Ossur Flex Foot Scam

Ossur Flex Foot Scam

James Addams

6/10/2003

This whole Ossur Affiliated program is nothing but a PR and Marketing Scam
from Ossur. To join you have to pay a marketing fee and although they claim
on the website that they have only the highest standards, the only standard
is that you have to be certified and pay the fee and rumor has it that the
OSSUR Sales reps get a commission for every facility that they sign up to
become a member.

I would like to drawn attention to your legal double talk in the e-mail
message from OSSUR to the list serve. Quote We have spent considerable
time and effort ensuring our mailing list is within the letter of HIPAA
regulations and offer those on our mailing list the opportunity to opt-out
to make certain we are within the spirit of the regulations

Ossur makes sure to state that they are within the letter of the law and
the spirit of the regulations, which is another way of saying Ossur Flex
Foot has found every loophole they can to use the valuable patient
information and names we have provided you over the past 20 years and they
are going use this info against us.

All those patients we turned onto Flex Foot and Ossur, all those wonderful
posters and magazines we gave OUR patients, all those wonderful Flex Foot
programs we encouraged OUR patients to attend.

Since we gave our patinets the magazines and posters and we invited them to
attended the Flex Foot events and our patients signed a registration card or
called Ossur from the information we gave our patients, Ossur now has the
info and it is outside HIPPA regulations because our patients contacted
Ossur Flex Foot direclty, on our advice, and now Ossur Flex Foot is the
competition, unless we pay the fee/ransom.

This Ossur Affliated Facility list is an insult to the entire industry, to
practitioners, patients and our referrals. Over 50% of the facilities
listed on the site that are not accredited with the ABC and some that have
only BOC practitioners on staff. Where are the high standards Ossur? This
whole program is nothing but smoke and mirrors. If you are not on the list
it is because you did not pay the fee, and so according to Ossur you do not
meet the new high standards of care

According to the web site it states Introducing the first North American
O&P network devoted entirely to obsessive standards of care: Well-trained
Prosthetists, Extensive product choice, Thorough needs analysis, Efficient
process� So much for AOPA, Academy and OPGA. Why doesn�t OSSUR state
anywhere that there is a fee to join this special group, and the only real
requirement to join the group is by paying a fee?

Be advised, if you are not a member of the OSSUR club because you did not
pay the special fee (make that ransom) to join the special association,
OSSUR IS NOW YOUR COMPETATOR.

Ossur is now officially working with your competition to pull your patients
away from you and send them across the street. OSSUR is publicly making the
claim that only OSSUR associates are quality facilities, if you are not on
the list and have not paid the ransom, you are obviously not a qualify care
practice.

OSSUR is sending letters to your referrals and telling your referrals that
they should now send their patients to an OSSUR Affiliate location (your
competitor), because you do not provide as good a quality care as the OSSUR
Affiliate.

I called Ossur and told them I was an amputee and I had always worn a Flex
Foot and an Ossur Liner and for the past 10 years I always got my prosthesis
from the same place, but my Prosthetists was not listed on the new Ossur
Affiliated Facility, guess what, the person on the phone told that it was a
good idea to shop around and that I should consider contacting a few names
on the Ossur list to compare before getting a new limb. So much for
supporting the facility that introduced the patient to Flex Foot and Ossur.

Funny how OSSUR has turned it�s back on all the hundreds of practices that
supported them through the years. It is time to make a decision, do you
want to purchase your products from the competition because Ossur Flex Foot
is not offically the competition?

So Michelle Hamilton, explain to everyone how you are not competing with
your customers. How do I protect my business, my patients and my referrals
from Ossur taking them away and giving it to my competitors?

Shame on you Ossur Flex Foot, you have turned your back on the people who
made your company. We provided access to OUR patients and enabled you to
build a big mailing list, and now you hold us ransom, shame on you Ossur
Flex Foot, and shame on us for trusting you.


From: Michelle Hamilton < <Email Address Redacted> > Save Address | Headers
To: < <Email Address Redacted> >
CC:
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2003 15:01:52 -0700
Subject: [OANDP-L] Ossur Affiliated Facilities Program
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In response to your questions and comments, we encourage you to learn the
facts about the Ossur Affiliated Facilities program, which was announced
earlier this year. It has been featured on our website for several months,
was introduced at the AAOP meeting in San Diego in March with a dedicated
booth, press releases have been sent to all major trade and consumer
journals and advertisements have been running since April. OandP.com ran
the press release on April 28th.

The program gives O&P businesses the opportunity to use the power of
professional marketing without incurring the prohibitive marketing costs.
It is Ossur's conviction that promoting a program such as this is
beneficial for the amputee, advantageous for referring professionals, and
good for the O&P industry as a whole. In-depth articles detailing the Ossur
Affiliated Program are scheduled to be published in upcoming issues of O&P
Business News and the O&P Edge.

Furthermore, although Ossur is not a covered entity under HIPAA, we take
patient privacy requirements very seriously. We have spent considerable
time and effort ensuring our mailing list is within the letter of HIPAA
regulations and offer those on our mailing list the opportunity to opt-out
to make certain we are within the spirit of the regulations.

Michelle Hamilton
Director, Marketing and Public Relations
Ossur North America

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