National Public Radio, the New York Times, and now the NBC Nightly News have cast a harsh spotlight on the HME industry in recent weeks. NBC reporter Mark Potter’s two-part television series on Medicare fraud aired this week, and few industry advocates were pleased. “The ‘report’ was sensationalistic and focused only on the negative,” says Elizabeth M. Moran, executive director of the medical equipment suppliers association (MESA), a state association serving Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. “The only—and all too brief—mention of the ‘good guys’ was one clause: ‘While there are many legitimate medical supply companies like this one, thousands of phony companies are simply fronts.’”

The two-part series, which aired on Monday, Dec 10, and Tuesday, Dec 12, focused mostly on fraudulent billing for medical equipment, but also talked about fake medications and phony doctor bills. Despite hopes to the contrary, the report did not highlight ethical providers. “One of the biggest frauds involves fake billing for durable medical equipment such as oxygen generators, breathing machines, and orthopedic braces,” said Potter. After this statement, the reporter stood behind a power wheelchair and told viewers that the $5,000 chair ended up costing the government more than $5 million after countless fraudulent billings.

For members of the Florida association of medical equipment providers (FAMES), the most frustrating part of the broadcast was the failure to include FAMES president Raul Lopez (pictured, left). Despite spending 3 hours with the NBC camera crew, Lopez’s comments hit the cutting room floor. “To say that I am extremely disappointed in the NBC Nightly News series is an understatement,” says Heather Allen, executive director of FAMES. “The series did the industry a grave injustice by inferring that virtually all providers are corrupt.”

At least from a visual standpoint, the industry avoided involvement with NBC’s grainy hidden camera footage. Instead, this segment showed cash payoffs at an aids clinic where expensive claims were submitted for treatments that never happened. In yet another part of the broadcast, an anonymous criminal obscured by darkness said, “The theft is so widespread and easy that for every crooked company shut down, 10 more spring up.”

Are officials at the highest levels of government hearing these unfavorable reports? According to Rose Schafhauser (pictured, right), executive director of the Midwest Association of Medical Equipment Services (MAMES), the answer is yes, at least in the case of one senator. Schafhauser attended a forum this week that included CMS Administrator Kerry Weems and Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND). Schafhauser confirms that Sen Conrad brought up the recent publicity and “talked about the storefronts in Florida.”

Schafhauser says the timing of the NBC broadcast is particularly galling when you factor in the reality that many midwest providers are dealing heroically with severe ice storms. “With one of our members, her whole ordeal started on Sunday morning,” says Schafhauser. “They were out on the road taking care of nursing homes and other providers who have had their power go out. And do they see additional reimbursement for those services? No. Do you see that on NBC Nightly News? No.”

In an email to its members, AAHomecare highlighted other providers who were putting disaster plans into effect and putting patients first. Tim Moore of Wilkinson Home Care Equipment, Nevada, Mo,

noted that in two of the communities his company serves, more than half the population is without power. “We have filled and delivered well over 100 tanks in the last three days to keep our current patients, nursing homes, and some of our competitors (who had no power, but had customers in need) in a constant supply of oxygen,” said Moore. “We have made daily runs 65 miles south to Joplin [Missouri] to ensure that our store there had enough tanks to handle the needs that might arise. We have made these runs regardless of weather and what might happen, because these are our customers. Just because the roads are bad, or the power is out, we still have an obligation as providers. We have employees without power in their own homes, who are working to meet the [patient’s] needs.”

As the ice storm piles on misery in the midwest, legislative matters in Washington, DC heat up. Most experts agree that the recent media scrutiny is tied to the wrangling over year-ending Medicare legislation. “Clearly there are efforts—both within CMS and Capitol Hill—to put forth the proposals that they currently have on the table, and build support for these provisions—because I think the industry has largely been effective in our advocacy efforts,” says Seth Johnson (picture, left), vice president of government affairs at Pride Mobility, Exeter, Pa. “And this is CMS’ and the Hill’s way of pushing back and saying, ‘you really need to do a story here or a story there. Here let me pitch this to you.’ And largely I think that is what we are seeing play out over the past 2 to 3 weeks.”

Out in the real world, providers in Florida and Los Angeles are feeling the heat as the government continues its crackdown on fraud. Earlier this week, FAMES sent a notice to members that FBI agents were visiting Medicare beneficiaries in the Tampa Bay area. According to the FAMES notice, agents told one patient that the reason for the visit was that they were verifying usage of the oxygen, and making sure that there was actual equipment being billed. They also wanted to determine the age of the equipment. The agents requested that the patients not alert the provider of their visit, which might indicate that there are plans to visit the providers as well. In the case of the FAMES member, the agents stated everything was in order.