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Tuesday, February 22, 2005Motorized wheelchairs, which once seemed destined to become as common among older adults as snapshots of grandchildren, have hit a rut. After sales tripled over five years, orders are off 40 percent in the last year. Larger suppliers have laid off workers, while smaller ones have left the business. ‘‘A good part of our industry has shut down,’’ said Mal Mixon, chairman and chief executive of Invacare Corp., the world’s largest manufacturer of home medical products. Mixon and other industry executives blame the hard times on Medicare, which reimburses qualified users for 80 percent of the chairs’ $5,000 price tag. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services clamped down on claims more than a year ago after investigators uncovered fraud and early this month proposed new criteria for deciding who’s eligible for reimbursement. They can thank Houston posted by Sydney on 2/22/2005 06:49:00 PM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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