Peter W. Thomas, JD, general counsel for NAAOP, welcomed Taylor Haines, this year’s George and Dena Breece Fellow, and gave an update on funding for the O&P Outcomes Research Program (OPORP).
Haines finished her first full week as the newest Breece Fellow. Haines, who Thomas said was “competitively selected” for the summer fellowship, began working last week. Haines, a community care coordinator with Hanger Clinic in Portland, Oregon, will be on leave through August. She will spend the next nine weeks in Washington DC learning about and participating in O&P policy and advocacy in the context of the broader set of healthcare, rehabilitation, and disability issues. She will attend congressional hearings, monitor legislative and regulatory developments, attend meetings on Capitol Hill, and assist in organizing the annual NAAOP Virtual Congressional Fly-In, Thomas said.
“I am incredibly happy to be here, very excited and ready to go,” Haines said.
Haines will also travel to Iowa to learn about state advocacy and the role played by OPGA, and to Gainesville, Florida, where she will learn about OPIE Software and be further exposed to O&P clinical practice.
“Like the six former Breece Fellows who have participated in this program, we hope Taylor will take what she learns and use it throughout her career to better advocate for the advancement of O&P patient care,” Thomas said.
Thomas also gave an update on OPORP.
Working in conjunction with the O&P Alliance, NAAOP has expended significant efforts during the past four months trying to reinstate funding for the OPORP within the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program within the Department of Defense, Thomas said. Though the funding lapsed in 2024, it had pumped nearly $120 million into O&P research over the past decade. In addition to significant outcomes research and the development of O&P outcome measures, the program was responsible for development of a cadre of researchers primarily focused on O&P outcomes research.
This initiative required multiple meetings with congressional staff and members of congress, the development of materials to argue the case, the involvement of grassroots researchers to convince key senate and house offices of the value of this funding, and support letters from organizations other than those engaged in O&P care.
“We are now in a holding pattern while the appropriations committees consider funding requests from various senators and members of Congress,” said Thomas, who added that NAAOP will continue to press Congress to reinstate funding for this the program and will report updates as they occur.
