ABC Conversation
Jim DeWees
Description
Collection
Title:
ABC Conversation
Creator:
Jim DeWees
Date:
3/18/2004
Text:
After my last email that I posted here, I had decided that I was finished
and would not waste my time anymore writing emails. I received almost 100
emails from my last posting, all were very supportive and good replies
except 2. One of the replies ended up with a few more private emails and
ended up being very positive. He was offended by one of my comments, but
after a few emails, we both realize we want the same thing. The other was
just plain stupid.
That all changed yesterday after I had a lengthy conversation with Scott
Williamson at ABC. I called him to talk to him about 2 patients that I had
seen yesterday. One was at the office of a local doctor, the other was in
my office, sent here from another surgeon here in the area.
I will recap the first patient briefly. She is younger, sitting in a
wheelchair unable to walk with the her prosthesis, and there is no apparent
reason for that. She has the strength, desire, etc. But when I looked at
her prosthesis, it was a total embarrassment to this profession. Then she
showed us the bill for that leg. Wow! Someone deserves to be in jail over
this one. She had the leg made in a state where there is licensure (thank
goodness, she does have a hope of some justice from this deal). The bill
included: K0556, K0558 (A Silicone liner with lock, and a
congenital/atypical custom liner) also billed for a shuttle lock, and then
Suction socket, 2 L5668 (socket insert w/o lock). SHE RECEIVED ONE ALPHA
LINER. Nothing more. Then on to the foot, she was billed for the Flex Foot
code, and a shock reducing pylon L5988 code. She got a Springlite II foot.
I showed this to the office staff there. I brought the leg back to my
office to take photos of what she actually got, and will give her photos to
turn into medicare, the state license board, and also to ABC (the
practitioner is ABC certified). Then the other patient came to my office,
again a younger healthy male. He is also eager to walk again. Fortunately
he ran into one of my other patients last week who told him about my office,
where I was located, etc. He talked to his surgeon about me, and the doctor
sent him here. His leg is also a disaster. It is just a few weeks old, but
the entire distal tibia region has been ground through, and then more resin
and patches of fiberglass added to the outside of the socket and ground into
even more. This is his new definitive prosthesis. I am totally embarrassed
by this quality (or LACK of quality) that is being provided by my fellow
colleagues. There is absolutely NO excuse for such atrocious pathetic
workmanship. And again, this practitioner is also ABC certified. There are
several issues with his bill as well, which has been paid by medicaid. He
is filing an issue with Medicaid, and also took a copy of the ABC canons of
ethical conduct from my office. He will not let this drop. He cannot get
another prosthesis now for 5 years, according to the medicaid guidelines.
He cannot walk for 5 years, nice, huh?
I called Scott Williamson to inform him that there were going to be 2
complaints coming his way, and I just wanted to give him a heads up, and ask
him if these were situations that ABC would indeed look at, or are these
amputees wasting their time in writing these complaints. He said they would
look into it.
Then I asked what the latest was with the ABC/BOC stuff. He said that there
was nothing new going on. I told him I was still in the dark, as were all
of us ABC practitioners. He told me that I should have received a letter
from ABC explaining everything. I told him I got ONE letter, just saying
that the talks were off, and that there was an open invitation for BOC to
join us. That is all that I have received. All the information that I have
gotten is off this listserve, which is full of many ABC practitioners that
are very upset. There have only been a couple that I have seen that are
supportive. I have talked with my former instructors from school, and they
are extremely upset as well. All of my friends and associates that work in
this field are also very upset and frustrated.
Well, Scott had nothing to say, except that we are all being irrational and
he does not understand why we are upset. What ABC is doing is just for our
own good, and we can't understand that. I told him that all I would like is
to get some information from ABC about what is going on. If they care at
all about saving this organization, they need to tell us some things.
Silence is deadly right now. His response was that ABC cannot tell us
anything, they are using this as a leverage with BOC to get them back to the
table to talk again. I feel this is one big sick game of chicken.
I also asked him if he realized how upset many of the ABC practitioners
were, and that it is not just me that is upset. There are literally
hundreds of us that have joined BOC, and that should raise a little concern
with ABC. Their little strategy of taking all the BOC into our fold is
backfiring on them in a big way. I told him that I had joined BOC, and made
a thoughtful, responsible decision to do this. His response to me was, in a
very angry tone was, Did someone stick a vacuum to you head and suck out
your brains?. I was totally insulted. If this is how ABC leaders and
executives respond in conversations, and that is how they react, it is no
wonder the ABC/BOC negotiations failed.
I told him that no one had sucked any of my brains out, it just seems to me
(and many of us) that we have been sold out.
I could see this conversation was going no where with him. I told him that
I was still open to understanding what ABC is doing, that I was open to be
supportive of ABC, but they need to tell us what in the world is going on.
What is their new focus? What is their new policy? He said that after this
year is up, the window will be closed. But then I asked him about the
committee that is evaluating the possibility of changing the Unique
Qualifications section. He asked me where I heard that, and I told him is
was in the FAQ section of the website.
Anyway, for the record, nobody has sucked any of my brains out with a
vacuum. Maybe some of my brain cells have died from working with too much
resin, or too much Barge Cement. What an offensive comment to make. That
just made me lean a little farther towards the BOC.
And to clarify another comment from a BOC individual. She stated that an
ABC practitioner (that would be ME) suggested that BOC practitioners be
treated like a bastard child in this field. I did not suggest that we (ABC
practitioners) treat anyone like a bastard child. What I said, which was in
reference to BOC individuals be given the opportunity to take the ABC exam
to prove themselves as our competent colleagues, was that with BOC just
buying their credentials for $75 will likely result in them being treated
like a second class practitioner. I did not suggest or recommend that
anyone treat anyone else with disrespect. I have said over and over, I have
many good friends that are BOC and they could pass the ABC exam if they were
given the opportunity. There are many good BOC practitioners that are in
this field.
Another issue that just got me is the last email from Brian Moore (BOCO)
about us not having any respect from the medical community. Gee, go figure.
That might be HIS experience in his world. But that is NOT my experience
where I have worked. Maybe that is because I represent myself as an
intelligent person, knowledgeable, etc. Maybe that is because the doctors
have learned from me that I did attend a post-graduate course in
Prosthetics, and also had to fulfill a residency in prosthetics and pass a
comprehensive exam process. That is what I have told many doctors that I
have worked with. They like to know that. Their previous experience with
the local prosthetists and orthotists has not been good, especially here.
The other company that has a presence here sends a mortician here to see
patients for braces. A Mortician, with an associates degree in how to bury
dead people. What is his training in orthotics? NOTHING. Do we think that
the doctors don't know these things? They most certainly do know these
things.
The only way we will get that respect is through a process. First off, we
need to require an education, hence the term profession. There is no
other health care field where no education is required. NONE! An education
is a good starting point, and only a STARTING POINT. Then the residency is
the next step. Learning through a structured, supervised setting. That is
the second point.
Another issue, is just basic communication skills. I get many laughs when I
read many of the emails on this listserve. I am not always grammatically
correct, or am not the best writer in the world. I don't always spell words
correctly, but thank goodness for spell check. I am sure there are a few
words and sentences that are not correct in my emails either, but there are
many emails that are terrible with the spelling, there, their, they're, used
in the wrong way, etc. etc. If we are writing like this to the doctors for
CMNs or prescriptions, etc, it is no wonder they laugh at us. Another
person pointed out that there is little to no research done by any of us in
this field, that is all being done by PTs and MDs. Well, with the way many
of us write on this list serve, I am glad we don't produce papers or
research literature, we would be sure to be laughed at then.
So, in order to get respect, we have to earn it. Just because I have a CP
behind my name, that does not get any respect. But when I help amputees
walk again, and fit them will good quality limbs, not ones that are ground
out here and there, that gets me some respect. When the patients go back to
their doctors for follow ups, and they give a good report of a good
experience, that gets me a little more respect. When I get invitations to a
party or social event of the local medical community, I go to that dressed
appropriately, act appropriately, and make a good social appearance. When
we can do that, all of us, then we will be accepted by the medical
community. But when we have people representing this profession that don't
give a good example of what we do, or who we are, that is when the respect
is totally lost.
The 2 patients that I saw yesterday are perfect examples of a lot of damage
done to this field. As I said, there is absolutely NO excuse for having any
person walking (or NOT walking) around with a prosthesis that is so
terrible. I wish I could post photos of these legs out here so the public
could see what our colleagues are doing in this field.
I could say many more things, but I will stop here. I am sure there are
many of you saying, Thank goodness, he is shutting up.
I hope I did not offend anyone with this, but I am sure that I have. I
appologize in advance for that.
Until next time....
Jim DeWees, CP (soon to be a proud BOCP).
_________________________________________________________________
Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee�
Security. <URL Redacted>
and would not waste my time anymore writing emails. I received almost 100
emails from my last posting, all were very supportive and good replies
except 2. One of the replies ended up with a few more private emails and
ended up being very positive. He was offended by one of my comments, but
after a few emails, we both realize we want the same thing. The other was
just plain stupid.
That all changed yesterday after I had a lengthy conversation with Scott
Williamson at ABC. I called him to talk to him about 2 patients that I had
seen yesterday. One was at the office of a local doctor, the other was in
my office, sent here from another surgeon here in the area.
I will recap the first patient briefly. She is younger, sitting in a
wheelchair unable to walk with the her prosthesis, and there is no apparent
reason for that. She has the strength, desire, etc. But when I looked at
her prosthesis, it was a total embarrassment to this profession. Then she
showed us the bill for that leg. Wow! Someone deserves to be in jail over
this one. She had the leg made in a state where there is licensure (thank
goodness, she does have a hope of some justice from this deal). The bill
included: K0556, K0558 (A Silicone liner with lock, and a
congenital/atypical custom liner) also billed for a shuttle lock, and then
Suction socket, 2 L5668 (socket insert w/o lock). SHE RECEIVED ONE ALPHA
LINER. Nothing more. Then on to the foot, she was billed for the Flex Foot
code, and a shock reducing pylon L5988 code. She got a Springlite II foot.
I showed this to the office staff there. I brought the leg back to my
office to take photos of what she actually got, and will give her photos to
turn into medicare, the state license board, and also to ABC (the
practitioner is ABC certified). Then the other patient came to my office,
again a younger healthy male. He is also eager to walk again. Fortunately
he ran into one of my other patients last week who told him about my office,
where I was located, etc. He talked to his surgeon about me, and the doctor
sent him here. His leg is also a disaster. It is just a few weeks old, but
the entire distal tibia region has been ground through, and then more resin
and patches of fiberglass added to the outside of the socket and ground into
even more. This is his new definitive prosthesis. I am totally embarrassed
by this quality (or LACK of quality) that is being provided by my fellow
colleagues. There is absolutely NO excuse for such atrocious pathetic
workmanship. And again, this practitioner is also ABC certified. There are
several issues with his bill as well, which has been paid by medicaid. He
is filing an issue with Medicaid, and also took a copy of the ABC canons of
ethical conduct from my office. He will not let this drop. He cannot get
another prosthesis now for 5 years, according to the medicaid guidelines.
He cannot walk for 5 years, nice, huh?
I called Scott Williamson to inform him that there were going to be 2
complaints coming his way, and I just wanted to give him a heads up, and ask
him if these were situations that ABC would indeed look at, or are these
amputees wasting their time in writing these complaints. He said they would
look into it.
Then I asked what the latest was with the ABC/BOC stuff. He said that there
was nothing new going on. I told him I was still in the dark, as were all
of us ABC practitioners. He told me that I should have received a letter
from ABC explaining everything. I told him I got ONE letter, just saying
that the talks were off, and that there was an open invitation for BOC to
join us. That is all that I have received. All the information that I have
gotten is off this listserve, which is full of many ABC practitioners that
are very upset. There have only been a couple that I have seen that are
supportive. I have talked with my former instructors from school, and they
are extremely upset as well. All of my friends and associates that work in
this field are also very upset and frustrated.
Well, Scott had nothing to say, except that we are all being irrational and
he does not understand why we are upset. What ABC is doing is just for our
own good, and we can't understand that. I told him that all I would like is
to get some information from ABC about what is going on. If they care at
all about saving this organization, they need to tell us some things.
Silence is deadly right now. His response was that ABC cannot tell us
anything, they are using this as a leverage with BOC to get them back to the
table to talk again. I feel this is one big sick game of chicken.
I also asked him if he realized how upset many of the ABC practitioners
were, and that it is not just me that is upset. There are literally
hundreds of us that have joined BOC, and that should raise a little concern
with ABC. Their little strategy of taking all the BOC into our fold is
backfiring on them in a big way. I told him that I had joined BOC, and made
a thoughtful, responsible decision to do this. His response to me was, in a
very angry tone was, Did someone stick a vacuum to you head and suck out
your brains?. I was totally insulted. If this is how ABC leaders and
executives respond in conversations, and that is how they react, it is no
wonder the ABC/BOC negotiations failed.
I told him that no one had sucked any of my brains out, it just seems to me
(and many of us) that we have been sold out.
I could see this conversation was going no where with him. I told him that
I was still open to understanding what ABC is doing, that I was open to be
supportive of ABC, but they need to tell us what in the world is going on.
What is their new focus? What is their new policy? He said that after this
year is up, the window will be closed. But then I asked him about the
committee that is evaluating the possibility of changing the Unique
Qualifications section. He asked me where I heard that, and I told him is
was in the FAQ section of the website.
Anyway, for the record, nobody has sucked any of my brains out with a
vacuum. Maybe some of my brain cells have died from working with too much
resin, or too much Barge Cement. What an offensive comment to make. That
just made me lean a little farther towards the BOC.
And to clarify another comment from a BOC individual. She stated that an
ABC practitioner (that would be ME) suggested that BOC practitioners be
treated like a bastard child in this field. I did not suggest that we (ABC
practitioners) treat anyone like a bastard child. What I said, which was in
reference to BOC individuals be given the opportunity to take the ABC exam
to prove themselves as our competent colleagues, was that with BOC just
buying their credentials for $75 will likely result in them being treated
like a second class practitioner. I did not suggest or recommend that
anyone treat anyone else with disrespect. I have said over and over, I have
many good friends that are BOC and they could pass the ABC exam if they were
given the opportunity. There are many good BOC practitioners that are in
this field.
Another issue that just got me is the last email from Brian Moore (BOCO)
about us not having any respect from the medical community. Gee, go figure.
That might be HIS experience in his world. But that is NOT my experience
where I have worked. Maybe that is because I represent myself as an
intelligent person, knowledgeable, etc. Maybe that is because the doctors
have learned from me that I did attend a post-graduate course in
Prosthetics, and also had to fulfill a residency in prosthetics and pass a
comprehensive exam process. That is what I have told many doctors that I
have worked with. They like to know that. Their previous experience with
the local prosthetists and orthotists has not been good, especially here.
The other company that has a presence here sends a mortician here to see
patients for braces. A Mortician, with an associates degree in how to bury
dead people. What is his training in orthotics? NOTHING. Do we think that
the doctors don't know these things? They most certainly do know these
things.
The only way we will get that respect is through a process. First off, we
need to require an education, hence the term profession. There is no
other health care field where no education is required. NONE! An education
is a good starting point, and only a STARTING POINT. Then the residency is
the next step. Learning through a structured, supervised setting. That is
the second point.
Another issue, is just basic communication skills. I get many laughs when I
read many of the emails on this listserve. I am not always grammatically
correct, or am not the best writer in the world. I don't always spell words
correctly, but thank goodness for spell check. I am sure there are a few
words and sentences that are not correct in my emails either, but there are
many emails that are terrible with the spelling, there, their, they're, used
in the wrong way, etc. etc. If we are writing like this to the doctors for
CMNs or prescriptions, etc, it is no wonder they laugh at us. Another
person pointed out that there is little to no research done by any of us in
this field, that is all being done by PTs and MDs. Well, with the way many
of us write on this list serve, I am glad we don't produce papers or
research literature, we would be sure to be laughed at then.
So, in order to get respect, we have to earn it. Just because I have a CP
behind my name, that does not get any respect. But when I help amputees
walk again, and fit them will good quality limbs, not ones that are ground
out here and there, that gets me some respect. When the patients go back to
their doctors for follow ups, and they give a good report of a good
experience, that gets me a little more respect. When I get invitations to a
party or social event of the local medical community, I go to that dressed
appropriately, act appropriately, and make a good social appearance. When
we can do that, all of us, then we will be accepted by the medical
community. But when we have people representing this profession that don't
give a good example of what we do, or who we are, that is when the respect
is totally lost.
The 2 patients that I saw yesterday are perfect examples of a lot of damage
done to this field. As I said, there is absolutely NO excuse for having any
person walking (or NOT walking) around with a prosthesis that is so
terrible. I wish I could post photos of these legs out here so the public
could see what our colleagues are doing in this field.
I could say many more things, but I will stop here. I am sure there are
many of you saying, Thank goodness, he is shutting up.
I hope I did not offend anyone with this, but I am sure that I have. I
appologize in advance for that.
Until next time....
Jim DeWees, CP (soon to be a proud BOCP).
_________________________________________________________________
Is your PC infected? Get a FREE online computer virus scan from McAfee�
Security. <URL Redacted>
Citation
Jim DeWees, “ABC Conversation,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 25, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/222547.
