Re: usual suspects...
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Collection
Title:
Re: usual suspects...
Text:
Mr. Foster;
I am amazed that for once and on some level, I agree with you!
You are indeed uneducated! Actually, you are idealistic, uninformed and
uneducated.
You have once more engaged your mouth without having your brain in gear!
Your accusation that “O&P shops are ripping off the consumer” is based on
your own arrogant ignorance. In my 30 plus years in this profession (the last 15
as a facility owner), I can with a clear conscience state that most all the
people I have met in the field are caring, committed individuals who put
patient needs first and profit second.
Your desire to see O&P practitioners standing in the soup kitchen lines would
not do much for the physically challenged that we serve!
When you go to get your daily $5.00 lunch, have you ever considered that the
burger joint you patronize probably paid less than a dollar for the actual
food they serve you? Actually, most businesses have what would be considered by
the uneducated to be “large” markups. What you are ignoring is all the
associated costs involved with running a facility. If the same “burger standard”
were applied to O&P, we would be charging some $4000.00 for a custom knee
orthosis. And that would be only if we were paid at time of consumption, and in full.
In reality, we often receive just over $1000.00 for the job, and that is
after fighting with a MCO for months trying top be paid at all! Included in that
reimbursement must be the expenses associated with provision of the service.
They include, but are not limited to; the hard cost from the manufacturer, the
orthotists salary and benefits package, the technical staff, the billing staff,
the receptionist, the office manager, the facility manager, the janitor,
insurance, legal fees, association fees, licensure costs, compliance costs,
machinery, furnishings, mortgage or rent, building maintenance, utilities,
computers, telephone system, fax and copy machines, office supplies and so on. These
things do not fall from a benevolent sky, but are purchased and maintained from
the markups on every service we provide.
Your problem is that the only place you ever sign a check is on the back.
Those of who sign the checks on the front have a little different perspective.
I think you have chosen the wrong profession. Why don’t you do our profession
a real service and become a Buddhist monk. Preferably choosing an order that
embraces silence.
Ron Kidd, LPO, CPO
American Orthopedics
Columbus, Ohio
I am amazed that for once and on some level, I agree with you!
You are indeed uneducated! Actually, you are idealistic, uninformed and
uneducated.
You have once more engaged your mouth without having your brain in gear!
Your accusation that “O&P shops are ripping off the consumer” is based on
your own arrogant ignorance. In my 30 plus years in this profession (the last 15
as a facility owner), I can with a clear conscience state that most all the
people I have met in the field are caring, committed individuals who put
patient needs first and profit second.
Your desire to see O&P practitioners standing in the soup kitchen lines would
not do much for the physically challenged that we serve!
When you go to get your daily $5.00 lunch, have you ever considered that the
burger joint you patronize probably paid less than a dollar for the actual
food they serve you? Actually, most businesses have what would be considered by
the uneducated to be “large” markups. What you are ignoring is all the
associated costs involved with running a facility. If the same “burger standard”
were applied to O&P, we would be charging some $4000.00 for a custom knee
orthosis. And that would be only if we were paid at time of consumption, and in full.
In reality, we often receive just over $1000.00 for the job, and that is
after fighting with a MCO for months trying top be paid at all! Included in that
reimbursement must be the expenses associated with provision of the service.
They include, but are not limited to; the hard cost from the manufacturer, the
orthotists salary and benefits package, the technical staff, the billing staff,
the receptionist, the office manager, the facility manager, the janitor,
insurance, legal fees, association fees, licensure costs, compliance costs,
machinery, furnishings, mortgage or rent, building maintenance, utilities,
computers, telephone system, fax and copy machines, office supplies and so on. These
things do not fall from a benevolent sky, but are purchased and maintained from
the markups on every service we provide.
Your problem is that the only place you ever sign a check is on the back.
Those of who sign the checks on the front have a little different perspective.
I think you have chosen the wrong profession. Why don’t you do our profession
a real service and become a Buddhist monk. Preferably choosing an order that
embraces silence.
Ron Kidd, LPO, CPO
American Orthopedics
Columbus, Ohio
Citation
“Re: usual suspects...,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 2, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/221844.
