Outsource Marketing Solutions blog

Donate money (while marketing)

The American Diabetes Assocation has a nice idea for a painless way to raise money for their organization (and and it's a nifty marketing idea, too.)
You are honoring your wedding guests and the ADA gets $$. 

Who doesn't like to be honored? And look at all the lovely ways the ADA can show people that you honored them! cards, scrolls, etc.

It doesn't have to be the ADA and it doesn't have to be wedding guests.  Almost any non-profit organization (OPAF included) will allow you to make donations in honor or remembrance of someone and (this is the key) will let that person know what you've done.

When I was in patient care, I used to make donations to FoodShare in honor of people who were particularly important to our business.  Foodshare got the money, the honoree got a lovely letter telling them that a donation had been made in their name.

ADA - In lieu of traditional wedding favors, give a donation in honor of your wedding guests and in honor or in memory of a loved one.

Announce your contribution with complimentary invitation cards and your choice of personalized table tent cards, scrolls or bookmarks.

Once you complete your donation, you will have the opportunity to select and personalize your announcements.

If you would like to give a wedding donation in honor of the bride and groom and do NOT want gift announcements, please use our Honor Donation Form.

Donations are tax deductible, minus the cost of services and goods. See our Wedding Donation FAQs for more information.

No Barriers 2007

Sacramento, CA, June 25/PRNewswire/ --" The No Barriers USA Board of Directors announces final plans for NO BARRIERS FESTIVAL 2007, a five-day event, which will showcase and share the cutting-edge techniques and technologies that enable people with challenges to live as actively as possible and to break through their own personal barriers. Over six hundred attendees are expected to participate. 

No Barriers USA is a not-for-profit organization, which assumes that each person, regardless of age, state of mind or physical condition, has a thirst for adventure and a hope for the future that is worthy of igniting..."

For all the details on the No Barriers USA 2007 Festival

This is a press release, distributed by PRNewswire on an event that is happening in Sacramento, California, USA. I got it this morning courtesy of my Google Alerts and here it is on the blog.  Why? Because it's newsworthy, people will read about it, they'll search for it - people who are probably the perfect readers for this blog but might not know that it exists.

The whole point of a website (blog, lens or microsite) is to drive traffic (preferably targeted traffic) to your site. 

Keeping it updated is key but linking it to relevant sites and featuring topics of interest to your targeted reader is important, too.

Amputee Allowed to Compete

From NYTimes.com:

"International track officials have changed their stance on Oscar Pistorius, the champion amputee sprinter from South Africa, and will allow him to compete against able-bodied runners while researchers try to determine whether his prosthetics give him an advantage.

      

But Nick Davies, spokesman for the International Association of Athletics Federations, said discussion of Pistorius, 20, competing in the Olympics was premature, noting that he had not yet reached qualifying standards...."

Qualifying standards???
As if!
Please, Mr. Davies, Oscar is a man on a mission!
Run, Oscar, Run!

Audio Recordings of CMS's Competitive Bidding Program Teleconference Are Now Available

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced two upcoming teleconferences on its Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies (DMEPOS) Competitive Bidding Program.

The conferences will provide manufacturers the opportunity to learn more about the program, which began last month, the CMS said. All bids are due by July 13.

The first call was June 20, from 2 to 3:30 p.m., and was intended for small suppliers. During the call, the CMS discussed the small-supplier target, selection of multiple winners, bidding in separate product categories and networks.

The second call, June 21 from 2 to 4 p.m., was not limited to any specific topic and provided an opportunity for manufacturers to call in with questions, the CMS said.

Participants can listen to the conferences at www.dmecompetitivebid.com.  Audio recordings and transcripts are available on the website. Manufacturers should call the Competitive Bidding Program Service Center at (877) 577-5331 with any questions.

Myoelectric Hand Prosthesis Catches First Prize

ORLANDO, Fla. (Freescale Technology Forum) – June 25, 2007 – Freescale Semiconductor has announced the grand-prize winner in the company’s Black Widow $10,000 Design Challenge. The winning entry, a myoelectric hand prosthesis based on Freescale’s 8-bit S08 microcontrollers (MCUs), was developed by a team of engineering students from the ITESO graduate school at the Universidad Jesuita de Guadalajara in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The ITESO graduate student team designed the myoelectric hand prosthesis to benefit hand amputees living in world regions where affordable health care products and services are a vital necessity. Throughout the design process, the team focused on minimizing system cost without compromising user comfort and product functionality.

The award-winning ITESO graduate team includes Alan Led Collins, Gabriel Herrera, Sergio Santana, Missael Maciel, Andres Alvarez, Carlos Soto and Ramon Guillen, all from Guadalajara.

“On behalf of the entire team, we’d like to thank Freescale for this exciting opportunity to develop a cost-effective prosthetics application that ultimately may benefit many thousands of people around the world,” said Alan Led Collins Rivera, the ITESO team leader. “It’s rewarding to know that our hard work is being acknowledged at the prestigious Freescale Technology Forum. The first-prize award will enable us to continue to improve our product by testing lighter and tougher materials, as well as conducting research to design an affordable prosthetic glove.”

Hollywood and O&P, again

From The Huffington Post:

The press releases have gone out. A cast is being signed for the Bryan Singer-directed film. And a crew is being rounded up. According to the Internet Movie Database, one of the first members of the crew who's been secured is a prosthetics expert.

That's because by the time Cruise's character in "Valkyrie" -- a Nazi general under Hitler's command -- is in full throttle on screen, he's already lost an eye and a couple of limbs.

And from MSNBC.com:

Cruise had not intended to star in the project, however, during subsequent meetings, the project’s director, Bryan Singer, became intrigued by the notion of Cruise as a central figure in the story and offered him the role. Cruise signed.

Production is scheduled to begin early this summer. MGM will distribute. Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander wrote the script. Singer and McQuarrie previously teamed on the Oscar-winning thriller “The Usual Suspects.”

OPAF's "First Dive" Premieres in Buffalo, NY

Take a look at the lead story on the ABC affliate 6 o'clock news in Buffalo, NY. Click HERE.

OPAF's latest "First" is "First Dive" an adaptive SCUBA program.

Fantastic work by Tony and Carole Anderson and Phoenix Scuba!

(If you pay close attention to the video, you will catch a glimpse of OPAF's esteemed president in a bathing suit...)

Do You Provide Prostheses? Are You a Proprio Foot Certified Facility? Yes? Piggyback this....

Ossur's PROPRIO FOOT takes the Gold 2007 Medical Design Excellence Award

June 19, 2007 (Reykjavik, Iceland) -- Ossur, a trusted and global developer of more scientifically advanced prosthetic innovations than any other company in the field, is pleased to announce that its PROPRIO FOOT™ is the winner of the Gold 2007 Medical Design Excellence Award, in the category of rehabilitation and assistive technology products. “The PROPRIO FOOT features several unique proprietary technologies that we are proud of,” said Hilmar Janusson, global vice president of R&D. “It is gratifying that our research and development team, which is also responsible for such novel products as the Unloader® One Osteoarthritis Knee Brace, is receiving this recognition.”

READ THE REST

I just read the list of Proprio Foot Certified Facilities on the Ossur website.  Why doesn't every single PFCF have their website and email contact information listed?

The foot won the Gold 2007 Medical Design Excellence Award.  People will be searching for information on it - online.

If they find your info online, shouldn't they be able to contact you online? 
At the very least, shouldn't they be able to access your website?  If they can't, what's the point of being on the list?

Prosthetic Publicity: It's Not Just About Patient Care

Possible move vexes doctors, providers

Doctors say Anthem, a major insurer in Virginia, will cause problems by moving its call centers out of state.

By Ray Reed
Roanoke.com

When Doug Call, president of Virginia Prosthetics on Williamson Road in Roanoke, saw a newspaper article about Anthem insurance wanting to move some of its call-center services outside Virginia, he groaned.

"I can't believe we're going to go through this with Anthem," a company that "has generally been great" to work with on authorizing insurance claims for artificial limbs that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, Call said.

A decision on whether Anthem's service methods might change is pending before Virginia's State Corporation Commission, which regulates insurance companies and certain other businesses....

For Call's prosthetics business, the offshore conversations are more prevalent.

His 31-employee business has three employees who handle insurance claims, and he estimates 45 percent of their time is spent on overseas calls or on hold waiting to talk to someone there.

"It's not that those folks don't speak English; they speak it, but not fluently, and it's difficult for us to understand," Call said.

And on the other end of the conversation, workers are struggling to grasp the prosthetics company's explanations of a doctor's prescription for a prosthetic limb.

"It's more of a lack of cognitive ability to discern the English language and understand what we're trying to ask preauthorization for," Call said...."

Bama Barons 2007!! Oh, and O&P education, too!

The Alabama Prosthetic & Orthotic Association's Annual Meeting & Scientific Session will be held July 19-21, 2007 in Birmingham, AL.

Registration materials (and the invitation to the annual Birmingham Baron's baseball game - think Bull Durham, only better! and the Pete Allen Memorial Golf Tournament AND all kinds of other stuff!) are available by clicking HERE!