Manufacturers who compete: more feedback

Manufacturers who compete: more feedback

Following are more responses to my post inquiring about companies who do and
don't support O&P facilities:
I encourage you to make your own decision as to which you do business with.
More responses:
Also, I have started to change my views on Florida's licensure. I went
through all
that license business 10 years ago here in Florida and so many were opposed,
it never went over. But this new license seems to be strong and there are
strong
penalties for violators. There is just such a spread in orthopedic
appliances. It
ranges from Halos to tennis elbow splints. The license is fine, but I have
never seen
specific wording as to what individuals can and cannot fit.
I have written to the Florida Hept. of Health to no avail. I'm seriously
considering
setting up a non-profit watchdog group to monitor license violations and
compliance.
   I have always felt that if licensure was a good thing, you guys in
California would have already done it. Jury is still out in Florida.

Just to weigh in to say I have seen exactly what Les Bauer recently
described: the Breg rep fitting a knee brace and selling it for about the
price I would have had to pay Breg for the brace.

    If his statement that Breg does, indeed, support the orthotic community
is true, perhaps Breg should investigate more thoroughly the actions and
ethics of their outlying representatives.
   The Breg distributor in Florida is marketing the HMO reimbursement sources
personally with the offer of a pricing structure which equals our cost for
the product from Breg, i.e. we pay $300.00 to Breg for a knee orthosis and
the local Breg representative charges the HMO $300.00. Further, the
physician's prescriptions are being changed from another manufacturer's
product to the Breg product. >>
   We also have had the same sitiuation happen with Breg. It won't be long
before all of the manufacturers get into a bidding war with the HMO and drive
the price down even further.

Just one quick comment on some of the responses to your questions. It seems
that people in Florida are somewhat frustrated with the fact that orthotic
items are being fit in M.D.'s offices, even though we now have licensure.
Here is some clarification. Yes, M.D.'s are exempt from our licensure law.
If the doctor wishes to provide the orthosis, then he may. However, if a
sales rep is coming into the doctor's office and providing the device and
billing for it, that is a different matter. The person billing for the
device is the one providing it and hence they need to have a license. This
has not come up as of yet in front of the board, but I feel that it may in
the future.
In my personal opinion, it does not matter the physical location where the
device is being fit. In other words, if the doctor is providing the
service and billing for it, fine, but if he is just allowing the sales rep
to use his office, then the sales rep would need a license.
Just thinking outloud.

I found the web-space that one of the writers referred to:
    <URL Redacted>
maybe you have already heard of these people.


Here is the updated list compiled from responses:


company providing sells to P&O exclusively
Ace Medical halos no
Air cast pneumatic splints no
AOA soft goods no
Bauerfeind soft goods no
Bledsoe leg no
Bremmer halos no
Breg knee orthoses no
Camp SWASH child's hip orthosis yes
Cascade Ortho. o&p supplies yes
Cascade DAFO child's afo no
Centec soft goods no
Century XXII knees yes
College Park prosthetic feet yes
Don Joy knee orthoses no
Dynasplint dynamic splints no
Empi dynamic splints no
Flex Foot prosthetic feet yes
Generation II knee orthoses no
Hope spinal ext.orthoses yes
Innovation Sports knee orthoses no
Jim Smith Sales o&p supplieis yes
Kingsley o&p supplies yes
Knitrite o&p supplies yes
Lennox Hill custom KOs no
Medical Designs L'Nard afos no
OrthoAmerica prefab. orthoses no
Otto Bock prosthetic components. yes
OTS orthotic joints yes
Townsend knee orthoses no
Tri Bar soft goods yes
Ultraflex dynamic splints yes