ACA Works for Federal Prosthetic Parity Legislation
Nine states have passed legislation requiring insurers to cover prosthetic care the way they cover other essential medical treatment. Now, the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) is backing legislation, sponsored by Rep. Robert Andrews, D-N.J., to mandate prosthetic parity at the federal level.

Representatives George Miller, D-Calif., Todd Platts, R-Penn., Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fl., and Lincoln Diaz-Balart, R-Fl., also attached their names as original co-sponsors of HR 5615.

Advocates want private insurers to have programs in place that will provide coverage similar to that of Medicare. Medicare provides coverage for at least 80 percent of the cost of a device and allows for replacements on a regular basis.

“Increasingly we’ve seen health insurers drastically limit coverage for prosthetic care…even limiting coverage to one prosthesis per lifetime,” says Paddy Rossbach, president and CEO of the ACA. Caps imposed by insurers range from about $2,500 to $5,000 per year. Many prostheses cost at least $6,000, with newer, high-tech prostheses costing quite a bit more.

The ACA estimates that prosthetic parity coverage could be provided for a cost of about 25 cents per month for the average insured person. “The cost to the health care system if this is not done far exceeds that of providing prosthetic care, and places a huge burden on society,” says Rossbach.

Indiana recently became the ninth state to pass a parity law. (About two dozen other states are considering doing so.) The Indiana legislation requires insurers to cover prosthetic care deemed medically necessary for the performance of daily activities or job function.

For more information, visit www.amputee-coalition.org.

MIT Students Improve Fitting Technique for Jaipur Foot
The Jaipur Foot Organization (JFO) is the world’s largest provider of prostheses. Founded in 1975, the charity has worked with about a million patients.

With so much to do, there is little time for improving fitting techniques or devices. A group of students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology decided to spend some time working on those two problems for them. As a result, they have devised a method of fitting the devices that both produces less waste and requires no electricity.

The JFO has used plaster of Paris for making molds of residual limbs. This material is bulky and can only be used once, producing a lot of waste. A cumbersome electric generator has to be used to create a vacuum, making it difficult to fit devices in rural areas.

The MIT team’s system uses a hand crank to create the vacuum, and makes the mold by placing the residual limb in a container filled with tiny glass beads covered with silicone rubber. The vacuum creates a tight seal around the limb; then the patient withdraws it. The “negative” mold is then filled with more glass beads to create an exact replica of the residual limb.

The new system also produces a better fit than using plaster of Paris, which shrinks slightly as it hardens. The JFO hopes that a better-fitting prosthesis will have a longer life.

For more information, visit www.mit.edu.

Universities Protest Low NIH Funding for Medical Research
A report generated by seven research institutions warns that five consecutive years of flat funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is deterring young medical researchers, according to an article on the Web site FierceBiotech.

The authors of the report, “A Broken Pipeline,” include Brown University, Duke University, Harvard University, The Ohio State University, Partners Healthcare, the University of California-Los Angeles and Vanderbilt University.

They allege that if the low funding continues, the U.S. will lose the next generation of promising researchers to more lucrative professions.

“Right now, the nation’s brightest young researchers, upon whom the future of American medicine rests, are getting the message that biomedical research may be a dead end and they should explore other career options,” says Drew Faust, president of Harvard University.

Statistics cited in the report show that only about one in four original research grant applications to the NIH are receiving funding. Of those, many are only partially funded and often must endure lengthy delays and reapplications.

Scientists also complain that the reviewers of grant proposals have become more conservative in choosing projects, discouraging the innovative approaches that often cause medical breakthroughs.

“With this tight funding situation, I’ve stepped away from the riskier stuff,” says Pampee Young, assistant professor of pathology at Vanderbilt University. “You become very savvy to what is fundable.”

For more information, visit www.brokenpipeline.org or www.fiercebiotech.com.

National Veterans Foundation Reports on Veterans’ Health Care
According to a report issued by the National Veterans Foundation, the state of VA health care for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan leaves much to be desired.

Statistics cited by the report—from such sources as VA annual reports, DOD press and the CDC—suggest that accessing VA health care and the prevalence of mental health concerns are particular problems. Only one-third of the 750,000 eligible Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have enrolled in VA health care, and VA policy prohibits clinics and hospitals from conducting “marketing activities” to inform veterans of their eligibility, according to the report.

Between 30 and 40 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans will have debilitative mental health issues such as depression, anxiety disorders and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but the VA failed to allocate $100 million earmarked for mental health initiatives between 2005 and 2006.

Health care for veterans is an increasingly visible issue due to the large number of returning soldiers from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom have amputations, traumatic brain injuries and other major disabilities.

For more information, visit www.nvf.org.

ACA Youth Camp Has New, Bigger Location
The Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) will hold its ninth Summer Youth Camp in Clarksville, Ohio at a new location, the Joy Outdoor Education Center (JOEC), July 20-24, 2008.

The youth camp provides physical activities such as archery, swimming, dance, wheelchair football, disc golf and tennis to children ages 10-16 who have limb loss or limb differences. In  addition, campers take part in team-building exercises; education in nutrition, self-esteem, and leadership; and opportunities to work with peer and adult amputee mentors.

As a result of the move to a larger facility, the camp will be able to accommodate nearly a third more participants than last year. “The JOEC’s facilities and qualified and trained staff will take the ACA Summer Youth Camp to a new level,” says Paddy Rossbach, president and CEO of the ACA. The center is located on 315 acres between Cincinnati, Columbus and Dayton, Ohio.

For more information or to register a child for the camp, visit www.amputee-coalition.org.

Iraq Veteran Hopes to Swim in Beijing Paralympics
Melissa Stockwell lost all but the top six inches of her left leg to a roadside bomb in Baghdad. Now she says she’s doing more with one leg than she ever did with two.

According to the Washington Post, Stockwell is one of just over a dozen disabled veterans now training to make the 2008 U.S. Paralympic team, one of seven training at the U.S. Olympic Complex in Colorado Springs. In early April, she was one of 18 women to be named to the U.S. Paralympic swim team, and was the first Iraq war veteran selected for the Paralympics. More than 31,000 American soldiers have been injured in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

The Paralympics were founded after World War II as a way to rehabilitate injured veterans. In the decades since, however, the Games have been populated mostly by athletes who were born disabled or became so at an early age.

The 2008 Paralympics in Beijing will hearken back to those roots, with the U.S. team expected to include four to 10 veterans. By the London Games in 2012, vets could make up 10 to 15 percent of the team.

For more information, visit www.washingtonpost.com.

OPAF Events Add Activity to Academy Meeting
OPAF hosted numerous events at the Academy meeting in Orlando in late February. Fifty-four golfers joined in the Thranhardt Golf Classic at Grand Cypress golf course, where the winning team included Bob Arbogast, Rudy Becker, A.J. Filippis, CPO, and Ted Thranhardt, CPO(E).

The First Bid Live and Silent Auction followed, raising more than $16,000 for OPAF and its First Clinic athletic programs for amputees and others with physical challenges.

First Volley, OPAF’s adaptive tennis program, brought over 25 practitioners attending the Academy conference to the Caribe Royale Tennis Courts. The practitioners joined in as participants, volunteers or observers of the tennis clinic.

On the last day of the conference, a First Dive introduction to scuba diving took place at the Pompano Beach Aquatic Center. It was the first OPAF clinic to include only orthotic patients, and it inspired enthusiasm from the participants. “It brings me so much happiness to be out of my wheelchair and free!” said one patient.

For more information on First Clinics, contact OPAF’s executive director, Robin Burton, at rlb@opfund.org.

Looking for O&P Inventors!
Got a bright idea? Managed to bring it to market? We want to hear from you. Our August 2008 issue highlights those in O&P who have invented a commercial product. Nominate someone for consideration by e-mailing name, contact information and a short description to almanac@AOPAnet.org by June 2.

People in the News

Jeremy Evan Blum of Armonk, N.Y., won the Intel Science Talent Search for developing a new way to activate prosthetic hands. The 17-year-old won an educational scholarship of $100,000 for his method, which uses force sensors mounted in a cast around the residual limb. He believes the process offers promise for inexpensive, noninvasive activation of prosthetic hands.
 
Adrianne Smith, CO, joins Fillauer Orthotics and Prosthetics as an orthotic practitioner. An experienced educator, Smith did her post-graduate studies in orthotics and prosthetics at Northwestern University. She is currently a member of the Academy and the Tennessee Society of Orthotics and Prosthetics.

Robin Burton of OPAF received a special service award at the United States Tennis Association (USTA) Middle States Annual Meeting and Awards Luncheon on March 9. Burton was recognized for her efforts in putting together the OPAF First Volley™ tennis clinics.

Darren Poidevin, CPO, has joined the clinical staff of SPS as the regional clinical and technical services manager. Poidevin has worked in prosthetics and orthotics for more than 12 years, most recently as practice manager for offices in San Antonio and Kerrville, Texas.

Anthony Ung has begun his orthotic residency for the 2008-2009 year at the University of Michigan orthotic and prosthetic residency program. Ung graduated from the California State-Dominguez Hills orthotic certificate program and holds a bachelor’s degree in physiological and neuroscience from the University of California-Los Angeles. 

In Memoriam

Richard A. Berggren, CPO, of Bartlett, Tenn., died on March 2 in Memphis at the age of 56. Berggren worked with Spears Prosthetics and Orthotics of Memphis at its Heber Springs, Ark. office. During his more than 30 years as a practitioner, Berggren also worked with the VA Hospital Systems, Tri-State Limb and Brace and Hanger Orthopedic.

M. Britt Spears, president of Spears Prosthetics and Orthotics, describes Berggren as a great asset to the community and the medical field. “He certainly loved all his patients,” adds Charlene Cannon, who worked in the Heber Springs office. “It was an honor to work with him.”

Berggren is survived by Connie, his wife of 27 years, his daughter Lauren and his son Zachary, and his brothers Paul and Jeremy.

Roland Harris Heath, Jr., passed away on April 2. 

Known to the O&P community as J.R., he presided over the OTS Central Fab for 17 years, until late 2007.  He was married to Sandra Darlene Tullis Heath of Barnardsville, N.C., and was the loving father of three children and the stepfather of four.

Richard DeLorenzo, CPO, FAAOP, passed away April 6 in New Castle, Del. DeLorenzo was born and raised in Deer Park, N.Y. He graduated from the O&P program at New York University and worked for several practices in New York City and Annapolis, Md. before starting Brandywine Prosthetic-Orthotic Services Ltd., where he served as principal for 30 years.

A long-time Academy member, DeLorenzo was among the first practitioners to earn the designation of FAAOP.  He was dedicated to providing quality patient care, and patented a knee that is still used by Ultraflex today.

He is survived by his three sons, Douglas, Daniel and Christopher.

Businesses in the News

The Florida Association of Orthotists and Prosthetists will hold its annual meeting July 24-26 at the Hyatt Regency Bonaventure Conference Center and Spa in Weston, Fla. To register, visit www.faop.com.

More than 120 staff members from Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect™ donated 60 prosthetic hands to landmine victims. The Kaiser Permanente team was able to build the hands themselves, thanks to a workshop conducted by Odyssey Helping Hands, an organization dedicated to philanthropic team building. KP HealthConnect is the world’s largest civilian electronic health records project.

The Lousiana Association of Orthotists and Prosthetists will hold its fifth annual meeting May 15-17 in Baton Rouge, La. Educational credits will be offered through ABC and BOC in orthotics, prosthetics, pedorthics and technical tracks. To register, e-mail laymansh@yahoo.com.

Ohio Willow Wood is partnering with Total O&P of Noida, India. Total O&P is a company just outside New Delhi that aims to provide independent patient care facilities in India with clinical training and support, products and central fabrication. It will serve as the distribution representative for Ohio Willow Wood’s products, including CAD/CAM technology.

OrthoCare Innovations LLC has acquired Martin Bionics LLC, an Oklahoma City-based research and development company. The entire Martin Bionics staff will be joining OrthoCare Innovations. This acquisition makes OrthoCare one of the largest independent prosthetic R&D groups in the U.S.

Martin Bionics was previously named Innovator of the Year by the Oklahoma City Journal Record. The company recently introduced the iPed®, a device designed to restore function to lower-limb amputees, giving them the ability to walk on slopes and carry heavy loads. The device is computer-controlled to allow for naturalistic movement.

A new O&P billing service, O&P Billing Solutions (OPBS), is now open for business. Aaron Sorenson, CPO, president of Restorative Health Services, has partnered with Carla Anderson, CPC, CEO of Medical Billing Alternatives, to create the company. OPBS offers specific service packages as well as an “a la carte” menu including services such as insurance verification, billing, consulting and payroll. For more information, visit the company Web site at www.oandpbilling.com.

Pediatric Prosthetics Inc. has achieved national facility certification from ABC. The Houston-based company has been working for two years to get its pediatric practice certified.

Touch Bionics has signed a U.S. distribution agreement with SPS. While Touch Bionics will continue to offer the i-LIMB Hand® directly to U.S. clinics, SPS will expand the commercial availability of the product through its own marketing and distribution channels.