Time to update your database: Innovation In Motion has moved. The manufacturer of the X4-Extreme and X5-Frontier all-terrain power chairs — as well as the distributor of Ormesa seating, positioning, standing and gait-training products for children — has relocated to 201 Growth Parkway, Angola, IN 46703. The toll-free number — (800) 327-0681 — remains the…
NEC Foundation Announces New Assistive Technology Grants
NEC Foundation of America has awarded grants to five organizations “that advance the independence and full participation in society of people with disabilities through the use of innovative technology.” The five organizations to win grants:• Brave Kids, Ponte Vedra, Fla. — A $28,150 award to expand a bilingual Web site that disseminates assistive technology information…
HHS Releases Final Rules on ICD-10, Electronic Transactions
The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) has released two final rules “that will facilitate the United States’ ongoing transition to an electronic health care environment through adoption of a new generation of diagnosis and procedure codes and updated standards for electronic health-care and pharmacy transactions.” The first final rule regards the replacement of…
Rx for Better LMNs: As Close as Cyberspace?
“Helping” referral sources to create appropriate letters of medical necessity (LMNs) can be a tricky, time-consuming effort for providers these days. Medicare and other payors are demanding that those letters provide more details on everything from client diagnoses to why lesser equipment won’t fill the bill, but at the same time, they’re preventing providers from…
Funding Case Study
The Powerful Potential of Power Assist Q&A with Jim Papac & Christopher Veatch, NEXT Mobility Q: Explain the benefits of a power-assist system, and who could benefit from using it.Chris Veatch: Often, we take for granted the machines that make our lives better. Escalators make climbing stairs easier; power steering lets us control our cars,…
KE Modifier Correction: Use the KE Modifier on Manual Wheelchair Options & Accessories
In our January 2009 issue’s Funding Essentials column, Mobility Management said, “In order to separate options and accessories that go onto power vs. manual wheelchairs, a new modifier has been created. The KE modifier is required on all options and accessories that will be placed on a PMD (power mobility device). This is Medicare’s sign…
Biopharmaceutical Company Encouraged by Duchenne’s Clinical Trial
AVI BioPharma, a biopharmaceutical company based in Corvallis, Ore., said a recent clinical trial to treat Duchenne’s Muscular Dystrophy was successful.The trial involved the use of a potential drug developed by AVI BioPharma called AVI-4658. Boys who have Duchenne’s and were participating in the trial were injected in one foot with AVI-4658, and with a…
TiLite Welcomes Garven, Walls
TiLite has added a pair of employees to its engineering & design and customer service teams. Doug Garven, a rehab industry veteran and an end-user since 1989, has joined TiLite’s engineering team. In more than 16 years of industry experience, Garven has worked for Everest & Jennings, Invacare Europe and Quickie, and has consulted for…
2009: The Manual Wheelchair Landscape
New Codes & Policies? New Technologies & Materials? Experts Weigh in on What We Can Expect The rehab industry has had its share of DME headlines in recent years: new seating and power chair coverage criteria and coding, competitive bidding, then the rehab carveout and January’s 9.5-percent funding cut applied to those competitively bid products…
Ops Management: Sowing the Seeds of Leads
In today’s economy, most of us are looking for ways to work smarter and make our dollars go further. Whatever sales and marketing initiatives your company is doing now, you can make them more effective and longer lasting. We all know how important relationships are to business, and as the old adage goes, “People like…