About ten years ago, at a local chapter meeting of the American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists, I saw a graph that outlined the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as compared to the Medicare yearly price adjustments the O&P profession receives. The speaker named it “The Jaws of Death.” In the graph, which begins in 1989, the two lines nearly meet at the lower left at about 5 percent, but it then outlines an alligator’s open mouth as the CPI rises faster than the price adjustments (84 percent and 45 percent in 2021, respectively). It formed a picture of the future of O&P care for me. The inflation America and other developed countries are currently experiencing indicates that we will reach a breaking point very soon.
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