Hot Off the Press

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  ALJ Appeals Backlog Continues to Decline The Office of Medicare Hearings and Appeals (OMHA) reported to the American Association for Homecare (AAHomecare) that the backlog of pending durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) audit appeals waiting to be assi...
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  DMEPOS Should be First for COVID Vaccine AAHomecare, an advocacy group for homecare providers, asked government officials to include durable medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies (DMEPOS) suppliers in the first group of healthcare professionals to get vaccinated for COV...
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  Cranial Remolding Program Wins Service Award The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio's Cranial Remolding Program has been given the university's Presidential Team Excellence in Service Award. Program Clinical Director Darren J. Poidevin, CLPO, and Jim Brookshier, MPO, CL...
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  Prosthetic Knee Wins Design Award A robotic prosthetic knee by BionicM, Tokyo, won the Red Dot: Luminary 2020 Award, the highest award in the Design Concept category. Design magazine Domus called the knee "the perfect sum of design and biomedical engineering." ...
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  Cybathlon Livestreams Competition in Lockdown Mode The second edition of the Cybathlon, a competition where people with physical disabilities compete against each other to complete everyday tasks using state-​of-the-art technical assistance systems, was livestreamed November 13-14. Beyond the comp...
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  Medicare FFS Improper Payments Decline The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) improper payment rate has continued to decline, translating to less fraud, waste, and abuse that can increase the fiscal burden on the nation's he...
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  Researchers Describe How to Improve Prosthetic Research Medical researchers in the Netherlands have introduced ideas for improving, or scaling up, research in upper-limb prosthetics. They defined scaling up as "deliberate efforts to increase the impact of health service innovations successfully tested...
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  SPS Promotes Two Senior Staffers SPS, Alpharetta, Georgia, has announced the promotion of two senior staff members. Coleson Chase has been promoted to vice president, operations; Jamie Seabold has been promoted to director, sales. Chase joined SPS three years ago as director of m...
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  BOC Calls for Certificant of the Year Nominations The Board of Certification/Accreditation (BOC) is calling for nominations for its second annual Certificant of the Year Award. The award recognizes one individual each year for outstanding achievements in service, research, and outreach. "BOC esta...
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  Academy Changes 2021 Annual Meeting Date The American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists (the Academy) has changed the date of its 2021 Annual Meeting & Scientific Symposium to May 4-7, 2021, at the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. Based on information gathered from the Centers for Disease...