> What a can of worms you have opened. Since state Licensure passed here in
> Texas several years ago, I have turned in several non–licensed
> individuals for fitting braces, but to no avail. I even had one sales
> representative sign a document saying they had fit a patient, the patient
> and a witness signed similar statements. I never heard from the state
> board. We have several representatives of national knee brace
> manufacturers, and even some CPM companies, that fit dozens of braces
> every month. I have heard rumor that in San Antonio, more than one of the
> providers selected by Medicare from the competitive bidding process are
> not even licensed by the state. What does this mean to those of us that
> are licensed or own licensed facilities?
>
> In my opinion this presents an odd dichotomy. My licensed practitioners
> are held to certain standards, and if these rules are not followed they
> could lose their licenses. As a matter of fact if I allow orthoses to be
> fit by a non-licensed individual I could lose my facility license. All
> the while sales reps for other companies aren’t even pretending to follow
> the laws and are still unrestrained. We could have a situation where I or
> my licensed practitioner lose their license because of some indiscretion,
> while a sales rep continues to earn a living breaking the law. What are
> we to do?
>
> We can’t throw out the baby with the bath water. In my opinion state
> Licensure is a positive step in the right direction. It’s just
> unfortunate that the laws that were passed are not being enforced.
> Obviously our pleas to physicians and third party payers go unheeded.
> Perhaps being licensed by the state will in its self set us apart from the
> others. There are a few things we can do to mitigate our losses to these
> sales representatives.
>
> Don’t use their products! As a past and current sales rep for a national
> functional knee brace company I have always been perplexed as to why
> practitioners complain about company B or D selling directly to who used
> to be their customers. Then, when these practitioners obtain on open
> script for a knee brace; rather than put on a knee brace from a
> manufacturer that doesn’t compete with them, they choose to select a brace
> from company B or D! I realize a practitioner can’t say he won’t honor
> scripts for this manufacturer, but when you have a choice, don’t support
> these guys. One of these national manufacturers recently obtained
> licenses (as certified fitters) for almost all of their sales reps across
> the country. I simply try not to buy from these companies unless I have
> to.
>
> Now for my disclaimer. It seems every time I post a response or even ask
> a simple question on this list, someone responds quite negatively. For
> the record I used to be one of these evil sales reps that fit thousands of
> braces before state Licensure. I am not a practitioner. Because of state
> Licensure, I have opened 5 facilities and now employ 7 practitioners.
> State Licensure is the best thing to happen to my company. Yes I am the
> representative of a national knee brace company. This company does not
> stop some of it’s reps from billing third party payers, but it does not
> bill them directly; does not participate in national stock and bill
> programs; does not seek accreditation for its sales reps, and advertises
> its O&P friendly policy.
>
> Lets face it; if non-licensed sales reps can talk a physician in to
> allowing a non-licensed sales rep to break the law and fit their patents
> when they don’t even have an office, then they are doing something better
> than us. It’s our job to get better and stronger and not rely on the
> government to “bail us out”. Just my humble opinion.
>
>
> Joe Sansone
> C.E.O
> TMC Orthopedic
> www.tmcortho.com
>
>
>
> —–Original Message—–
> From: John Walker [SMTP:[email protected]]
> Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2002 7:55 PM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [OANDP-L] Licensure Issue
>
> Has anyone in Florida or any other licensed state turned in a non-licensed
> rep for fitting custom items. If so what was the result. I have constant
> trouble with one of my reps and don’t know what to do. My small practice
> can’t compete with the manufacture and I don’ t think many of you can
> either.
> Many of these companies are recieving insurance contracts and billing
> full
> unc. The reps are then getting paid commition on the money collected not
> the
> wholesale cost. We need to protect our future or become a rep?
>
> john
>
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