To Enrich Lives

The clinical team at Handi Medical Supply: Shelly Klein, Nick Loye, Jean Dresch and Laurie Tomaszewski (not pictured – taking the picture) in an in-service on the Trilogy Ventilator given by Marty Davig from Philips Respironics. Thanks Marty for sharing your expertise and knowledge; we appreciate it!

Ifyou are interested in purchasing a raffle ticket to win a iPad with retina display, Wi-Fi and 16 GB of storage email Laurie at laurie@handimedical.com Thank you for your support!

All proceeds are used for the development of the Ms. Wheelchair Minnesota program and to send out titleholder to the national pageant and leadership institute.

Come to the Ms Wheelchair pageant on March 9th.

February 26, 2013. April Shaw from Betty McCollum’s office met with Shann Benhardus and Laurie Tomaszewski from Handi Medical Supply along with members of MAMES(Minnesota Association of Medical Equipment Suppliers) to discuss Medicare’s competitive bidding. We thank April for her time and attention; we are hopeful that April will relay our concerns to Congresswoman McCollum.

According to Forbes:

Failure To Communicate: Why Seniors Are Readmitted To The Hospital So Often

Seniors continue to be readmitted to the hospital too frequently. But when it comes to explaining why, patients and providers are on Mars and Venus. The patients blame doctors and nurses. Doctors and nurses blame patients. And everybody blames the hospitals.

The problem, everyone seems to agree, is that hospital discharges are a mess. Patients don’t understand what they need to do after they go home: They don’t see their primary care doctor, they don’t take their medications properly, and they land back in the hospital. That revolving door jeopardizes their health and costs Medicare billions of dollars.

A new report by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation looks at hospital readmissions from two perspectives. A new study by the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice finds there has been little improvement in hospital readmissions, despite an intense new focus on the problem by Medicare. The study also finds a huge variation in readmissions from one part of the country to another, which suggests that, with the right motivation and tools, health systems can get a handle on this challenge. After all, if they can do it right in Minnesota, they ought to be able to do it in New York. Read more

According to the HME NEWS:

Industry talks tough  ’You have to fix this—not us’

by:  Liz Beaulieu -  Friday, February 22, 2013

WASHINGTON – The HME industry’s efforts to fight competitive bidding have taken on a new tone.

With about four months before Round 2 goes into effect, stakeholders are no longer mincing words with lawmakers, telling them that if the program moves forward as planned, the blood will be on their hands.

“We’re telling them, ‘Don’t call us in July about all the Medicare beneficiaries who are no longer able to get equipment and services,’” said Wayne Stanfield, president and CEO of NAIMES. “You have to fix this—not us.”

Stakeholders say they’ve given lawmakers plenty of evidence that the program is flawed (bids aren’t binding, pricing is based on a non-weighted median) and a valid tool to make it right (the market-pricing program or MPP).

During a planned “fly-in” the week of Feb. 25, stakeholders plan to emphasize how the expanded program will dismantle an industry that provides important equipment and services to beneficiaries. Since more than 450 providers in the nine cities included in Round 1 closed or downsized, stakeholders believe at least 4,000 providers in the 91 cities included in Round 2 will do the same. Read more