Q: How have O&P mobile clinics factored into the company’s business model?
Selleck: Being a mobile care prosthetic company helps our patients receive their custom-made prosthetics in the comfort of their own homes. With 3D-printing tech, we can fit and deliver the prosthesis in two to three weeks. We also coordinate with the delivery times of home health and outpatient rehab services so the patient can max their rehab days/dollars. Our PACT program gets patients to their doctors’ offices proactively—ensuring timely intervention of vascular disease and other complications.
Q: Why are in-home health visits becoming more popular?
Selleck: Home health services started becoming more popular five years ago when Medicare found it more cost-effective to send patients home in 21 days instead of the typical 100 days [after surgery]. Since COVID, the popularity has grown. Today, after an amputation, patients are being discharged home in 48 hours or sent to a skilled nursing center for up to 21 days before going home. Most people today prefer going home instead of a facility. They are still fearful of contracting COVID, and there is no better place to recover and rehabilitate than the comfort of home. Our transportation services and PACT program make it easy for patients to do that.
Q: Who are your primary patients?
Selleck: Patients with diabetes with vascular issues, young adults, and pediatrics. The creation of our PACT program is in response to our wanting to help doctors identify those patients that need vascular intervention. We all know early detection is key to saving limbs.
Q: Since much of the mobile clinicians’ work is on their own, what skill sets do they need to do their jobs efficiently?
Selleck: Our practitioners love to be on the road, work in different environments, and have the opportunity to become part of their patients’ journeys in a way that other labs without the transportation aspect cannot supply. Our practitioners are the most vital part of the puzzle. They are personable, good listeners, and understand the patients’ needs. They support the bridges we build with our patients’ doctors through community collaboration.
We help patients take baby steps and set realistic goals to help them return to ambulation and independence.
Q: What’s a typical day like for the clinicians?
Selleck: Depending on what stage patients are at, a practitioner will see six or seven patients daily, either at facilities, the patients’ homes, or outpatient rehab centers. Either they are evaluating fits for future services, doing diagnostic checks on sockets to secure the fit, delivering prostheses, or conducting follow-ups and making adjustments as required.
Q: If a clinician cannot help a patient during a home visit, what is the next step?
Selleck: The next step is to prepare the limb for digital scanning or casting. Then, we produce a diagnostic socket to guarantee the fit, after which we fabricate the prosthetic. We will transport difficult-fitting patients that require more time to the office so we can support them in a more controlled environment.
Q: How are the mobile clinics equipped to allow clinicians to treat patients?
Selleck: Most vehicles do not have small labs built into them. We predominantly carry materials to lengthen or shorten prosthetics and make minor adjustments. Most finishing work occurs at our central lab, so prostheses benefit from the latest technology and are ready for final delivery.
Q: How many miles do clinicians put on the mobile clinics?
Selleck: Between 2,500 and 3,000 monthly.
