Year: 2021

Washington, DC – Yesterday, Senators Mark Warner (D-VA), Steve Daines (R-MT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Cornyn (R-TX) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduced S. 2556, the “Medicare Orthotics and Prosthetics Patient-Centered Care Act” in the Senate.

“The American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA), who’s over 2,000 members represent both the facilities that treat patients and the manufacturers of orthotic and prosthetic (O&P) devices, has
been advocating for years for Medicare to protect patients’ access to quality O&P clinical care. The bipartisan Medicare O&P Patient-Centered Care Act would do just this, differentiating O&P care from the provision of Durable Medical Equipment supplies while also protecting patients from fraudulent practices that are costly to the Medicare system.” said Eve Lee, MBA CAE, AOPA Executive Director. “AOPA is grateful for the efforts of Senators Warner, Daines, Duckworth, Grassley, Cornyn, and Cassidy to introduce this important piece of legislation. If passed, it will undoubtedly impact the lives of millions of Americans living with limb loss and limb impairment.”

“Under current law, the provision of highly specialized orthotic and prosthetic care is improperly regulated in the same way as durable medical equipment (DME), which does not reflect the service our
seniors receive under the Medicare program,” said Senator Warner. “This commonsense legislation redesigns the way Medicare delivers orthotic and prosthetic care to ensure seniors have safe access to
the care they need without adding any additional cost to the Medicare program.” “It’s important that Montana seniors who rely on orthotic braces and prosthetic limbs have access to appropriate, patient-centered, quality care,” Senator Daines stated. “We need to improve care for Medicare patients in Montana while also reducing government waste, fraud, and abuse.”

This important legislation has four provisions:

• The first would create separate statutory requirements for the provision of orthoses and prostheses to reflect the clinical, service-oriented nature of orthotics and prosthetics care.
• The second would restore Congress’ intended meaning of the term “minimal self-adjustment,” to more clearly define off-the-shelf orthoses that are subject to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ competitive bidding program.
• Third, it would prohibit the practice of “drop shipping” custom orthoses and prostheses to Medicare beneficiaries. This provision would reduce ongoing Medicare waste, fraud, and abuse in the orthotic and prosthetic benefit; a need recently highlighted when the Department of Justice uncovered $1.2 billion in fraud through last year’s “Operation Brace Yourself,” and during the pandemic, several owners of medical equipment companies were charged with submitting false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for orthotic braces that were medically unnecessary, ineligible for Medicare reimbursement, or not provided as represented.
• Finally, the Act ensures that patients have access to the full range of orthotic care from one orthotic/prosthetic practitioner rather than requiring patients to visit multiple providers in the case where the treating orthotist or prosthetist does not have a competitive bidding contract. This provision helps ensure efficient and convenient patient care and is similar to the treatment afforded to physicians and therapists under the competitive bidding program.

The companion bill, H.R. 1990 was introduced in the House on March 18, 2021. As in the Senate, the bill enjoys broad bipartisan support.

Alexandria, VA – This year the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA) is proud to be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the prestigious Howard R. Thranhardt Award. The Award, established in 1996 by a gift from J.E. Hanger in memory of Howard R. Thranhardt, CP, has become one of the most distinguished honors in the orthotics and prosthetics profession, annually recognizing the strength in clinical research.

A celebration will take place Friday, September 10, 2021 at Noon ET in conjunction with the 2021 AOPA National Assembly in Boston. It will include recognition of past winners, remarks from Ted Thranhardt, CPO(E) (son of Howard R. Thranhardt) and Vinit Asar, CEO of Hanger, as well as the 2021 award presentations. 

“(Howard Thranhardt), who perhaps more than anyone else in the U.S. contributed to the transition of prosthetics and orthotics from a craft to a profession…it is doubtful that without his immense contributions, the formal education program for prosthetics and orthotics begun in the U.S. in 1952-1953 and emulated in other parts of the world would have been successful,” said Ted Thranhardt, CPO(E).

The recipients of the 2021 Howard R. Thranhardt Award are Andreas Hahn, PhD, MSc and Chrysta Irolla, MS, MSPO, CPO.

“Having presented the best orthotic and prosthetic research, the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association is proud to name them as 2021 Thranhardt Award winners,” said Traci Dralle, CFm, President, American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association. “We look forward to honoring Chrysta Irolla and Dr. Andreas Hahn along with all the prior years’ recipients as we celebrate 25 years of Thranhardt Award excellence at this year’s National Assembly.”

Hahn will present The Effect of Microprocessor Controlled Exo Prosthetic Knees on Limited Community Ambulators: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Hahn holds the global corporate responsibility for Ottobock’s Clinical Research activities. Trained as a physicist at Oxford University, he has over 20 years professional experience in leading positions in the Medical Device Industry. He was also presented the Thranhardt Award in 2014.

Irolla will present Treatment Parameters for the UCSF Pectus Carinatum Orthosis: A Pilot Study. Irolla is the clinical manager and residency mentor at the University of California, San Francisco Orthotics and Prosthetics Center. She explored her interest in patient rehabilitation while obtaining her MS in Engineering Design from Northwestern University and subsequently decided to focus on patient care and get her MSPO from The Georgia Institute of Technology.

More information about the 2021 National Assembly is available at www.AOPAassembly.org.

Alexandria, VA – The American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association (AOPA), founded in 1917, represents more than 2,000 patient care facilities and businesses that manufacture, distribute, design, fabricate, fit, and supervise the use of orthoses (orthopedic braces) and prostheses (artificial limbs).

In April 2019, following an extensive investigation dubbed Operation Brace Yourself, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a series of criminal indictments that identified more than $1.2 billion in losses to the Medicare program through the fraudulent provision of orthoses. The fraudulent activity relied heavily on the use of lead generation and advertising strategies to arrange the shipment of one or more orthoses to Medicare beneficiaries without providing any evaluation or clinical care to ensure the effectiveness of the orthosis. Immediately prior to the DOJ Announcement, AOPA issued a public statement that strongly criticized delivery models that did not include the proper clinical care necessary to achieve a positive outcome for Medicare beneficiaries.

While Operation Brace Yourself was an effective deterrent to the extensive fraud and abuse that was identified through the investigation and subsequent prosecution of many of the responsible criminal elements, there have been recent government and media reports that indicate that the fraudulent provision of orthoses through lead generation and advertising schemes continues to pose significant risk to Medicare beneficiaries and the Medicare program. AOPA remains steadfast in its support of the elimination of all fraud and abuse in the delivery of orthoses and prostheses and has taken significant steps to facilitate legislative and regulatory pathways to support the efforts of the DOJ, Office of Inspector General, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and other agencies working diligently to prevent fraud and abuse within the Medicare program. AOPA strongly condemns the predatory, criminal behavior that has resulted in significant losses to the Medicare program through the fraudulent provision of orthoses to unsuspecting Medicare beneficiaries. The Medicare Orthotics and Prosthetics Patient-Centered Care Act, a bi-partisan bill supported by AOPA, was recently introduced in the house (H.R. 1990) and is expected to be introduced in the Senate shortly. This bill includes provisions that would prohibit the use of drop shipping to deliver orthoses that are not specifically designated as off-the-shelf orthoses. AOPA believes that passage of the Medicare O&P Patient Centered Care Act will support the continued efforts to curb fraud and abuse through the delivery of medically unnecessary orthoses to Medicare beneficiaries.

“Medicare recipients seeking orthotic or prosthetic assistance due to injury or loss of limb should be confident that there are strong protections in place to shield them from fraudulent suppliers. The Medicare Orthotics and Prosthetics Patient-Centered Care Act will revise Medicare payment rules to protect our seniors from orthotic or prosthetic suppliers who do not meet quality standards or prioritize quality patient care,” said Congressman G. K. Butterfield (NC01), co sponsor of H.R. 1990.