no manufacture rebates or dealer financing for O & P ?

[tony barr]

Al you been around along time.Whose profit margins are higher-O&P
manufactures or O&P providers?
 
Prices of legs and cars are relatively the same depending on the options.
Cars last allot longer ,10-20 years, with 3-5 year  warranties or 36,000 -
50,000 miles !
Prosthetic legs 90 day warranty on components at best ,last perhaps 4-5
years and get whole allot less mileage .
 
Major difference in buying a car and buying a leg is that all the auto
manufacturer are all certified, not all providers of O&P services are. Nor
are they required to be certified nor licensed in 40 states..
 
Car manufactures offers buyers incentives discounts ,rebates and
financing.O&P providers do not.
There is a whole allot more car manufactures than there are components for
your legs!
 
A dissatisfied patient and a unhappy auto buyer , have the same recourse for
filing complaints from receiving lemons.
Their only recourse in unregulated states is to contact the Dept. of
Agriculture/Consumer Affairs Dept.!
 
The price freeze policy and competitive bidding proposals will not hurt the
manufactures all of whom belong to the same club and whose prices are fixed
to what they want which will go higher without regulated price controls..
 
The practitioner's certification is only optional in 50 states to provide
O&P services (10 states are regulated and you require a state license, not a
certification to legally provide O&P services) .
 
Practitioners and patients take the hit as does the patient requiring
reduced benefits for O&P services.
 
It maybe unethical  for a ABC certifiee to "up code" a prosthesis but it's
not not illegal.
Now Al do you think everyone cares about ethics when it comes to profit in
this day and age.
 
You can work the system without fear of any reutilization in a very
lucrative health care "business " ..
No oversight is provided by either credentialing association,federal or
state govt.
What a business!!
 
There are simply no regulatory or price controls to better assure patients
receive  qualified services and at a fair price.
Hey but there is one bargain floating around-a certification for $75 !!
  _____  

From: AMP-L-owner at u.washington.edu [mailto:AMP-L-owner at u.washington.edu] On
Behalf Of AlPikeCP at aol.com
Sent: Sunday, March 28, 2004 9:02 AM
To: Amputee Information Network
Subject: Re: We may not want to mention any favors from CP/CPOs with
Medicare


In a message dated 3/27/2004 11:43:46 PM Central Standard Time,
rodgerole at joimail.com writes:

Do the O & P providers(read cpo's) lose money if they can't collect any of
the remaining 20% after Medicare's payment,or are they still making money
when they bill what's allowable under the guidelines?

Roger, it all evens out so yes they do make a profit just not as much. While
else would they stay in the business. On some items the markup can be 50%
with almost no labor or time involved. Buying a prosthesis is like buy a car
and in the same cost range. The more options you have on the car the more
the cost, the same with a prosthesis. However, as an ABC certified
prosthetist it is "unethical" for me to want to "upcode" you on a prosthesis
- Sell you more then you "need"  If you only "needed" an S-N-S knee it would
be "unethical" for me as an (ABC) prosthetist to try and "sell you" (upcode)
you to a C-leg.  It would be wrong "unethical" for me to (prime the pump)
promote a certain product because it means more "profit" to me.
 
With those profits we can and do pay our bills (overhead), pay the hired
help, buy a nice car, buy a nice house, build a nice limb shop to work in,
and in some cases pay a yearly dividend to those that have invested money to
make money in my company.
 
Al.....
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