On Friday, March 27, 2020, Congress passed the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aide, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. It specifically allocates $350 billion dollars to help small businesses keep people employed. This portion of the bill, known as the Paycheck Protection Program, provides 100% federally guaranteed loans to small businesses. And, if the loan is used within certain guidelines, the loan is forgivable.

We’ve created a quick overview below to help you understand the opportunity and if it might be right for your O&P clinic. As always, consult your accountant regarding the bill details and your specific situation.

Ask anyone who has ever met her, and they will say that her smile and infectious laughter absolutely lights up a room. Liz Hillen, M.Ed., CPO, LPO, has been in the O&P industry for over 20 years, first starting out with Hanger Clinic as a Clinic Manager in the Tampa Bay area, and then as a Clinical Specialist with Ottobock. Her experience has made her uniquely qualified to collaborate with suppliers and provide an overall comparative education to the clinicians SPS serves. We sat down with her to discuss her perspective on the changing dynamics between patients and clinicians in this digital age.

The Clinical Minute features short overviews of orthotic and prosthetic devices. In this episode, Clinical Consultant Liz Hillen M.Ed., CPO, LPO, explains the features of Ottobock's Omo Neurexa Plus.

Rae Buhosky, CPO/L, MSPO, remembers a time she felt she made a difference in a patient’s life.

Her patient, a man with a unilateral transtibial amputation, came to Valley Prosthetics & Orthotics (VPO), in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on crutches about a year after he lost his left leg in a traumatic accident.

Karen Lynch, CPO, CFm, decided to join the O&P profession when she was a junior in college. She was taking mechanical engineering at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on a full academic scholarship when she completed a report on robotics that touched on myoelectric prosthetic devices.

Welcome to The Clinical Minute, where we provide short overviews of orthotic and prosthetic devices. In this segment, Clinical Consultant Liz Hillen, M.Ed., CPO, LPO reviews the Townsend Thuasne SLEEQ Max TLSO. Follow along as she provides an extensive look at this innovative universal brace platform.

In this segment of The Clinical Minute, Liz Hillen, M.Ed., CPO, LPO, and SPS Clinical Consultant introduces the Townsend Thuasne Action Reliever knee brace.

Welcome to the New Year! January can feel like a blur as we reflect on our past and try to reconfigure our lives to align with our goals. We’re throwing out the old and welcoming new processes, good habits, and resolutions.

In previous blog posts, we explored the unique history of 3D printing in the orthotic and prosthetic industry and the challenges associated with this evolving technology. In our final installment, we will examine the benefits this technology brings to the limb loss community and clinicians.

In the medical field, 3D printing is expected to be worth $3.5bn by 2025. Despite this technology’s wide variety of medical applications, 3D printing is mainly popular in dentistry and biomedical engineering. With the 3D printer’s accessibility and relatively inexpensive costs, why isn’t 3D printing more widely used in O&P? In part one, we explored the history of 3D printing in O&P. In part two, we will explore the barriers clinicians face to adopting this technology.