AOPA Fact Sheet

About AOPA:
Founded in 1917, the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association (AOPA), based in Alexandria, Virginia, is the largest non-profit organization dedicated to helping orthotic and prosthetic (O&P) businesses and professionals navigate the multitude of issues surrounding the delivery of quality patient care. With nearly 2,000 members, AOPA has a nationwide presence within the O&P community. AOPA serves the O&P profession with consistent representation on Capitol Hill, premier publications, high-quality coding products, expert reimbursement guidance and a full slate of education programming on O&P-specific issues. 2009 marks AOPA’s 92nd anniversary of serving as the voice for O&P.

Purpose:
AOPA provides members with resources that ensure high-quality patient care, educate public policy makers, influencers and third party payers about the critical role played by orthotic and prosthetic (O&P) professionals in delivering care, and protect the profession from threats. O&P Professionals serve prosthetic (artificial limbs), orthotic (orthopedic braces) and pedorthic (shoes and shoe inserts) patients.

Key Patient Facts

• In 2007, Medicare approved payment for nearly 2 million orthotic codes that accounted for more than $458 million* in Medicare expenditures.**
• The orthotic code with the highest Medicare expenditure in 2007 was a jointed rigid positional knee orthosis. Medicare approved payment for 55,000 braces at a value of over $30 million.
• In 2007, Medicare allowed nearly 2.4 million prosthetic codes for $676 million* in Medicare expenditures.**
  
  
• The prosthetic code with the highest Medicare expenditure in 2007 was for a specific type of a basic, lower limb prosthesis. Medicare approved payment of more than $54 million for these components.
• Medicare approved nearly 6 million pedorthic codes and $230 million* in payments in 2007.**
• The pedorthic code with the highest Medicare expenditure in 2006 was an off-the-shelf diabetic shoe. Medicare approved payment for over 1.6 million shoes for a payment of $96 million.
• The risk of losing a foot or leg is 15–40 times higher for people living with diabetes than for those without the disease, according to the American Diabetes Association (ADA). More than 80,000 diabetes-related lower limb amputations are performed every year in the U.S., the International Diabetes Federation reports. Another 30,000 limb amputations result annually from Peripheral Vascular Disease.

• More than 3,000 patient care facilities provide orthotic and prosthetic services
• More than 800 facilities provide pedorthic services
• AOPA estimates that the O&P businesses provide patient services worth more than $3.45 billion annually
• More than $60 million in government funds has been earmarked for research related to orthotic and prosthetic needs by veterans

** A complete orthotic, prosthetic, and/or pedorthic device may utilize several codes; therefore you cannot obtain an average cost per device by dividing expenditures by the number of codes.

Contact: Steve Rybicki at srybicki@AOPAnet.org or (571) 431-0835 or visit the AOPA Web site at www.AOPAnet.org.