IMPORTANT COMPETITIVE BIDDING INFORMATION FROM OPGA

IMPORTANT COMPETITIVE BIDDING INFORMATION FROM OPGA

Jim Andreassen

9/18/2002

Well, thankfully the U.S. Congress went on summer recess before competitive
bidding could become reality. But, the battle is far from over, and the
issue will re-surface when the Senate revisits this issue as they get back
to work in September.

Because we at the Orthotic & Prosthetic Group of America (OPGA) believe
strongly that a national competitive bidding program would be detrimental to
all of the independent O&P providers that we support, not to mention the
patients who've come to rely upon us as critical links in the health-care
continuum, we are making available informational tri-folds with a tear-off
postcard for your patients and employees to fill out and mail to their
congressional representatives. This is an opportunity for us to help these
representatives hear from their constituents that will be affected the most
by this bill...the patients.

We strongly encourage you to share these with your patients and employees,
ask them to fill out the tear-off postcard and mail it to their
Congressional representatives. You can find information regarding this
important issue and the addresses of your senators and representatives in
the Competitive Bidding Information section of www.opga.com. If you need a
password for the site, call Jackie Woodman, 1-800-642-6065, as soon as
possible.

Of all the issues that have affected our industry, competitive bidding is
the most threatening to date. Please let us help you contact your
congressional representatives with these tri-folds. Also encourage your
employees and patients to write personal letters to their congressperson and
senators (sample letters are available on our Web site).

If you would like to act in this war against competitive bidding, please
respond to this posting and I will email you an order form for the
tri-folds.

Thank you for your assistance and I look forward to your response.


Jim Andreassen
V.P., OPGA