Are you willing to help? You could gain some great information...

Are you willing to help? You could gain some great information...

Bernie Veldman

2/3/2009

Hello List,

 

I am in the process of trying to obtain some information on the norms in
our field.although, we all know that there is nothing normal about our
field. That said, I would like to conduct a sort of survey to get a feel
for how the field as a whole is doing.

 

Paul Prusakowski CPO, List moderator, creator of OandP.com, OPIE dude and
resident Bamboo Expert, has graciously offered to assist with this in
creating a web-based survey that would allow respondents to complete the
survey anonymously. The information from the survey will be forwarded to me
for gathering, tabulation and analysis. Once finished, this information in
its raw form as well as the analyzed version will be returned to Paul and
distributed to all respondents who participated. (Email addresses will be
kept by Paul and not tied to any specific responses.)

 

I think that it would be a great opportunity for us to come together and
gain some knowledge from our colleagues in a non-competitive environment.
It will give us an idea of where we as practitioners and business owners
stand relative to other O&P providers nationally. I would greatly
appreciate any input that anyone has regarding this information. If this
works out well, we could consider addressing more focused topics with a new
survey on a quarterly or semi-annually basis. These could range from
practitioner compensation to non-compete contracts to insurance contracting
to collections. We could go clinical with it and discuss ideas on
evaluation process, fabrication or anything that you want to survey.

 

The questions for our initial survey are not so much technical in nature,
but go much more to the service/customer service arena. I have some
suggestions below for a starting point, but would like some suggestions on
additional, related questions to add to the survey.

 

Please feel free to respond directly to me with any additional suggestions.
Also, feel free to keep overtly sarcastic or rude responses to yourself.

 

 I will consider all suggestions that I receive, but only have room for so
many, so I will add the most requested questions.

Thanks in advance for your input and assistance with this project.

 

In about one week, Paul will be posting a link to the survey. Please
respond and fill out the survey if you would like to get a copy of the
compiled data.

 

 

Suggested questions:

 

1. What percentage of your pediatric orthotic referrals come from PTs?

2. What percentage of your pediatric orthotic referrals come from
pediatricians?

3. What percentage of your pediatric orthotic referrals come from
specialists?

4. What percentage of your adult orthotic referrals come from PTs?

5. What percentage of your adult orthotic referrals come from Family
Physicians?

6. What percentage of your adult orthotic referrals come from
Specialists?

7. What is your facility's average turn-around time from casting to
fitting for custom orthoses?

8. Does your facility require a prescription for an evaluation and
casting for custom orthoses?

9. When fitting custom AFOs or SMOs on pediatric patients, what
percentage of these need non growth-related adjustments requiring an
additional visit after the fitting?

10. Of these adjustments, what percentage require more than one additional
visit? (i.e. problematic patients)

11. When fitting custom AFOs or SMOs on adult patients, what percentage of
these need follow-up adjustments after the fitting?

12. Of these adjustments, what percentage require more than one additional
visit? (i.e. problematic patients)

13. Do you charge for adjustments?

14. If so, are there criteria that would differentiate a charged
adjustment vs. a no charge adjustment?

15. Do you charge for repairs?

16. If so, what method do you use to constitute a charge vs. no-charge
repair?

17. If the material or workmanship in an orthotic device fails, at what
point would you no longer consider it to be under warranty ? (i.e. when
would you charge to replace or repair)

18. What is the average number of patients that practitioners in your
office see in one week?

19. Assuming that a patient arrives on time, what is the average wait time
for a patient to be seen by a practitioner?

20. What percentage of your patients are seen offsite (i.e. PT clinics,
Hospitals, homes, etc.)

21. Do you offer home visits to your patients?

22. If so, what is the criteria?

23. Is there an additional charge for home visits?

24. If so, how is this charged?

 

Again, please offer any suggestions for further inquiry.

 

Thanks again.

 

 

Bernie Veldman

Bernie Veldman, C.O.

Certified Orthotist

<Email Address Redacted>