It’s time to break out the cozy sweaters and grandma’s recipe book: the holiday season is here. As we enter this festive time, it’s crucial to understand the current state of the shipping industry to ensure timely deliveries and a smooth ordering experience. 

Alpharetta, GA — SPS, the leading U.S. distributor of orthotic and prosthetic (O&P) products, is pleased to announce four recipients of its 2023 SPS O&P Scholarships: 

From backlogs of shipping containers to labor shortages and capacity limitations, the pandemic caused a great deal of challenges within the supply chain last year. While some of the challenges have finally subsided, we are still witnessing lingering impacts. From a shipping perspective, carriers are in a much stronger position to handle this year’s peak holiday shipping season.

The SPS Check-in features news about SPS, the O&P industry, business trends, and changes to the regulation environment. In this episode, Vice President of Operations Coleson Chase chats with Chief Supply Chain Officer Kate Means to review our supply chain optimization strategy and the state of the supply chain industry.

Prior authorization (PA) helps Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (DMEPOS) suppliers ensure that Medicare coverage, payment, and coding rules are met before DMEPOS items are delivered. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule on December 30, 2015, that would establish prior authorization for DMEPOS items. The ruling was made to safeguard Medicare patients against having to pay the costs for items not eligible for Medicare coverage. PA was initially rolled out for Power Mobility Devices in 2016. It would not be until 2020 before lower limb prosthetic devices joined the program.

Ordering, storing, and returning orthotic and prosthetic (O&P) devices can be a challenge under normal circumstances, but during a period strained by a global pandemic and a tumultuous supply chain, these inventory management processes were particularly demanding. To capture this moment in time and share interesting findings with the O&P community, we ran a survey. The aim was to learn how professionals in the industry managed inventory during these atypical years and how those processes may have evolved.

The SPS Check-in features news about SPS, the O&P industry, business trends, and changes to the regulation environment. In this episode, Sales Director Jamie Seabold talks with Vice President of Operations Coleson Chase about our supply chain optimization strategy. 

Hanger Institute recently published the results of Stability and Falls Evaluation after AMPutation (SAFE-AMP), which focused on microprocessor-controlled knee technology for diabetic and dysvascular patients with above-knee amputations. The study was published in Assisted Technology Journal, and was conducted by members of Hanger Clinic’s Clinical and Scientific Affairs Department: Shane Wurdeman, PhD, CP, FAAOP(D); Taavy Miller, PhD, CPO; Phillip Stevens, MEd, CPO, FAAOP; and James Campbell, PhD.

Books that feature disabled main characters are few and far between. The Cooperative Children’s Book Center conducted a study in 2019 to explore the prevalence of diversity in children’s and YA books and found only 3.4% of children’s books have a disabled main character. According to the CDC, 26% of Americans are living with disabilities.

The SPS Check-in is back for a 10th episode. Vice President of Operations Coleson Chase interviews Director of Procurement Matt Penn about recent upsets to the supply chain. They discuss current supply chain challenges for our supplier partners as well as ways in which SPS is mitigating these challenges for customers.