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Systems & accessOctober 13, 2026

When a practice avoids the hard conversation, patients often end up holding the denial

A management column in O&P EDGE names the specific billing and documentation shortcuts that come from practice silence. For patients, those shortcuts have delayed consequences.

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Systems & accessOct 13
When O&P practices stay quiet about compliance problems, patients are the ones who find out
A practice management column in The O&P EDGE names the specific billing shortcuts and documentation failures that happen when O&P practitioners avoid hard conversations. The patterns it describes translate into claim denials, prepayment reviews, and surprise bills for the people those practices serve.
Systems & accessOct 12
Most healthcare workers plan to change jobs. In O&P, your fitting relationship is what's at stake.
A new Harris Poll found 59 percent of healthcare workers plan to seek new roles, and most employers still don't have a retention program. In a specialty built on long clinical relationships, patients pay the access cost.
Systems & accessOct 11
The VA is paying community O&P providers at full Medicare rates now. Here's what changed.
A new FAQ from AOPA breaks down the VA's June 2026 payment overhaul for community-based prosthetic and orthotic care, including what it means for veterans who use non-VA providers.
Life & mobilityOct 10
Adjustable fit, same walking speed: UPenn tests a prosthetic socket designed for growing children
A University of Pennsylvania feasibility study in 28 children found an adjustable, immediate-fit prosthetic socket matched conventional devices on walking performance, with significantly better scores on ease of adjustment and self-reported improvements in temperature and perspiration control.
Systems & accessOct 9
The federal ADA complaint almost always says no. Sarah Wall mapped what comes after.
When a resort pool lift wasn't working, bilateral amputee Sarah Wall filed a DOJ complaint and received a form letter. What she learned next is a useful guide for anyone navigating the ADA's enforcement gaps.
Life & mobilityOct 9
GLP-1 weight loss drugs are shrinking residual limbs. Clinicians at the AOPA assembly are already adapting.
An AOPA session in Las Vegas found socket loosening and volume fluctuation are the top care challenges when prosthetic users start rapid weight loss medications. If you wear a prosthesis and are taking or considering a GLP-1 drug, here is what to expect and what to tell your prosthetist.

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Systems & access

The federal ADA complaint almost always says no. Sarah Wall mapped what comes after.

When a resort pool lift wasn't working, bilateral amputee Sarah Wall filed a DOJ complaint and received a form letter. What she learned next is a useful guide for anyone navigating the ADA's enforcement gaps.

Life & mobility

GLP-1 weight loss drugs are shrinking residual limbs. Clinicians at the AOPA assembly are already adapting.

An AOPA session in Las Vegas found socket loosening and volume fluctuation are the top care challenges when prosthetic users start rapid weight loss medications. If you wear a prosthesis and are taking or considering a GLP-1 drug, here is what to expect and what to tell your prosthetist.

Systems & access

Live in Motion is taking applications for its Access to Practice Awards through November 2

O&P assistants, technicians, and pedorthists can apply for up to $2,000 to cover a national conference. The award targets a tier of the workforce that rarely has dedicated funding for continuing education.

Systems & access

Nigeria's 3D prosthetics program posts its first numbers: 700 applicants, 30 fitted, a training center funded

The Japan-funded UNIDO prosthetics project held its first technology showcase in Abuja this week. The numbers are more specific than the launch announcement was, and so are the unanswered questions.

Systems & access

VA revamps how it pays community O&P providers: what AOPA's new FAQ explains

The VA published new payment rules for community-based prosthetic and orthotic care in June. AOPA just released the answers to the questions providers and veterans have been sitting with since.

Sport & culture

After amputation, no counselor came. Then came the Valkyries.

The story of 68-year-old Cynthia Cheak, who lost her left leg and became a fixture in the Golden State Valkyries' Ballhalla crowd, is being told as a sports feel-good. But the part worth sitting with is the line she said first: not one counselor came to talk to her during 72 days in the hospital.

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