In 1995, the Microsoft Corp employed just one Washington, DC lobbyist. Founder Bill Gates believed that if his company did not engage in force or fraud, it had nothing to fear. Why direct funds into the black hole of bureaucracy?

Gates’ naiveté led to an antitrust suit brought by a justice department that viewed such widespread success as inherently suspicious. Now Microsoft has a huge Washington staff and millions of dollars flow into the campaigns of federal candidates.

Home care providers were more savvy than Microsoft in the mid 1990s, but it was not until January 2000 that the three major home health care associations merged into what is now the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare). Like Microsoft, HME providers will never again neglect Washington.

While the industry lacks the financial muscle of Microsoft, it does have the power of consumers/beneficiaries up its sleeve. Countless luminaries have argued in these very pages that consumers (many of them seniors who vote) will be the ultimate reason that the industry rolls back the negative legislative tide.

And of course, consumers want to stay at home. While nursing homes will always be needed for the exceptionally frail, seniors on the border of assisted living can benefit from home care and logical home construction (see Building Freedom in this month’s issue, page 30). Here again we find the Microsoft Corp at the forefront of “smart living” with “Grace,” its high-tech home at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Wash.

As reported in the May 06 Reader’s Digest (Home Smart Home), Grace is part of a broad movement to use technology for better living. The article reports one idea to “separate pipes and wires from the walls, so walls can be readily moved” to accommodate mobility devices. Ultimately, people will be willing to pay cash for these advances. Even government payors will foot the bill when they finally realize that care at home is more cost efficient than institutional care. With continued education, they will eventually see the light. DP

Bed CMN Still Required
Contrary to Bedder Business under CB? (April 06 Dealer/Provider), the elimination of the CMN for hospital beds under the Medicare program is scheduled for October 1, 2006, not 2005. This change coincides with other CMN changes effective on the same date.

Until October 1, 2006, the CMN for hospital beds is still required, along with, of course, the supporting documentation regarding the patient’s condition somewhere in the patient’s record. It is still important that the dispensing dealer of the hospital bed be assured that the needed clinical documentation is available. After October 1, 2006, this clinical information should probably be acquired by the dealer in a more formal manner prior to delivering the hospital bed to assure medical need meets the Medicare requirements for approval of payment.

—Tim J. Good, CRT, AE-C, RPFT
president, GoodCare by CPCI
Logan, Ohio

More “Bedder”: The Last Word
In Bedder Business under CB? (April 06 Dealer/Provider), the article states that as of October 1, 2005, the CMN for beds is no longer required. Can you please verify?

— Jared Johnson, TMC Medical Supply
Denison, Tex

Esther Apter, MedFORCE Technologies, responds: You are correct. The only CMNs that were eliminated were wheelchairs and PMDs. I am not aware of any change in policy that eliminates the CMN for a bed. Technically, if a provider bills without a CMN but includes the patient record, which has all the information required on the CMN grid, the claim could be paid (eventually). The claim will be denied on initial submission and could be appealed—it is much harder to get paid that way—and if there is a CMN required, the correct way to bill is with the CMN accompanying the initial claim for the rental.

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