How do you find out about new products?

Most of the stuff [I find] is probably through the conventions and continuing education. Usually they have hands-on displays at those shows. You can handle a material to see what it actually does.

In evaluating a product, I look at quality from a mechanical point of view. Is it pop-riveted instead of having copper rivets or a Chicago screw? I like things where I can say, “If that breaks, I can take it apart and fix it. That would work even if one part needed to be repaired.”

Townsend Design listened to those comments. Now you can take [their products] apart and just repair the strap, for instance.
Craig Jones, CO
Oregon Orthotic Services
Portland, Ore.

The big problem that we have today is that there’s a lot of new technology, but a lot of the insurance companies are tying our hands on stuff we’d like to use. Sometimes we have to make do with what we’ve got and make it work.

I have some other practitioners in the field that I find very helpful to bounce things off of. There are some very knowledgeable practitioners who have seen different things and I think that communication is a big plus. I always learn something when I go to another person’s facility and tour it.

As far as how I decide whether or not I’m going to use a product, just doing a little research and development in our office with some of our previous patients [is helpful]. I don’t like to use my patients as guinea pigs, but we will try something new. If it works well, we’ll start marketing the product in our facility.
W. Mark Stubbs, CPO
Stubbs Prosthetics & Orthotics Inc.
Chattanooga, Tenn.

I’m up here [in North Carolina] for two months from Costa Rica and that’s the main reason I’m here, to keep up with the changes in the field.

Usually whenever the Almanac comes out and I see something new, that’s the first time I see or hear anything about it. Then I usually go to [the manufacturer’s] Web site and read all about it. I also talk to friends from all over the country and say, “Hey, is there something I need to be paying attention to?”

After I find out about something new from the Almanac I’ll keep an eye on it and see what people are saying. Before I try it I’ll usually talk to a colleague who’s tried it. I don’t want to be the last one to try it, I want to be somewhere in the middle.
Dino Cozzarelli, CPO
Asheville Orthotic Prosthetic Center Inc.
Asheville, N.C.

[I find out about products through the] O&P Almanac, friends in the business and sales representatives as well. Ads, too—I always make sure that I read the magazine and refer to that.

The product preview theater [at the AOPA National Assembly] is a big plus. Sometimes, in the magazines, [an ad] just shows you a picture. When you go to the seminar, to be able to have it in your hand and see how it works and someone show you exactly how it functions is a big plus.

I always do a prototype first. I use it on one of the employees here so I know exactly how it works before I even think of putting it on a patient.
Rafeal Barrera, CO
Orthotic and Prosthetic Designs
Columbus, Ind.

We’re privileged that we’re such a big company. Vendors come to us. I imagine that if we were a smaller mom and pop operation, it would be harder to see what’s out there.

We did an upper extremity symposium and had some upper-extremity patients in for evaluation. An occupational therapist from Otto Bock was here, who asked if we would like to work with their new Dynamic Elbow. At that time, the arm was in its beginning stages. I believe we fit the first [patient] in the Southeast. He had the Utah Arm, and he says the difference is like night and day.
Greg Bauer, CPO
Westcoast Brace & Limb
Tampa, Fla.

I have a process that I would put any new component through. I would ask [patients] that they try it and let them know that it’s experimental. I appreciate the trial period that the manufacturers give us for this. Then, if there’s positive feedback, I would begin to recommend it to all my clients.

In the selection process, what is pivotal is selecting some really street-smart clients who’ve been around the block and who’ve been wearing a device, and have a good feel for what they like and don’t like, and the reasons. They’re my prime targets for experimenting. I let them know clearly up front, “Let’s try it for three months.”
Dick Roy, CPO
Promise Prosthetics & Orthotics
Littleton, N.H.