science- and technology-related fields in southwestern Pennsylvania.
Eight More Providers To Use CareCert for eCMNs
Eight DME providers recently signed contracts to use Trac Medical Solutions Inc’s CareCert™ for processing electronic certificates of medical necessity (eCMNs) and written orders.
The companies contracting with Schenectady, NY-based TracMed are the following: Health e-Quip of Hutchinson, Kan; Home Care Concepts of Farmingdale, NY; Home Therapy of Clifton Park, NY; Hutchinson Medical Supply of Salem, Mass; Knoll Patient Services of Topeka, Kan; National Home Health Care Inc of Amarillo, Tex; Roberts Home Medical of Germantown, Md; and Young Medical of Toledo, Ohio. In total, the eight companies have 19 locations that process an estimated 40,000 to 50,000 CMNs and written orders each year.
TracMed, which now has contracts for its CareCert program with 22 companies in 814 locations, will generate revenues on a per location as well as a per transaction basis. All of the companies are members of the American Association for Homecare.
| In Brief |
| • eClickMD Inc, maker of Internet-based document exchange and eSignature software for the home health care industry and referring physicians, has changed its corporate name to SecureCARE Technologies Inc. The Austin, Tex-based company says the new name will “more closely align the company’s corporate identity with its software applications.” • CHAD Therapeutics Inc, Chatsworth, Calif, in May received US Food and Drug Administration clearance to market its Sage™ oxygen therapeutic device, the first in a planned family of oxygen therapeutic devices that sense a patient’s movements and automatically adjust the rate of oxygen delivery to reduce the risk of desaturation as activity increases. CHAD President and CEO Earl Yager says additional therapeutic devices based on the new platform are now in development, but he could not predict if and when those devices would be introduced to the market. |
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