Member Spotlight

O&P Partner

Consulting firm assists both patient-care facilities and technology firms in optimizing operations

MARK FORD STARTED HIS O&P career in 1998, after working in agriculture. He knew that he wanted to get into the healthcare industry and took a marketing position at what was then Ohio Willow Wood (today WillowWood) to gain some experience.

“I planned to be there for a year or so,” and then ended up staying close to 10 years, Ford says. He worked in marketing, sales, customer service, and training, as well as in the CAD/CAM department. He moved on to Touch Bionics, as the Scottish company’s third U.S. employee, helping to build its infrastructure in this country.

“It was so exciting to build a company from nothing with an entirely new technology,” remembers Ford. He followed that position with almost five years at OPIE Software, helping to build OPIE Business Builders and to introduce the OPIE Choice Network. Ford then used that experience to help lead a patient-care practice, Prosthetic and Orthotic Associates, located in New York.

Ford never planned to create a consulting business, but his varied background and connections in the industry led past customers and associates to ask for his help in the patient-care space. In addition, his former boss at Touch Bionics asked if Ford was interested in helping young, early-stage British and European companies that were developing new O&P technologies to bring them to market in the United States and elsewhere.

Today, Ford has a team of seven consultants under the Catdaddy umbrella, with more than 100 years of experience among them. “We have CPOs, MBAs, and CPAs on our team.”

On the patient-care side, Ford and his team offer business analytics, training programs, marketing support, and contract assistance with insurance companies. Catdaddy recently added fractional management staffing to its services. “Most small companies can’t afford and don’t need a full-time chief operating or chief financial officer,” he notes. “We offer these smaller businesses access to highly experienced people on an as-needed basis to help them determine strategy, and then work with them to set up ongoing systems and processes to run more efficiently.”

Catdaddy’s work with technology companies focuses primarily on firms outside the United States. “Many of these companies were founded by engineers so they know their products extremely well. But creating a commercial success takes more than a good product,” says Ford. “Commercializing a new healthcare technology requires an understanding of reimbursement, how to work with distributors,

A clinician fits a confidence socket from Adapttech, one of Catdaddy’s consulting clients.

Mark Ford

COMPANY: Catdaddy CONSULTING OWNER: Mark Ford LOCATION: Jamestown, Ohio HISTORY: Three years

A wearable pressure monitoring system and app from Amparo, another client of Catdaddy and even how best to package the product efficiently.” His team helps young companies with these activities. so they can enter the U.S. market in “a more positive, effective way.”

Among Catdaddy’s clients is Portuguese-based Adapttech, which has developed a socketpressure measurement system, leveraging customized sensors connected to an iPad through Bluetooth to give the clinician real-time information. Another firm, Amparo Prosthetics, started in Germany and has developed a new way to create prosthetic sockets by utilizing innovative material science.

“When working with either patient-care practices or with technology clients, our goals remain the same: to be the brutally honest voice of the customer,” says Ford.

Ford believes the O&P industry is undergoing another significant evolution. “We’re seeing a lot more vertical integration, as large manufacturers are setting up patient-care divisions,” he says. “What’s really interesting, though, is that we are seeing more new, creative product development happening outside of the major players in the O&P field. We strongly believe that there’s a greater opportunity for O&P practices to access new tech from young companies” that are seeking U.S. partners.

“This time of change presents so many opportunities for independent practices to be successful by taking advantage of new technology and running more efficient practices,” Ford says. “We are excited about how young technology companies can partner with open-minded practices to help patients even more in the future.”

Deborah Conn is a contributing writer to O&P Almanac. Reach her at deborahconn@verizon.net.

Penchant for Pediatrics

Clinician in Colorado specializes in cranial remolding orthoses

LIKE MANY CLINICIANS, Kristen Thessing, CPO, entered the O&P field as the result of a personal experience. In Thessing’s case, she lost her leg below the knee after a car accident while she was serving in the Peace Corps in South Africa in 1999. Four months later, she ran a four-mile race. A year later, she enrolled in the prosthetics and orthotics program at the University of Texas Southwestern.

After completing two residencies and obtaining her certification, Thessing worked for Hanger Clinic for 14 years in both prosthetics and orthotics. During her fourth year, she began to have children and decided to reduce her work hours. She focused on pediatrics as a part-time orthotist and grew the cranial remolding business for several years, then “took a leap of faith” and started her own company in 2018.

Thessing launched Cranial Kids with a flexible schedule that allows her to do the work she loves. Early on, she maintained a small office space at her husband’s physical therapy clinic, but worked mostly out of her car, visiting patients at their homes with portable scanning technology.

“Success stories come from home visits,” she says. “Some families don’t have a car and can’t get to appointments,” and home visits enable her to get to know the family better, see the patient’s home environment, and help them with a treatment they may not have received if they had to drive to weekly appointments. “My ability to go to homes and make adjustments has been my biggest success story,” Thessing says.

Today, Thessing has her own facility in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where she partners with Mosaic Orthotics and Prosthetics, a pediatric-focused practice. Her four daughters are 7, 9, 11, and 12, and Thessing works a flexible four days a week so she can continue to “be a mom.”

Thessing uses the Orthomerica SmartSoc scanning system, which allows her to create photo scans on her smartphone and upload them to Orthomerica to fabricate the helmets. She plans to get the Orthomerica STARscanner for the office while continuing to use portable technology for home visits.

Outcome measures are integral to her treatment, as the software takes measurements at the first evaluation and again when the patient “graduates,” allowing Thessing to see the results of the cranial remolding therapy. “We send that information to physical therapists and pediatricians,” she says. “It is a fantastic measure of success.”

Thessing is passionate about her patients, and she says that fair reimbursement from Medicaid is essential to treating patients. “Medicaid reimbursements are being cut in Colorado, and we have to fight for it,” she says. “AOPA has been a huge help in fighting for fair reimbursement. They also have resources for a clinician starting a business—like me—who doesn’t necessarily have a background in business. They were a great help when I got started.”

Another passion for Thessing is helping orphans in Africa. Each year, she travels to Uganda and Kenya to work with young people through Faith, Hope, and Love Missions.

Looking ahead, Thessing hopes to hire another orthotist “with a heart for cranial orthoses” and increase her practice’s presence in the Pueblo area. She wants to educate the public and medical professionals about the benefits of cranial remolding helmets. “My mission is to give families the choice to treat infants. Many times, they aren’t even given the option, and when I see them at age 1, it’s too late,” she says. “Helmets are completely successful if we can start early and they are worn 23 hours a day.”

Meanwhile, Thessing revels in her job. “I love the interaction of moms and newborns. It’s a hard treatment, but I walk the journey with them.”

Kristen Thessing, CPO, scans a patient for a cranial remolding orthosis.

FACILITY: Cranial Kids OWNER: Kristen Thessing, CPO LOCATION: Colorado Springs, Colorado HISTORY: Four years

Thessing awards patients “certificates of completion” once their treatment is finished. Deborah Conn is a contributing writer to O&P Almanac. Reach her at deborahconn@verizon.net.