Re: Linkia and Mangled Care

Tony Barr

Description

Title:

Re: Linkia and Mangled Care

Creator:

Tony Barr

Date:

7/24/2006

Text:

(Linkia) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hanger orthopedic Group. They are
slowly adding to their already 60% market share of providing O&P nationwide
.

At December 31, 2005, Hanger Orthopedic Group operated 624 O and P
patient-care centers in 45 states and the District of Columbia.

It isn't only Cigna , and great West Health Care , Linkia has over 80
clients in most every state see <URL Redacted>
However youll need a password to get in to determine all their 'clients. .

Major health care insurers are national in scope.Linkia need only bid their
cost of services to each insurance company for national contracting
opportunities..

See
<URL Redacted>
te=20060724&ID=5888129

Through its other wholly owned subsidiary, Southern Prosthetics Supply,
Inc. (SPS), the Company also distributes branded and private label O and P
devices and components in the United States, all of which are manufactured
by third parties.

Hanger facilities receive deep discounts of components and supplies thru
SPS buying power for 624 plus facilities.

More recently Hanger have helped fund and lead ACA the efforts for parity
legislation in more than 10 states regardless of the providers
qualifications, providing prime opportunity to capture that market, as
parity laws are passed.

Soon patients will not have freedom of choice for providers if their
insurance providers will only provide O&P coverage exclusively thru Linkia (
Hanger) whom can provide more competitive O&P benefits for patients than
anyone..

The Academy and AOPA are supposed to represent all of their members
professional and business/trade interests including, independent providers.

Take your concerns and issues up with them about possible monopoly
violations or retire, sell or buy stock in Hanger !

Oh yeah, what's going on with the O&P Alliance initiative formed last
February to protect all providers interests with a united voice?

The Orthotic & Prosthetic Alliance, as the new coalition will be known,
marks a new era in both cooperation and coordination among ABC, the Academy,
AOPA, and NAAOP, the organizations said in a joint statement. Together the
four organizations represent a large segment of the orthotics and
prosthetics profession. The unified effort on legislative and regulatory
issues will lead to less duplication in activity among the four groups. All
have an interest in programs, policies, rules and regulations coming from
Congress, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and state
legislatures.

 See <URL Redacted>

With all due respect to the Hanger folks, I wish it wasn't so. I would like
to see fair completion and a open market with patients having the freedom of
choice of their provider.
Welcome to the world of HMO ( Health Mangled Organization) care and PPO
(Preferred Provider Organization)
Linkia is positioned as a managed health care organization.
Since 'your' profession still remains, for the most part unregulated, there
will never be price controls on the prosthetic and orthotic health care
products.

To better compete perhaps independent facilities and smaller chains, ought
to think about setting up their own SPS and Linkia ?

Anthony T. Barr
President
Barr Foundation
www.oandp.com/barr
www.ErtlReconstruction.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Orthotics and Prosthetics List [mailto:<Email Address Redacted>] On
Behalf Of Gerardo Hernandez
Sent: Monday, July 24, 2006 6:11 PM
To: <Email Address Redacted>
Subject: [OANDP-L] Linkia and Managed Care

Dear Members:

I simply wanted to put out there that Cigna has dropped contracts with all
of its providers (in South Florida at least) and is now using LINKIA as
their exclusive provider for O and P services.

Are any other areas of the country experiencing the same thing, or this is
phenomenon isolated to our area alone?

Also, are any privately owned practices affiliated with the LINKIA Network
of providers? Their website says to contact them about inclusion in their
network.

I look forward to hearing responses and dialogue on this issue. It is going
to be very interesting what other managed care companies will be doing in
the future and if they will follow.

Thanks for your input.

Hernan Luna, CPO, LPO

Allied Orthopedics, Inc.
1460 West 68 St. #101
Hialeah, FL 33014
(305) 828-3090 Phone
(305) 828-5090 Fax
www.alliedorthopedics.com

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To unsubscribe, send a message to: <Email Address Redacted> with
the words UNSUB OANDP-L in the body of the
message.

If you have a problem unsubscribing,or have other
questions, send e-mail to the moderator
Paul E. Prusakowski,CPO at <Email Address Redacted>

OANDP-L is a forum for the discussion of topics
related to Orthotics and Prosthetics.

Public commercial postings are forbidden. Responses to inquiries
should not be sent to the entire oandp-l list. Professional credentials
or affiliations should be used in all communications.

Citation

Tony Barr, “Re: Linkia and Mangled Care,” Digital Resource Foundation for Orthotics and Prosthetics, accessed November 2, 2024, https://library.drfop.org/items/show/226918.