Re: Information and Help
Tony Barr
Description
Collection
Title:
Re: Information and Help
Creator:
Tony Barr
Date:
10/30/2001
Text:
Meredith, it is unfortunate that your friend and you are shouldering all these problems in uncharted territory.
Territory that many of us have unfortunately traveled in a unregulated health care service.
I am at a loss why Medicaid would honor the provider's request for funding when the wrong side was inidcated and subsequently fabricated?How could that be the fault of the patient?
There must be more to the story.
You also indicated to me in a private e-mail that the provider was ABC certified .However, I do not see anyone at the name of the company as a ABC certified prosthetist in the 2001 ABC registery.There is a certified orthotist at that facility but prosthetics is a much differnet and specialized designation with its own specialized educational requirements. If the practitioner is unlicensed or uncertified and practising as a prosthetist he has a problem.There is a newly formed licensure board which you should contact for you to make compliant if he doent back off..Be sure to get the certified practitioner's name,certification number,license number and the facility name to them..Bet way to proceed is to cancell your contractual agreement with this provider(if you have the basis) and get another practitioner whom is qualified .
I still believe that your search for your friend will be better if you, first locate a female B/K amputee of Anneliese approx age of 50 years old and with a prosthesis to visit her.She and you will find new hope.
As you know, I attempted to locate you someone thru a solicitation on the Amp-L listserve and thru ACA last August.
ACA whom allegedly offers coordination of peer visitation nationwide, was unable to fulfill your request.They do not provide visits but telephone calls!! Anneliese needs to see a woman of her age with a functioning prosthesis to refresh her determination and to give you a rest!
There has yet to be a successful response to this request or my request for ACA support of various advocacy issues effecting proper qualifications and coverage for amputees in this country.I am as frustrated as you and many other amputees are with ACA's lack of real advocacy issues that will decide the fate of amputees nationwide.
As an amputee an amputee advocate, I am sorry that you and your friend has had to travel this well worn path of uncertainty and frustration.
Perhaps a amputee that lives in or near Akron Ohio ,reading this on this listserve, will respond now privately to me so that we may make arrangements for her to visit Anneliese and calm her uncertainty of the future.We will pay for the travel costs involved.
Tony Barr
Barr Foundation
<Email Address Redacted>
----- Original Message -----
From: Meredith A. Kalapich < <Email Address Redacted> >
To: Amputee Information Network < <Email Address Redacted> >
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 12:00 PM
Subject: Information and Help
> Good morning,
>
> I am writing on behalf of a very close friend who underwent a
> below-the-knee left leg amputation
> in May of this year. She has been trying to get a prosthetic leg since
> July. The first company
> she went to offered her a leg that was significantly larger than her
> remaining right leg, too short
> and held in place with a neoprene grimmer - to which she is allergic.
> She won't accept this
> device.
>
> Last week she went for the fitting of her leg only to discover that the
> technician made a right leg
> and ordered a right foot. Not only was it the wrong foot, it was too
> big.
>
> My friend has contacted Medicaid to stop payment, but they are siding
> with the technician that
> it's Anneliese's fault since she won't accept the leg. I, personally,
> am having difficulty
> understanding how a technician could make such a blatant mistake and
> then simply blame the
> company that sent the foot. By the way, Anneliese happened to call the
> company that provided
> the foot because initially the technician was complaining that it was
> hard to get a small (size 5)
> woman's foot and Anneliese began making phone calls from information in
> the In Motion
> magazine she receives. The foot manufacturer checked the order and it
> was placed for a right
> foot.
>
> Anneliese thought she had asked all the right questions: are you ABC
> certified, how do you
> know what size foot to order without measuring and explaining that she
> personally is a
> perfectionist in her work (she was a seamstress) and expects things to
> be right. Now she is
> without a prosthetic leg, being told what do you expect, you're on
> Medicaid (until the
> amputation she provided for herself but did not have financial resources
> for medical coverage)
> and has little hope of being able to do anything without help.
>
> I suppose I just needed to vent some of my frustration, but I am so
> wondering if there is
> someone who can advocate on her behalf, direct her to a competent and
> caring technician and
> help to the tangle of Medicaid red-tape? Any suggestions will be most
> greatly appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Meredith A. Kalapich on behalf of Anneliese Smith
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Territory that many of us have unfortunately traveled in a unregulated health care service.
I am at a loss why Medicaid would honor the provider's request for funding when the wrong side was inidcated and subsequently fabricated?How could that be the fault of the patient?
There must be more to the story.
You also indicated to me in a private e-mail that the provider was ABC certified .However, I do not see anyone at the name of the company as a ABC certified prosthetist in the 2001 ABC registery.There is a certified orthotist at that facility but prosthetics is a much differnet and specialized designation with its own specialized educational requirements. If the practitioner is unlicensed or uncertified and practising as a prosthetist he has a problem.There is a newly formed licensure board which you should contact for you to make compliant if he doent back off..Be sure to get the certified practitioner's name,certification number,license number and the facility name to them..Bet way to proceed is to cancell your contractual agreement with this provider(if you have the basis) and get another practitioner whom is qualified .
I still believe that your search for your friend will be better if you, first locate a female B/K amputee of Anneliese approx age of 50 years old and with a prosthesis to visit her.She and you will find new hope.
As you know, I attempted to locate you someone thru a solicitation on the Amp-L listserve and thru ACA last August.
ACA whom allegedly offers coordination of peer visitation nationwide, was unable to fulfill your request.They do not provide visits but telephone calls!! Anneliese needs to see a woman of her age with a functioning prosthesis to refresh her determination and to give you a rest!
There has yet to be a successful response to this request or my request for ACA support of various advocacy issues effecting proper qualifications and coverage for amputees in this country.I am as frustrated as you and many other amputees are with ACA's lack of real advocacy issues that will decide the fate of amputees nationwide.
As an amputee an amputee advocate, I am sorry that you and your friend has had to travel this well worn path of uncertainty and frustration.
Perhaps a amputee that lives in or near Akron Ohio ,reading this on this listserve, will respond now privately to me so that we may make arrangements for her to visit Anneliese and calm her uncertainty of the future.We will pay for the travel costs involved.
Tony Barr
Barr Foundation
<Email Address Redacted>
----- Original Message -----
From: Meredith A. Kalapich < <Email Address Redacted> >
To: Amputee Information Network < <Email Address Redacted> >
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2001 12:00 PM
Subject: Information and Help
> Good morning,
>
> I am writing on behalf of a very close friend who underwent a
> below-the-knee left leg amputation
> in May of this year. She has been trying to get a prosthetic leg since
> July. The first company
> she went to offered her a leg that was significantly larger than her
> remaining right leg, too short
> and held in place with a neoprene grimmer - to which she is allergic.
> She won't accept this
> device.
>
> Last week she went for the fitting of her leg only to discover that the
> technician made a right leg
> and ordered a right foot. Not only was it the wrong foot, it was too
> big.
>
> My friend has contacted Medicaid to stop payment, but they are siding
> with the technician that
> it's Anneliese's fault since she won't accept the leg. I, personally,
> am having difficulty
> understanding how a technician could make such a blatant mistake and
> then simply blame the
> company that sent the foot. By the way, Anneliese happened to call the
> company that provided
> the foot because initially the technician was complaining that it was
> hard to get a small (size 5)
> woman's foot and Anneliese began making phone calls from information in
> the In Motion
> magazine she receives. The foot manufacturer checked the order and it
> was placed for a right
> foot.
>
> Anneliese thought she had asked all the right questions: are you ABC
> certified, how do you
> know what size foot to order without measuring and explaining that she
> personally is a
> perfectionist in her work (she was a seamstress) and expects things to
> be right. Now she is
> without a prosthetic leg, being told what do you expect, you're on
> Medicaid (until the
> amputation she provided for herself but did not have financial resources
> for medical coverage)
> and has little hope of being able to do anything without help.
>
> I suppose I just needed to vent some of my frustration, but I am so
> wondering if there is
> someone who can advocate on her behalf, direct her to a competent and
> caring technician and
> help to the tangle of Medicaid red-tape? Any suggestions will be most
> greatly appreciated.
>
> Thank you,
>
> Meredith A. Kalapich on behalf of Anneliese Smith
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Citation
Tony Barr, “Re: Information and Help,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 5, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/217524.
