Archive - July 2019

CMS has announced that it will reject Medicare claims submitted with the Health Insurance Claim Number, with very few exceptions, starting January 1, 2020. All eligibility transactions must use the Medicare Beneficiary Identifier (MBI). Most providers are already using the MBI. For the week ending July 5, 2019, 76% of fee for service claims submitted by providers used the MBI. CMS changed their process from using the Health Insurance Claim Number to the MBI to provide greater security against

Assume that a provider is a plaintiff, defendant, or witness in a civil lawsuit. Assume that the provider receives a subpoena from a party to the lawsuit…and assume that the subpoena asks for a patient’s file. How should the provider respond? First, it should be noted that the subpoena is not a court order; rather, it is a request by an attorney for the patient files. The provider is a “covered entity” under HIPAA. Patient files constitute “protected health

Allergan recently released a recall of their textured breast implants worldwide. Textured breast implants have come under recent scrutiny by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to the link between these implants and a significant increase in the number of BIA-ALCL cancer cases and deaths.  Many news stories have been circulating about textured breast implants and their link to cancer. The Today Show recently hosted a segment on what exactly you need to know. Read and

The Let Her Decide Team is excited to announce a new advocacy tool, the Let Her Decide Toolkit. We know that it takes time to put together informational resources to display in your store and hand out to your customers.  You can now purchase the Let Her Decide Toolkit for $30 that contains the following items: 1 11x17 foam core sign 60 counter cards with one master copy for additional to be printed 25 copies of the infographic that explains why this campaign is so important 2 selfie

It’s the dog-days of summer. But just because it’s hot and sultry outside, that’s not a reason to stop wearing compression! The technology in mediven® products can help you overcome the "summertime" objections. Did you know that our mediven® premium knit products have a unique technology called Clima Comfort that transports moisture from the surface of the skin for optimum comfort all day? When moisture builds near the skin it creates an insulation layer that

A newly-developed blood test may be able to predict if people with breast cancer are likely to relapse at the point they are initially diagnosed by looking at biomarkers in blood of immune system function. This is the first successful research that links a sold tumor with blood biomarkers, which is an indicator of whether a patient will remain in remission. It is important to identify those at higher risk for relapse when they are first diagnosed so they can have more aggressive treatments and

A reusable breast cancer treatment device created by a group of students at Johns Hopkins University offers a low-cost alternative for women in low-income and low-resource countries. The new device is a tissue-freezing probe that uses cryoablation, a method that kills cancerous tissue by exposing it to extremely cold temperatures, and employs carbon dioxide, a widely available and affordable alternative to argon, the current industry standard. While the survival rate for women with breast cancer

A new study published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, shows that women of color and young women may face elevated risks of developing triple-negative breast cancers, which are often aggressive and do not respond to hormone therapy or targeted therapy. Compared with non-Hispanic white women, non-Hispanic black women and Hispanic women had 2.3-times and 1.2-times higher odds of being diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer, respectively. More

There are a few differences between a dispensing order and a written order. DME items may be dispensed upon a verbal or written dispensing order as long as a detailed written order (DWO) is obtained by the DME supplier prior to claim submission.  For Medicare purposes, it is generally understood that most DME can be dispensed upon the receipt of a dispensing order from a physician. It can be verbal or written. It must include: a description of the item, name of the beneficiary, name of the

Interview with Lori Conard-Miller Breast Cancer Awareness month is only a few short months away, which means for most post-mastectomy boutiques, it’s time to prepare for the busy season! Many of our members host, sponsor or attend breast cancer awareness fundraisers, walks or runs. Essentially Women member, Lori Conard-Miller from Studio I in Saint Joseph, MI and Mishawaka, IN and Naturally Yours in Willowbrook, IL recently discussed with EW what Breast Cancer Awareness season looks like