Comeptitive Bidding Phase II Announced

Medicare announced the next 70 MSA's that will be part of phase II competitive bidding. They also announced the equipment categories that will be involved.

1 - Oxygen Supplies and Equipment
2 - Standard Power Wheelchairs, Scooters, and Related Accessories
3 - Complex Rehabilitative Power Wheelchairs and Related Accessories
4 - Enteral Nutrients, Equipment, and Supplies
5 - Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Devices, Respiratory Assist Devices (RADs), and Related Supplies and Accessories
6 - Hospital Beds and Related Accessories
7 - Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) Pumps and Related Supplies and Accessories
8 - Walkers and Related Accessories

The MSAs selected for Round Two bidding include:

West
Albuquerque, NM
Bakersfield, CA
Colorado Springs, CO
Denver-Aurora, CO
Fresno, CA
Las Vegas-Paradise, NV
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA
Sacramento--Arden-Arcade--Roseville, CA
Salt Lake City, UT
San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA
San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
Visalia-Porterville, CA

Midwest
Akron, OH
Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI
Columbus, OH
Dayton, OH
Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI
Flint, MI
Grand Rapids-Wyoming, MI
Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH
Indianapolis-Carmel, IN
Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
Omaha-Council Bluffs, NE-IA
Toledo, OH
Wichita, KS
Youngstown-Warren-Boardman, OH-PA

South
Asheville, NC
Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA
Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC
Austin-Round Rock, TX
Baton Rouge, LA
Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX
Birmingham-Hoover, AL
Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL
Charleston-North Charleston, SC
Chattanooga, TN-GA
Columbia, SC
Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL
El Paso, TX
Greensboro-High Point, NC
Greenville-Mauldin-Easley, SC
Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
Jackson, MS
Jacksonville, FL
Knoxville, TN
Lakeland, FL
Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway, AR
Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, TX
Memphis, TN-MS-AR
Nashville-Davidson-
Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN
New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA
Ocala, FL
Oklahoma City, OK
Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, FL
Raleigh-Cary, NC
Richmond, VA
San Antonio, TX
Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
Tulsa, OK
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC

Northeast
Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, CT
Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, CT
New Haven-Milford, CT
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA
Scranton--Wilkes-Barre, PA
Syracuse, NY

So it looks like complex rehab will still be included in the competitive bidding meaning that further efforts are needed in the efforts to regarding the carve-out. I also noticed that Medicare finished their press conference with a dig to the industry by stating that one of the reasons for competitive bidding is to end fraud and then post the information for the Medicare fraud website.

Bidding is scheduled to begin this summer. Will you bid or find alternative revenue streams?

Are You Ready For The New (Old) Generation?

From HomeCare Monday: A mind blowing statistical illustration of the growth potential of what is guaranteed to become one of the largest sources of revenue for HME companies.

"Beginning this month for the next 18 years, one of the 78 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964 will turn 62 every 8 seconds and become eligible for Social Security. In three years, these same Americans will begin to become Medicare-eligible as they reach age 65."

Don't forget that this same group of people will have more disposable income than any other previous generation. There may be future limits on the number of companies able to bill Medicare due to the competitive bidding process, but there is still a large amount of cash business up for grabs that doesn't have the same rules and limitations as the Medicare dollars. While reading this post, 5 more people joined this group of potential customers.

How are you positioning your company to handle this explosive growth?

24th International Seating Symposium

If you have the opportunity to attend the ISS this year, take advantage of Early Bird registration available until January 5th.

24th International Seating Symposium to be Hosted March 5 - 8, 2008

The upcoming International Seating Symposium will be conducted in March 2008 in Vancouver, Canada. It will address current and future developments in the areas of seating, positioning and mobility. Topic areas will include service delivery, product development, research and evaluation. The symposium will feature the keynote presentation, Dr. Geoff Fernie's "New Technology for Age-Old Needs", and many other workshops and presentations. There will be a large exhibit hall for participants to interact with representatives from over 45 different organizations! Extensive opportunities are also provided for networking with colleagues throughout the symposium. For more information: http://www.interprofessional.ubc.ca/24th_Seating.htm or contact 604- 822-7524 or via e-mail ipad@interchange.ubc.ca.

MabisDMI Corporate Website Launch

A MESSAGE FROM MABIS / DMI

www.mabisdmi.com Corporate Website Launch

Mabis / DMI has been working hard behind the scenes preparing a website to support www.mabisdmi.com and www.duro-med.com. At long last, we have a working website under our full company, www.mabisdmi.com as well as both company brands, www.mabis.net and www.duro-med.com.

If a user goes to www.mabisdmi.com, they will be directed to a portal page, where they can click through to either the mabis.net or the duro-med.com sites.

Mabis / DMI has been working hard behind the scenes preparing a website to support www.mabisdmi.com and www.duro-med.com. At long last, we have a working website under our full company, www.mabisdmi.com as well as both company brands, www.mabis.net and www.duro-med.com. If a user goes to www.mabisdmi.com, they will be directed to a portal page, where they can click through to either the mabis.net or the duro-med.com sites.

The MABIS site has been live for some time and is unchanged for now. We will be doing some updates, and are continuing to build towards a major overhaul. The DMI site is brand new. Our goal is to continue to build the website family to be user friendly, institute secure online ordering and enhance our product information with user instructions, assembly guides etc. As you click around, you will see several features: all clicks on MABIS specific products will link the user back to the MABIS website; the Request a Catalog button links the user back to the standard form used on the MABIS site; much of the contact information and about the company information mirrors the catalog.

We are very excited about this soft-launch. We have gotten a great deal of positive feedback already and are looking forward to the next step.