Outsource Marketing Solutions blog

PA O&P Practitioners Heads Up on Insurance Merger

From BusinessInsurance.com online
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters)—"Pennsylvania's two largest health insurers, Highmark Inc. and Independence Blue Cross, said they have agreed to merge to form a company that will provide health insurance to about 8 million people.

In a joint statement Wednesday, the nonprofit companies said the combination will reduce drug costs by $280 million and generate administrative savings of $300 million. They also said they would provide some $650 million to help expand access to health insurance for Pennsylvania's uninsured..."

Read the rest, click here.

Check your contracts!
Call them before they call you!
Inform your patients and let them know that you need to remain (or get into) the network!

What about the prosthetists?

From New Orleans City Business online

NEW ORLEANS - "Children’s Hospital is opening an amputee clinic April 11.

Dr. Maurice Sholas, a pediatric physical medicine and rehabilitation specialist, and Dr. Tony Gonzales, a pediatric orthopaedic surgeon, will head the clinic.

Children's Hospital officials said the clinic will improve care by allowing patients and their families to meet with physicians, physical and occupational therapists in one visit. Typically, patients must make as many as four visits to multiple providers in various locations, according to Children's Hospital.

'This is a population that has very specialized needs that have only been met piecemeal by local caregivers to this point,” Sholas said. “Amputees need experienced doctors, therapists, and technicians to receive the most appropriate durable prosthetic system to maximize their daily functions.'

Patients and families will also be able to meet other children and families with common needs for additional community support.

“The best thing about the clinic is that it gets kids and parents around other kids and parents with amputations and limb deficiencies,” Gonzales said. “Kids want to feel like everyone else, part of the group. If we can put them in a group through the amputee clinic it builds their confidence and shows them they can accomplish anything in life.”

The clinic will be held on the second Wednesday of each month in the hospital’s physical therapy gym. It will also train community therapists, medical professionals and students about the needs of amputees."

OWW Goes For the Gold!

Ohio Willow Wood - 100 years of helping people
OPAF Gold Sponsor
Again!
The world could use more people like Bob Arbogast.

First Bid Lens Nominated For Lens of the Year

I received this fabulous news last week while I was at the AAOP meeting!

The First Bid lens has been nominated for Lens of the Year out of 100,000 lenses. 
In order to win, we need votes.

Please, please click on the link in Megan's email below and scroll down to the OPAF First Bid lens. 
(It was around 208 when I checked last time.)

To vote, click on the small arrow next to the number - it may ask you to register in order to be able to vote.  You can do it. (Especially if you weren't able to attend the auction - here's how you can help!)
It only takes a second!

Thanks for your help.

Elizabeth

PS - OPAF raised over $20,000 (twenty thousand dollars) at the First Bid event on March 22nd in San Francisco.
Best OPAF fundraiser ever!

To: elizabeth@askelizabeth.net
Subject: Squidoo: You've been nominated for Lens of the Year!
From: megan@squidoo.com
Date: Tue, 20 Mar 2007 16:14:03 -0500 (CDT)

CONGRATULATIONS!

One of your lenses has been nominated for Squidoo's Lens of the Year award.

To celebrate turning 1 year and 100,000 lenses older, we took our previous Lens of the Day winners (yep, that's you) and lined them up, to see which lens our lensmasters and readers think is simply THE best.

http://www.squidoo.com/thelensoftheyear

The voting is already running wild, so get in there and thumbs up your favorites. It's okay to invite your friends to vote for your lens too.

We'll announce the winner on Friday March 30.

Many thanks for these truly clever, truly diverse, truly fantastic lenses. You're already the best of the best in our book!

Megan

Megan Casey
Editor in Chief
www.Squidoo.com
http://www.squidoo.com/thelensoftheyear

Greg Greenway, CP's life will never be the same, thanks to Oprah

Yesterday on Oprah...

This is the story of little Joshua who was born in Ireland with arthrogryposis and how an American prosthetist and a set of prostheses will change his life for the better.

Read the whole story on Oprah.com

"...Doctors told Gillian and her husband that they had a difficult choice to make: Either Joshua would have to go through two decades of painful surgeries—or they could remove his legs. After much consideration, Gillian and her husband made their decision. "He was exactly 1 month old when he had both legs amputated," Gillian says.

...Through overwhelming contributions, Valerie and Kelly arranged for Joshua to be treated at a Shriner's Hospital in the United States. Then they met prosthetic limbs expert Greg Greenway, who gave them great news. "Greg said there was absolutely no question that he could walk, but that we had to start as soon as possible," Gillian says.

Greg arranges for Joshua to get a tiny new pair of legs—complete with his very first pair of shoes! Greg says Joshua will have to be fitted for a new pair of legs each year as he grows.

"Our hope is to give Joshua something so he can start to establish some standing balance," Greg says. "As he gets that balance and strengthens the core, then he can start to hopefully take some steps."

Gillian is overwhelmed. "Because of Pay It Forward and what these women did, my son was able to sit up and blow out his birthday candles. The future is just burning with possibilities for Joshua now."

Job fair caters to vets wounded in Iraq

From the Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO - "Job applicants with missing limbs and severe burns arrived on crutches and in wheelchairs Tuesday at a job fair designed to help veterans rebuild their lives after being severely wounded in Iraq.

Some veterans wore bandages, fatigues and dark suits to cover their combat injuries as they met with recruiters that included banks, financial planners, military contractors and federal agencies. It was the ninth in a series of job fairs sponsored by the Pentagon.

Getting badly wounded "was a twist in life they hadn't counted on," said Patricia Bradshaw, the Pentagon's deputy undersecretary of civilian personnel. Job fairs "provide the hope and inspiration there is life after the military."

More than 23,000 military service members have been wounded in combat in Iraq. Because of advances in battlefield medicine, some of the worst wounds, including burns and limb losses, are increasingly survivable..."

Read the rest here

Got backbone?

In case you've missed the other posts relating to Chiropractors and their forays into bracing - and specifically Chiropractors who are Certified Extremity Practitioners. 

Here's another article.  From the Valley Free Press.

"...Another method to treating back pain is focusing on the feet.

“In many cases, how your feet are is how your spine will be,” Mazion said.

She looks at how well, or not, the body is aligned by observing unevenness in pant legs or skirt hems and ear to shoulder alignment. Other warning signs include uneven shoe wear or the head leaning too far. These misalignments can cause headaches, numbness, tingling and back pain.

A foot cast molding can be used to create orthoses, a molding that can be placed in shoes to correct misalignment..."

Unlike CPeds or podiatrists, chiropractors are not restricted to the foot, so they don't have to stop at the ankle or even the knee...
Certified Chiropractic Extremity Practitioner.
If you're an orthotist, think about it.

Sound the Alert!

Sound the Alert! 

The 19th annual American Diabetes Alert® Day is Today
Tuesday March 27, 2007

Help the American Diabetes Association spread the word during this
one-day "wake-up" call by informing your family, friends,
and co-workers about the seriousness of diabetes, particularly when
diabetes is left undiagnosed or untreated.

Did you know?
Sixty million Americans are unaware they have diabetes or are at risk
for developing type 2 diabetes.

Who's at risk?
Your risk for type 2 diabetes increases as your get older, gain too
much weight, or if you do not stay active.  Diabetes is more
common in African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders. Risk factors for type 2 diabetes
include:
*  Having high blood pressure (at or above 130/80)
*  Having a family history of diabetes
*  Having diabetes during pregnancy or having a baby weighing
more than nine pounds at birth.

What can you do?

Take the test
Encourage those at risk for developing type 2 diabetes to take the
American Diabetes Risk Test and, if they score high, to schedule an
appointment to see their doctor. 
The test is available in English or Spanish.
http://main.diabetes.org/site/R?i=fUFSEdKCWaGa9hMBkruVfA..

Spread the word
Send an American Diabetes Alert® e-card to family, friends, and
co-workers.  It's quick and easy and it shows you care.
http://main.diabetes.org/site/R?i=YetFKiAKDlxyiR6jnEXcOQ..

Put on your headphones
Download the new American Diabetes Alert® podcast. It is an easy way
to learn more about the risks and complications associated with type 2
diabetes especially for busy people on the go.  The free podcast
is also available on iTunes. 
http://main.diabetes.org/site/R?i=p7Hobqp60Spr6572u7XlVw..  

Now That's What I'm Talking About!

If you don't know that Heather Mills is competing on "Dancing With The Stars" then you've been living under a rock.  There has been an incredible amount of publicity and if you're in O&P and haven't found a way to piggyback on it - then you're just not trying hard enough!

For example - this article was published March 10th in The Floridian. 

"Heather Mills McCartney was only kidding when she alluded on Extra to the possibility of her prosthetic leg flying off during Dancing with the Stars, but still we had to wonder: Could it?

Mills McCartney, the estranged wife of Beatle Paul McCartney, lost her left leg below the knee in a 1993 traffic accident. This season, which begins tonight, she'll become the first contestant to compete on Dancing with an artificial limb. During the show Mills McCartney, 39, plans to wear a strap for added security, but that hasn't stopped the Antigua-based gambling Web site Bodog.com from taking bets on whether her prosthesis will stay in place.

For the answer to this and other questions most of us are too polite to ask, we turned to licensed prosthetist-orthotist Mike Rieth of St. Petersburg Limb and Brace..."

To read the questions and Mike's answers - click here.

If you haven't been approached by the media in your area to provide commentary on Mills' "Dancing With The Stars" performance, then go to them and offer to answer any questions they might have. 

Apparel Again! Brand & Sell Yourself

To follow up on the Mr. Happy Crack post (see below) - check out the AbilityTrek 2007 apparel available on cafepress.com.