Vermont Becomes Tenth State to Pass Prosthetic Parity Legislation
On Wednesday, April 23, Vermont became the tenth state to require health insurance companies to cover prosthetic care as they do all essential medical care. Governor James Douglas signed the bill into law in a signing ceremony at the State House.

The new law requires health insurance plans to provide coverage for prosthetic devices that match or exceed what Medicare would cover. Vermont joins California, Colorado, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon and Rhode Island, all of which have passed parity legislation.

“This bill will make certain that insured, working people can continue supporting their families,” said Paddy Rossbach, CEO of the Amputee Coalition of America (ACA). Almost 30 states are working with the ACA to pass parity legislation. 

Louisiana is one state where parity is currently under consideration. According to The Advocate, the proposed bill would require coverage up to $50,000 per limb per year.

A bill is also under consideration at the national level to include similar coverage under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), which would affect most large companies.

More information can be found at www.2theadvocate.com.

Diabetes Breakthrough in U.K.
Scientists from two different British universities have found a way to manipulate the type of cell that stem cells will turn into, according to TopNews. Left alone, most stem cells will turn into neurons, or simple nerve cells. The immediate benefit of the breakthrough is to provide scientists with pancreatic cells on which to test new diabetes drugs.

To be useful in treating various types of diseases, scientists need to be able to make the stem cells turn into various types of differentiated cells. Scientists in this trial were able to manipulate about 20 percent of the stem cells to turn into insulin-producing pancreatic cells. (Only about one percent would do so naturally.)

There are several types of cells in the pancreas that produce different enzymes and hormones. Diabetes is caused by the body not having sufficient insulin to process the sugars it consumes.

This trial was also the first time that scientists were able to separate the cells they needed from other types of cells produced. To do this, they used a process called “fluorescent-activated cell sorting,” in which a special dye highlights the cells that are wanted.

Because research done in the U.S. reveals that injecting a mixture of differentiated and undifferentiated stem cells into a patient increases the patient’s risk of cancer, the ability to extract the cells that are wanted is an important development. 

For more information, please see www.topnews.in.

ACA Holds Week of Action in Support of Parity Legislation
From Saturday, April 26 through Friday, May 2, the Amputee Coalition of America launched an unprecedented national event in support of HR 5615, a proposed national parity law. 

Activists organized post card drives and lobbied Congressional district offices. They held house parties and even bake sales to demonstrate the ludicrousness of amputees with insurance having to hold fundraisers to pay for needed prosthetic devices. 

Independent cost-benefit studies done in California, Colorado and Massachusetts at the request of the state legislatures show that parity bills would cost the average insured person no more than 25 cents per month in premiums. 

For more information, please visit www.amputee-coalition.org.

Liberia Hosts, Wins Amputee African Cup of Nations
The second annual Amputee African Cup of Nations soccer competition was held March 30-April 6, 2008. As reported by Allafrica, Ghana, the defending champion, did not attend. Liberia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Angola fought for the cup in the Antoinette Tubman Stadium.

The tournament was first held in Sierra Leone last year. Liberia finished second at the inaugural tournament.

Please see www.allafrica.com for more information.

BYU Students Develop Machine that Makes Orthoses Quickly
A group of engineering students at Brigham Young University (BYU) has invented a device to enable rapid manufacture of custom orthoses for shoes, according to the BYU News.

The device consists of a computer that scans the patient’s foot. The scan is translated into three dimensions using a rack of pins such as you might run your hand across at a science center. A toaster oven-type component molds the plastic to the pins; additional materials are added for comfort.

The machine was invented as part of a project that pairs BYU students with professional engineers. The team that devised this machine was one of 24 teams to present projects this year.

The team has not released details about how much the machines would cost, but they indicate that it could significantly lower the cost of foot orthoses for patients.

For more information, visit www.byunews.byu.edu.

VA Employee Credit Card Use Under Investigation
The Associated Press submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain spending records for the VA for 2007. Employee credit card charges totaled $2.6 billion for 3.1 million purchases. The overall picture painted by the report is one where money is being spent as it should be, reports Fox News. A VA spokesperson said the department was reviewing purchases as part of its routine oversight of employee spending.

However, there were some signs of purchases that may have been inappropriate or wasteful, including charges at the Sharper Image and at casinos in Las Vegas. A new VA medical center is under construction in Las Vegas, and an increasing number of veterans live there. Investigators were concerned by at least six occasions where charges totaling $26,198 each instance were made at a casino. Congressional leaders said the expenditures were troubling.

For more information, visit www.foxnews.com.

Correction:
There was an error in the February 2008 article “How to Find New Business in a Tight Market” regarding Naval Medical Center San Diego (NMCSD). The article inaccurately stated that Advanced Arm Dynamics was the sole source provider at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Naval Medical Center San Diego. In actuality, NMCSD uses blanket purchase agreements, which allow it the flexibility to use any company and to change company services if necessary to ensure the best patient care.

The O&P Almanac regrets the error.

People in the News

Preston N. Madler, BOCO, was elected chairman of the board of directors of BOC. Madler served 23 years with the U.S. Air Force and retired as a senior master sergeant in 2007. A disabled veteran, he served his whole USAF career in the field of orthotics. He succeeds Teresa Alpert-Liebman, C.Ped., BOCO, CO, BOC pedorthist, as president.

Kurt Collier has been named vice president of clinical services and business development for Freedom Innovations. He will direct Freedom Innovations’ clinical services initiatives, which include supervision of the company’s education program and new product trials and evaluations. Collier has worked in the prosthetics industry for over 15 years.

Jeff Shaw has joined Orthologix in Philadelphia as part of the firm’s clinical staff. He will lead the Advanced Dynamics in Prosthetics team, which focuses on research and emerging technologies.

Van L. Phillips, inventor of Ossur’s Flex-Foot, was one of 12 nominees for European Inventor of the Year 2008.  An amputee, Phillips developed the first carbon fiber J-shaped foot in 1982. Today, a version of that foot is the prosthesis of choice for the majority of the world’s amputee athletes.

Per Kvalsten has been promoted from purchasing manager to director of purchasing at SPS, to better reflect the wider range of responsibilities he has taken on with purchasing decisions. Kvalsten was purchasing manager for six years prior to this promotion.

Bob Parks has been promoted from warehouse supervisor to warehouse manager at the Paso Robles distribution center. He has been with SPS for eight years.

Marie Vanasse, a board-eligible prosthetist with SRT Prosthetics & Orthotics of Fort Wayne, Ind., has completed training to be an instructor for OPAF’s First Volley adaptive tennis clinic. Vanasse will cover First Volley clinics held in the Midwest, beginning with the June 1 clinic in Bloomfield Hills, Mich.

Karl Lindborg, CPO, has been appointed head of clinical advocacy for Touch Bionics. He will be working from California, strengthening Touch Bionics’ U.S. presence. Lindborg has more than a decade of experience as a clinician. He is also active with various political, technological and product development roles. Most recently, he was Chief of VA Northern California Health Care System’s Prosthetic and Orthotic Laboratory.

LeRoy Oddie, CP,  also joins Touch Bionics as a clinical prosthetist. Oddie will provide clinical and technical product support to customers and focus on development and presentation of internal clinical education programs.

Businesses in the News

Otto Bock HealthCare has signed a contract to provide repair services for the Paralympic Games being held in Beijing this summer. Otto Bock has worked on summer and winter Paralympics since the 1988 games held in Seoul, Korea.

The Amputee Coalition of America (ACA) and UpperEx National Outreach Coalition have announced that they will work together to benefit those with upper-limb loss. The organizations will work together to disseminate information and resources, further expand the ACA’s peer visitation program and maximize the resources of both organizations in serving the amputee community.

Ergoresearch Ltd., a Montreal-based orthotics maker, has cancelled a planned acquisition of OrthoConcept, a device maker. Under the deal, Ergoresearch was to have paid $2.7 million for OrthoConcept, also based in Quebec.

Stellar Prosthetics and Orthotics, based in Pasadena, Calif., has opened a new location. The new 8,000-square-foot space is a state-of-the-art, full-service prosthetic and orthotic care center.

OPAF has awarded Adventure Amputee Camp a grant of $587.97. This grant will cover the cost of one child attending the camp for one week, July 9-13, in Bryson City, N.C. The camp has been run on a volunteer basis since 1995 and is dedicated to providing a fun camp experience to children with limb loss.

OPAF has been awarded a grant of $3,000 from the United States Golf Association to continue their popular First Swing Adaptive Golf Clinic. The clinics offer adaptive golf instruction from qualified instructors to those with limb loss. Four clinics are scheduled this year.