US Politics-ABC Registry

Description

Title:

US Politics-ABC Registry

Text:

To our credentialed practitioners and accredited facilities:

Several people have posted messages expressing concern for the sponsorship
advertising in the new 1999 Registry and Reference Guide.

The ABC executive committee agrees that the ABC should carefully avoid any
inferences of endorsing products. However, certain realities have required
that we at least offer sponsor space in the Registry to help offset a
publication that costs more than $50,000 (excluding staff salaries and
related costs to prepare the publication) to produce and is distributed free
of charge to all certified practitioners and accredited facilities.
Furthermore, The Registry serves as a major marketing tool in that we also
make it available to third party payors, managed care companies, case
managers and consumer groups such as the Amputee Coalition of America, the
Barr Foundation and United Amputee Services Association. Thus, we are
committed to producing the best Registry possible.

Yet in order to minimize perceptions of product endorsement, these sponsor
placements are governed by several rules:

· Unlike other publications, only the dividing tabs and inside front\back
covers are used for these placements.

· Suppliers and manufacturers are invited, on a first-come-first-served
basis. No preferences are extended to any one supplier or manufacturer.

· ABC certified practitioners and/or facilities may not make placements since
this could infer that the ABC endorses a specific provider.

· Although it is a bit difficult to separate a product from a supplier or
manufacturer, the placements are intended to emphasize the company and not
the product. Again this avoids any explicit or implicit ABC endorsement of
a product.

Finally, with respect to costs, the decision to offer sponsor placements in
the Registry was also based on the need to help defray these costs and avoid
having to increase certification and accreditation fees. In so doing, we
believe that a reasonable placement program has been created that helps make
publication of the Registry more cost-effective without creating an ABC
endorsement conflict.

Sincerely,

William D. Beiswenger, CPO, FAAOP
President
ABC

Citation

“US Politics-ABC Registry,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 5, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/211563.