On October 5, 2023, Ann Ford presented at the annual MAMES Conference on practical compliance tips for a successful business.

The time has come for HME and DME providers to become familiar with and even start to embrace value-based care.

On July 26, 2023, Ann Ford had the pleasure of speaking this week at the 2023 ACU-Serve Client Summit, along with ACU-Serve’s Vice President of Auditing and Corporate Compliance, Noel Neil.

Cora Colvin writes about implementing an effective compliance program on a budget.

Ann Ford, Partner at Hall Prangle and Schoonveld, LLC and Managing Director of HPS Advise, was a contributing author to the article, The Mission, Value, and Roles of Medical Affairs in MedTech, published by The Medical Affairs Professional Society (MAPS).

Last month,  Ann Ford and Cora Colvin of HPS Advise partnered with Noel Neil from ACU-Serve Corp. to present a webinar on how to prepare for government audits post public health emergency (PHE). The webinar was provided to DME/HME members of the Midwest Association of Medical Equipment Services and Supplies (MAMES).

Cora Colvin writes for HomeCare Magazine about creating good compliance habits with 3 steps.

Ann Ford and Cora Colvin of HPS Advise attended the CGS Impact Conference in Nashville on February 27 and 28, 2023. Approximately 400 durable medical equipment suppliers and home care providers attended the two-day conference.

A recent study by the CDC suggests that approximately 84.2% of postpartum deaths are preventable. When the CDC viewed the statistics to determine whether a death was preventable, the CDC asked was “there at least some chance of the death being averted by one or more reasonable changes to patient, community, provider, facility, and/or systems factors.”

On October 6, 2022, Ann Ford, Partner at Hall Prangle and Schoonveld, LLC and Managing Director of HPS Advise, presented on the topic of compliance and value adds in the medical supply industry to the Midwest Association for Medical Equipment Services & Supplies (MAMES) during its 2022 Fall Conference. 

On October 6, 2022, Ann Ford, Partner at Hall Prangle and Schoonveld, LLC and Managing Director of HPS Advise, presented on the topic of compliance and value adds in the medical supply industry to the Midwest Association for Medical Equipment Services & Supplies (MAMES) during its 2022 Fall Conference. 

A new law that aims to protect healthcare consumers from surprise billing went into effect on January 1, 2022. When an individual with health insurance coverage receives care from an out-of-network provider at an in-network facility, their insurer typically does not cover the out-of-network cost. On December 27, 2020, former President Trump signed into law the No Surprises Act, which Congress passed as part of the Consolidated Appropriates Act, 2021, which became effective at the start of 2022.

Recently, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a rare Special Fraud Alert pertaining to medical device and pharmaceutical speaker programs. The OIG defines speaker programs as “company-sponsored events at which a physician or other health care professional makes a speech or presentation to other health care professionals about a drug or device product or a disease state on behalf of the company.” The sponsoring company typically pays the speakers an honorarium.

On November 20, 2020, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published two new final rules aimed towards supporting care coordination and value-based care. As part of the Trump Administration’s “Sprint to Coordinated Care” plan, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) revised the safe harbors under the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) revitalized the physician self-referral regulations (“Stark Law”). These reforms are designed to primarily reduce the regulatory burden on the healthcare industry while incentivizing coordinated care.

The society-wide physical isolation strategies adopted in response to COVID-19 has given rise to a broad surge in virtual interactions, from FaceTime family reunions to a steady drumbeat of Zoom meetings. Healthcare is no different: the number of telehealth visits this year is expected to reach one billion, according to research firm Forrester—and 900 million of those will be related to COVID-19.