Bell-Horn is the only company in the United States that can offer orthopedic bracing, compression hosiery, footcare and diabetic supplies with one consistent merchandising program.

Bell-Horn is America’s first orthopedics company that has been supplying the world with first-class orthopedics since 1842. Staying at the forefront of the orthopedics industry for over 165 years requires more than just manufacturing the highest quality orthopedic braces and supports; it further requires a longstanding tradition of exceeding customer expectations and a steadfast commitment to product innovation.

Great orthopedic product line.

Andy Scolnick, President

Seventh Street Medical Supply, Inc

Cancer survivor networks, like the global online Cancer Support Community are invaluable resources for people impacted by cancer. Whether support comes online or in person, cancer survivor networks offer a wide range of benefits — support, encouragement, advice, education, information, and most of all, hope.

The Benefits Of Cancer Support Groups

Cancer is a terribly isolating disease. Survivor networks bring cancer patients into a community of support. With a constant reminder that “you are not alone,” support group members uplift each other with inspiration, encouragement, and true understanding.

Support groups provide a menu of services for anyone touched by cancer, from patients and survivors, to their family, friends, and caregivers. Professionally led services are often found in community centers, churches, hospitals, oncology practices, and even online. No one affected by cancer has to fight the battle alone.

Some cancer support networks are designed for people with a specific cancer type, such as the Pancreatic Cancer Alliance. The Cancer Hope Network and other groups support people with any type of cancer. There are cancer groups out there for all types of diseases from the common cancers like skin cancer to the very rare like mesothelioma.

The Importance Of Talking About Cancer

Why should cancer survivors talk about cancer? Why should they listen to others talk about it? Talking is a way of communicating needs, asking questions, and getting information. But, more importantly, it represents the human need to connect to other people — to hear and be heard. Face-to-face or online, talking or writing about cancer is an important part of the healing process.

People who feel alone and have no one to talk to, are more likely to be anxious, scared, or depressed. This can negatively affect how they cope with treatment and recovery. People with cancer sometimes find that others will not talk to them, and the isolation can make an already bad situation worse.

Cancer survivor networks are important because the members understand each other. While each cancer experience is unique, there are many similarities. Talking to someone who has “been there” offers a special kind of support that people with cancer will not find anywhere else.

There is a lot to be gained by talking and listening to someone with cancer. Cancer support networks understand this value. They are priceless resources that no cancer patient or survivor should be without.
The American Cancer Society website provides a wealth of information about cancer survivor networks. Patients should also ask their doctor about local support groups.

By: David Haas

www.mesothelioma.com

and Medicaid Services (CMS) will announce the beginning of something called Medicare Round Two of “the

Competitive Bidding Program for certain Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies.”

Although it sounds obscure, this bidding process’s manifest flaws could have serious consequences for just

about every American who needs medical care. Shortages of vital devices could develop, medical supply

companies could go out of business, medical innovation could slow, and, if things go as badly as some

economists think they will, health care costs could skyrocket as the direct result of a program intended to

control them.

The story of the bidding process for what insiders call DMEPOS provides a fascinating case history of how

broadly supported “good government” schemes can have serious negative consequences in the hands of

ambitious bureaucrats. Let’s begin with some background. Durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics,

and supplies, i.e., DMEPOS, are goods used primarily outside of hospitals. The category includes everything

from crutches to pacemakers. DMEPOS are mainly distributed through small “home care/durable medical

equipment” businesses that earn most of their revenue through “market rate” reimbursements under the

Medicare program. The current purchasing process has problems: Among other things, prices for the same

equipment differ quite a bit between regions, invoices rarely track manufacturing costs, and quality problems

crop up more frequently than they should.

In an effort to save money for Medicare while boosting quality, Medicare began full-scale competitive bidding

for some products under the 2003 law adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare. Under that law and an

additional package of Medicare tweaks passed in 2008, the bidding process would begin in a few areas and, if

successful, expand. (The 2010 health care law accelerates this expansion.) At the time, it seemed like common

sense, good-government thinking. Supporters of bidding processes included the George W. Bush

administration, then Senate majority leader Bill Frist, and Frist’s late Democratic colleague Ted Kennedy. CMS

claims it will obtain average savings of nearly 20 percent, or about $1.5 billion out of the more than $8 billion

Medicare spent on DMEPOS in 2009.

Despite a long buildup period, however, nobody paid much attention to the process until CMS announced a

plan for a bidding system that raised questions for just about every expert that has looked at it.

“Neither I nor anyone else have ever seen any bidding process anywhere that works this way,” says University

of Maryland professor Peter Cramton, an economist who has closely followed the Medicare bidding process.

And nearly 250 university and industry economists who study market-design economics have signed Cramtondrafted

letters to the president and CMS expressing grave concerns about the process and suggesting that it

be halted until its flaws can be worked out. (There’s no groundswell of academic support on the other side.)

The fundamental problem lies in the way that CMS’s market design crashes the established procedures for

government contract bidding. In a conventional bidding process for a government contract, qualified providers

submit bids offering specific quantities of a product at a particular price. The bidding process ends when the

total that the providers offer equals expected demand. This is called the “market clearing price.” If, for example,

CMS decides there’s a need for 100 walkers and gets bids of 25 walkers for $90 each, 25 walkers for $110

each, 50 walkers for $140 each, and 100 walkers for $150 each, it would establish a “clearing price” of $140,

hold all bidders to their bids, and decline to do business with the company that wanted $150. This process

becomes considerably more complex in real-world settings, but its fundamental efficiency in meeting demand

at the lowest cost ranks among the best-established conclusions in the field.

While it takes bids in a normal fashion, however, the CMS process insists that Medicare will pay everyone the

median

of the “winning” prices. ($110 rather than $140 in the above example.) As a result, some bidders will be

paid less than they bid while others will be paid more. Unlike in a conventional government bidding process,

CMS neither requires bidders to prove they can deliver a product before bidding nor to actually deliver it

afterwards. And unlike all other government auctions outside of the national security realm, CMS reveals little

besides winners’ names to the public.

All these features could cause major problems. Since bidders don’t have to honor their bids or prove they can

meet them in the first place, they have enormous incentives to bid less than their actual costs, because doing

so gives them a zero-risk option to sell to CMS at a price that may be higher than the bid anyway. Since CMS

pays less than the likely-to-be-low “clearing price,” however, the system essentially guarantees that some will

have to sell at a loss or drop out and thereby threaten their own survival. Finally, since nearly everything is kept

secret, CMS’s own officials are free to manipulate contracts however they want. The result is a disaster waiting

to happen for the market as a whole.

In the trial areas, problems have already emerged. Diabetics have run into difficulty getting supplies that work

with their testing meters and CMS has had to rejigger delivery quantities for almost every major item it has put

out for bids. While these short-term fixes have prevented calamity, the fragile, nearly arbitrary process that now

exists could show real strains as soon as the “round two” process expands current practices to a total of 91

metropolitan areas that collectively contain almost the entire population.

In fact, just about every independent study of the process makes decidedly dour predictions. One report from

the Pacific Research Institute finds that CMS’s methods could reduce investment in medical device markets by

as much as $3.1 billion over a 10-year period (essentially stopping the development of new high-tech devices)

and cost $50 billion in terms of reduced life expectancy. Another report from the American Consumer Institute

finds that the process’s consequences for one category of equipment—vacuum pumps that help heal serious

wounds—would increase medical costs by $6.8 billion if it slows the technology’s rollout. “The CMS bidding

process is so flawed that it will fail to find sustainable market prices for medical equipment,” says Steve

Pociask, ACI’s chief economist and the study’s author. But CMS has given every indication it plans to push

forward with the process unchanged.

And that’s where the bureaucratic interests come in. Since the process puts low prices above all other

considerations, it will almost certainly produce savings of more than the 20 percent that experiments have

shown, and its designers will look very smart. With only a few areas and a few classes of products in play,

however, firms may have been willing to take losses up until now just to stay in the running. The people running

the program at CMS probably hope they will emerge looking like geniuses who saved taxpayers billions, while

the home care industry will get the blame as quality falls, shortages develop, deliveries become irregular,

innovation ceases, and more people end up in hospitals.

Cramton adds an important note. “It’s rare to see something like this happening in the absence of an organized

interest group on the other side,” he told me. “Usually somebody benefits from the flaws in a process. Here, no

special interest group benefits.” Unless, of course, one believes the CMS’s own leadership ought to be counted

as another special interest group with an agenda all its own.

Effective September 8, 2009

SUBJECT: Compliance Standards for Consignment Closets and Stock and Bill Arrangements

I. SUMMARY OF CHANGES: The purpose of this change request is to define and prohibit certain
arrangements where an enrolled supplier of durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) maintains inventory at a practice location which is not owned by the enrolled DMEPOS supplier, but rather, owned by a physician, non-physician practitioner or other health care professional for the purpose of distribution, commonly referred to as a consignment closet and/or stock and bill arrangement.

In addition, this change request will instruct physicians, non-physician practitioners or other health care professional’s practices that use of consignment closets and/or stock and bill arrangements (as defined above) must be in compliance with current standards.

Hopefully, this will discourage some doctors that still live in the 80’s and want “rent for referrals”.  It sickens me to see physicians trying to dip in every pot to make a buck these days. They prescribe for a profit.

Seventh Street Medical Supply, stocks hundreds of braces in our warehouse, not just a small coat closet of profitable items.

I also hope it will discourage companies like DonJoy that are known to stock doctors’ offices with braces and either pay rent or show the doctors how to bill for these items.

What bothers me even more is when patients come to my office with a prescription from a particular office or group that I know stocks their own medical equipment.  The only reason the person is at my office is because the reimbursement is either so low and there is not enough profit to be made by the physician’s office or the patient has no dme coverage.  So, they ship them on their way and then tell their patient to go to a local medical supplier.

Thanks for nothing doc…

Leave the medical equipment for suppliers like myself to fit and explain the equipment properly all the time, not just when it suits you.  If we don’t have the proper size or product we will order it, not just grab whatever is in “The Closet”.

Andy Scolnick, VP

Seventh Street Medical Supply, Inc

307 E. Pennsylvania Blvd.

Feasterville, PA 19053

(215) 396-2450

www.seventhstreetmedicalsupply.com

info@seventhstreetmedicalsupply.com

Seventh Street Medical Supply, Inc., was established in 1983. Originally located in South Philadelphia. We are a family-run business that provides quality health care services in the Philadelphia, Bucks and Montgomery counties.  We are accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for over 12 years.

We specialize in everything from custom orthopedic braces to a full line of respiratory products.  We accept most insurance plans. We are certified to accept Medicare, Medicaid, Blue Cross, Aetna, Bravo, Personal Choice & Keystone Plans, including Keystone Mercy (Click to see more). That’s just a few! Call us to find out if we are providers with your insurance company.

We are a full fledged durable medical equipment company with a physical location that is opened to the public.

We are not an internet basement company with a PO Box address with an always on answering machine.

At Seventh Street Medical Supply, we pride ourselves on our superb customer satisfaction, and we have an outstanding rapport with all of our patients. Our patients are known by their names, not their ID numbers.

We are conveniently located at 307 East Pennsylvania Boulevard in Feasterville. Behind K-Mart off of Street Road, in the “Feasterville Business Campus”.

Please call for more information or for specific directions from your area.

Both of my parents are currently dealing with cancer.  My mother is a Breast Cancer Survivor and my father is now dealing with Prostate Cancer.  Growing up I never realized how many different types of Cancer there are.   There are more than 200 different types.  You can develop cancer in any body organ. There are over 60 different organs in the body where a cancer can develop.

In the past 30 years, the U.S. has poured $30 billion into finding a “cure” for cancer.  Cancer is expected to kill one million Americans per year, overtaking heart disease as the leading cause of death.

Some cancer specialists say that rather than finding a cure, a more realistic scenario is that certain cancers that are fatal today will move into the realm of chronic illnesses.  By chronic disease, doctors mean the way we think of diabetes or heart disease as chronic diseases, where people could live in peaceful coexistence with cancer, as opposed to the cancer continuing to advance.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for that scenario…

Unfortunately, it’s not soon enough for a long time family friend of mine Shelly Katz-Blum.  Lung Cancer just took her life. She battled this disease for 5 years.  She was a giver in every sense of the way.  She knew from the beginning stages that she was in for a fight of her life.  She wanted to make awareness of lung cancer and to somehow make a difference in someone’s life that might be going through the same as her.

The last several years she helped raise thousands of dollars for the LUNGevity Lung Cancer Foundation.  www.lungevity.org

Shelly Katz-Blum

Shelly, this candle is lit for you forever!

Andy

Candle Burning Forever for Shelly Blum-Katz

LUNGevity Foundation Executive Director, Beth Stern

Here is another reason why Medicare is in shambles.

Our current system needs to be reformed in some capacity. But, we need to take a couple steps back and see what the real problems are first.  There is way too much FRAUD and ABUSE going on in this industry.
Lowering prices on medical equipment, Competitive Bidding, capping products and stopping patients from their right to choose which medical supply company that they want to use, is not the answer.

Here is another black eye to our industry.

Robert Saul and his wife allegedly thought they could get rich by giving people expensive power wheelchairs and other medical equipment – equipment they didn’t need – and falsely billing Medicare.

And they thought they had their bases covered by allegedly telling baffled recipients that Philadelphia was giving out $3,200 wheelchairs for free, or having sources in doctors’ offices intercepting phone calls from confused patients.

But the alleged scheme fell apart, according to U.S. Attorney Michael L. Levy.

Saul, 36, and his wife, Sheila, 51, were charged yesterday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office with defrauding Medicare and other programs by submitting more than $1.2 million in bogus claims.

Saul and his wife, who both live in Philadelphia, own R&V Medical Supplies, which is located on the 11th floor at 1420 Walnut St., in Center City. The company is still in business.

The Sauls did not respond to requests for comment yesterday.

Also charged yesterday were Lisa Burnett, 40, of Philadelphia, and Carol Mason, 57, of Norristown.

Burnett and Mason worked at a Philadelphia nonprofit that provided service to seniors and the disabled. They allegedly provided the Sauls with client information that was used to bill Medicare for unneeded medical supplies, and for which they were paid kickbacks.

In separate court filings, Susan Landolf, 27, and Debra Stallings, 43, both of Philadelphia, also were charged with participating in the scheme. Landolf worked at a medical clinic and then at R&V. Stallings worked at a private medical practice. Since they were charged in criminal informations, it is likely they have negotiated guilty pleas.

“This case involves breaches of trust at every level: From the medical office employees who sold patients’ identity information, to the people charged today who used the Medicare Trust as their personal ATMs,” Levy said.

“Any Medicare beneficiary who gets equipment that they know nothing about, or who sees payments for equipment on their explanations of benefits that they do not recognize, should contact the number on the explanation of benefits forms immediately to report it,” Levy said.

Andy Scolnick, VP

Seventh Street Medical Supply, Inc

307 E. Pennsylvania Blvd.

Feasterville, PA 19053

(215) 396-2450

www.seventhstreetmedicalsupply.com

info@seventhstreetmedicalsupply.com

This is why our healthcare is in shambles. It is people like this that need to be banned from doing any type of business in the healthcare profession. A slap on the wrist is not acceptable.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Federal agents arrested 26 suspects in three states Tuesday, including a doctor and nurses, in a major crackdown on Medicare fraud totaling $61 million in separate scams.

Arrests in Miami, Brooklyn and Detroit included a Florida doctor accused of running a $40 million home health care scheme that falsely listed patients as blind diabetics so that he could bill for twice-daily nurse visits.

The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the indicted suspects lined up bogus patients and otherwise billed Medicare for unnecessary medical equipment, physical therapy and HIV infusions.

Indictments were issued for 32 people in all, but the status of the other suspects wasn’t immediately known.

Miami Dr. Fred Dweck, along with 14 people with whom he worked, was accused in an indictment of running a scam to tap a Medicare program that pays very high rates to care for the sickest patients.

Dweck referred about 1,279 Medicare beneficiaries for expensive and unnecessary home health and therapy services, bribing the owners of two Miami clinics to join the scam. He also faked medical certifications, according to the indictment.

A telephone listing for Dweck could not be found and it was unclear if he had a lawyer.

“No matter what type of fraud is committed, there is one common denominator and that denominator is greed,” Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said. “Medicare fraud is not a victimless crime. It hurts every American taxpayer by raising the cost of health care.”

The raids come a week after a report that Miami-Dade County received more than half a billion dollars from Medicare in home health care payments intended for the sickest patients in 2008, which is more than the rest of the country combined, according to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Inspector General. Medicare paid the county about $520 million, even though only 2 percent of those patients receiving home health care live here.

In Detroit’s raids, suspects paid recruiters to find patients willing to feign symptoms to justify expensive testing, including nerve conduction studies, federal authorities said.

A mother and son were charged in Brooklyn with billing Medicare $246 per patient for expensive shoe inserts reserved for diabetes patients, even though they only provided cheap, over-the-counter versions.

Including Tuesday’s arrests, a Medicare Fraud strike force formed by the Justice and Health departments has now charged suspects accused of bilking Medicare of more than $1 billion in less than two years.

The pilot strike force, which started in Miami in 2007, has indicted more than 460 suspects in Medicare fraud scams. The program is now in Los Angeles, Houston and Detroit. HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius also announced Tuesday the operation will expand to Tampa, Fla., Baton Rouge, La., and Brooklyn.

Cleaning up an estimated $60 billion a year in Medicare fraud will be key to President Barack Obama’s proposed health care overhaul. HHS and DOJ have promised more money and manpower to fight the fraud.

Andy Scolnick, VP

Seventh Street Medical Supply, Inc

307 E. Pennsylvania Blvd.

Feasterville, PA 19053

(215) 396-2450

www.seventhstreetmedicalsupply.com

info@seventhstreetmedicalsupply.com

It is about time someone with Mr. Miller’s status and position spoke up and starting calling companies out on their actions.

Any consumer out there that is in the need of any type of power mobility product, may it be a scooter, electric wheelchair, or a custom power chair, you better think twice before purchasing one from the SCOOTER STORE. They are also the new owner’s of a company called ALLIANCE SEATING AND MOBILITY.

 The Scooter Store commercials look good on TV. The Scooter Stores “Claim to Fame” is they will do all the paper work for you and have a power chair delivered to your home at no cost to you.

I already posted in my last Blog about the downside of receiving medical equipment from locations other than your local reputable medical supply company. The story is the same here; when you need service, you will be looking real hard for help. The salesman’s tactics and sales pitch from these companies are very convincing. It’s almost like you are purchasing a resort timeshare, but I assure you… there are no incentives for you in this deal.

What you also might not know is the Scooter Store has recently made a $17 million False Claims Act “settlement”. If they agreed to settle for 17 million dollars, I can’t imagine how much money this company has swindled out of Medicare and all consumers who have received products from the Scooter Store.

WHO PAYS FOR THIS TYPE OF CONDUCT, WE ALL DO!

The Scooter Store just paid their fine, moved on and in my opinion have not changed any of their questionable tactics.

Why Medicare, Medicaid Beneficiaries and any insurance program still accept billing claims from these two companies is beyond my belief. To all consumers out there, I suggest you think twice before picking up your phone and dialing the Scooter Store or Alliance Seating and Mobility.

Now, to all HME dealers, WAKE UP, SMELL THE COFFEE AND TAKE YOUR HEADS OUT OF THE SAND.

We knew which company has been supplying the Scooter Store. We have heard it for years now from every salesman that sells us scooters and electric wheelchairs.  “PRIDE MOBILITY” I always knew it was Pride Mobility that was selling to the Scooter Store under a no name product.  I admit, I also looked the other way for years. I have walked into Pep Boys and BJ’s and have seen Pride Mobility products.

They completely cut our throat and undersell us on one end and have the audacity to send their reps into our facilities to also buy from them for a more inflated price.

But now, we are in a different and difficult time in our industry, “Competitive Bidding”. The bottom line is Pride Mobility has helped the Scooter Store win bids in all areas where it has become implemented. Many companies have already gone out of business.

I suggest we choose carefully who we buy our products from. I can tell you that Seventh Street Medical Supply, Inc will not be purchasing anything from Pride Mobility. I have completely removed all of their equipment from my catalog.  I will only deal and support companies that will work with me and not undercut me at the same time.

We as HME dealers should take a stance and let it be known that we won’t be fooled any longer.

Mr. Miller, Thank you!

To see Van G. Miller’s letter “Who is on your side”? Click here.

Good Luck to everyone!

Andy Scolnick, VP

Seventh Street Medical Supply, Inc

307 E. Pennsylvania Blvd.

Feasterville, PA 19053

(215) 396-2450

www.seventhstreetmedicalsupply.com

info@seventhstreetmedicalsupply.com

Always purchase respiratory equipment from a local reputable medical supply company. 

I don’t care how much money you can save by buying equipment through a “Basement Internet Site”!  DON’T DO IT…

It’s not worth it… There are too many factors and possibilities of malfunction that go wrong with this type of equipment.  I personally see it every day!

·         The hours on units can be reset or replaced.  You have no way of knowing if it is new or used.

·         Items like this are recalled and updates are needed that manufacturers offer.  Every unit that leaves our facility is serialized in case of any type of recall or retrofit that needs to be done.  Only certified dealers will get these notices.

·         Oxygen & CPAP equipment need to be calibrated and checked by a professional technician on a regular basis.  Our office uses and internal diary system to do this task.

·         With CPAP & BIPAP patients, your settings may need to be changed within a week after you receive your new unit.  If your unit was received over the Internet, now what are you going to do?

·         4 out of 5 patients don’t like the original CPAP mask they were supplied with.  Our company offers a return policy (wear the mask for up to a week and if you don’t like the fit, bring it back to my office and we will give you another mask the same day).  No “Basement Internet Site” can offer that!

·         Just recently, a major CPAP company that I deal with had bad motor fans.  I did not find this out until calls started to come in from our patient’s complaining of a weird loud noise that was coming out from their unit.   The whole shipment of CPAP & BIPAPS that were sent across the country was bad!  Our company was able to replace these units at our patient’s home the same day.  There is no way possible any “Basement Internet Site” could do that for anyone.  They do not have the resourses available and they have no technical education on this type of equipment to trouble shoot any issues.  In my opinion, they could care less.  It’s all about the initial sale and the buck stops there.

·         All oxygen concentrators have internal filters that need to be changed on periodic intervals.  Our patient’s are set on a diary system and serviced per the individual manufacturer guidelines.

·         ATTENTION ALL OXYGEN PATIENTS THAT HAVE CONCENTRATORS; Just because you feel air coming out of the nasal cannula, doesn’t mean you are getting the proper oxygen in your system.  Our company uses analyzers’ that measure the purity and pressure of oxygen coming out of the units.  On routine basis these things are checked and filters are replaced.  How can any “Basement Internet Site” do this for you or a loved one…….they can’t!

·         I get calls every day at all hours of the day from oxygen and CPAP patients with technical questions and issues.  Some of those questions are solved immediately over the phone and some need immediate assistance at the patient’s home.  No “Basement Internet Site” has 24 hour service for in-home emergency services.  They might be able to take a new order, but that’s it.

·         Recently, an oxygen patient came to my office with a regulator he purchased on ebay.  He asked me to look at it for him.  It so happens, it was a regulator that in 2001 was recalled by the FDA.   8 years later this item was still circulating around.  How it found its way on ebay, I can’t imagine.

I have based this blog solely on respiratory equipment, but I assure you it doesn’t stop there.

I see scooters and power chairs everyday on the Internet.  What you might not realize is that they also have recalls and optional retrofits that are needed.  There is always some sort of issues with power chairs and scooters.  They are used every day and take a beating. I guarantee you that if you purchase a power vehicle on the Internet you will never get any notice that your item needs service.  Several years ago, a major reputable company in our industry that sells power mobility equipment had a recall on their “Tiller Throttle Control”.  The throttle control is the part that you use with your right and left thumb to go forward and backward.  It works on a spring.  Well, the spring was breaking, and needless to say, people were smashing into the walls.  Our company was contacted by the manufacturer with all the serialized scooters that were sent to us.  We were provided all the parts to replace with a new designed spring and PAID by the manufacturer to replace these parts to make the units safe again.  Our company was able to complete this task swiftly before any of our patients were injured.  There is no way any “Basement Internet Site” has the resources or knowledge to have done what we did.

 I can’t stress enough; you need to purchase medical equipment from your local reputable medical supply company.  You owe it to yourself or a family member to at least stop by a neighborhood shop and learn about the ins and outs of the item you’re interested in before the big buy.

If you want to save money by buying something on the Internet, buy a pair of shoes!

Seventh Street Medical Supply, Inc has been in business for over 25 years!  We are accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO).  WE CARE ABOUT YOU AND WHAT WE DO FOR A LIVING.

Good Luck!

Andy Scolnick, VP

Seventh Street Medical Supply, Inc

307 E. Pennsylvania Blvd.

Feasterville, PA  19053

(215) 396-2450 or (800) 723-8110

www.seventhstreetmedicalsupply.com

 

I’m not personally on any type of sleep apnea machine, but I assure you, I can hear and I feel for every one of you when I’m trying to sleep.  

I’ve heard it all and here it goes!

I tried it for ten minutes! – The mask bothers me! – I’m not comfortable! –   It’s bothering me! – This is only my 4^th mask I’ve tried! – I was told I can have as many masks as I want! – I didn’t know I had to return the masks that I do not like! – You’re not being reasonable! – I saw something on the Internet and I want it! – My insurance pays for as many masks as I want! – Can you sleep over my house to see what’s happening at night! – I didn’t break the CPAP, it just dropped off my dresser. – I’m calling my insurance carrier! – My doctor said you wouldn’t charge me my co-pay! – Come to my house and lower my pressure settings, NOW! – The other company refuses to come back!

For me, it all comes down to several things… Too many personal Injury doctors that are feeling the crunch in their business have gotten together with their peers and have ventured into the sleep industry.  They are opening up sleep centers in every neighborhood.  The medical supply companies that are delivering the equipment shouldn’t even be in the business.  Insurance reimbursement in Pennsylvania is the lowest among all states!

Put just those several things together and you will have the start of your CPAP NIGHTMARE!

Being diagnosed with Sleep Apnea is a serious issue that needs to be addressed by professionals that are familiar with this type of disorder.  It is imperative to your well being that you are compliant with the equipment that has been prescribed for you.    

My opinion, stick with a hospital that has the most advanced equipment for these types of studies. Use a medical supply company that is going to give you choices and is willing to work with you.  Choose a medical supply company that is accredited by the Joint Commission (JCAHO).  Ask questions!  Remember, you have the right to choose what medical facility and Equipment Company you want to use. 

Don’t wait until it’s too late!

Andy Scolnick, VP
Seventh Street Medical Supply, Inc.

307 E. Pennsylvania Blvd.

Feasterville, PA  19053