Member Spotlight

O&P Consultancy

Small business provides cost projections, insurance claims review, and more

DALE BERRY, CP, LP, FAAOP, began his work in prosthetics in 1983, when he received certification in Canada. In 1991, he gained his U.S. certification and began working for a practice that eventually became part of Hanger. He served as national vice president of clinical operations for his last 20 years with the company.

“And then I turned 60,” Berry says, “and even though I enjoyed working with Hanger immensely, I thought it was time to try something different. I had spent my career designing and fitting devices, but I also recognized that getting the prosthesis was the easier part; the hard part was getting proper reimbursement. So I decided to see what I could do to help patients get the devices they needed.”

Berry incorporated Prosthetic Xpert Consultation in 2019. His clients include patients, practitioners, attorneys, and workers’ compensation and insurance companies.

For patients, Berry evaluates devices and offers guidance as to the most appropriate solution. “After an amputation, patients are in a whirlwind. They are looking for advice from someone who doesn’t have a financial interest in the choice of prosthesis,” he notes. “Sometimes the insurance companies pay me; sometimes the patient. I provide an unbiased opinion at a flat fee that is not influenced by the cost of the prosthesis.” During the pandemic, Berry began a telehealth component to his business, providing consultations online.

Another service Berry provides is calculating prosthetic lifetime care projections. “I get hired by attorneys, insurers, and workers’ comp as an expert witness to estimate the total cost of prosthetic care over the patient’s lifetime, to make sure they have the funds necessary to get the care they need.”

Berry also reviews insurance claims for workers’ comp and insurance companies to ensure that a device is medically necessary, that the coding is accurate, and the price is at fair market value. “My first priority is the patient: Is this the right device? Second, I want to make sure that prosthetists are getting fair compensation for creating a custom prosthesis. And finally, I want to ensure that the insurance company gets a reasonable price on the device.” He interacts with clinicians and patients to help create “a win-win solution in which the insurer has confidence that it is spending its money wisely.”

In addition to his business, Berry provides pro bono services to several nonprofits that provide funding to patients without insurance. If a patient needs a device, Berry will help find a provider to work with them. He turns to his vast network of contacts within the medical and

Prosthetic Xpert Consultation added virtual appointments to its list of services during the pandemic and continues to assist some clients remotely.

Dale Berry, CP, LP, FAAOP

COMPANY: Prosthetic Xpert Consultation OWNER: Dale Berry, CP, LP, FAAOP LOCATION: Las Vegas HISTORY: Three years

insurance fields, aggregated over the course of his career. “I can help identify the best device and find someone to make it, and negotiate with them on pricing,” he says.

As prosthetic technology advances, Berry finds himself in an excellent position to help validate marketing claims. “I’m seeing where patients get certain products and then abandon them,” he says. “I see how often they are used and how often they have to be replaced.” He is setting up databases to track products, noting how long a patient has used a device, how long it lasted, where it was obtained, and other pertinent information. “The accepted wisdom in our profession is that a device will last three to five years. I’ve found that the overwhelming majority of devices last five years,” he notes. “By developing these databases, I’m hoping to contribute to facts and statistics on how patients are actually using their devices.”

Berry continues to enjoy his profession, more and more each day, he says. “At the beginning of my career, I focused on making and fitting prostheses. Now I feel I can treat more patients and affect more outcomes through a different phase of prosthetic care.”

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

Legacy Care

Longstanding facility offers both new and older technologies to wide range of patients

AFTER W.T. HINNANT lost his leg in an auto accident in 1930, he found it difficult to locate a prosthetist in North Carolina. Hinnant had to travel out of state to obtain care, and every time he needed an adjustment or repair, he had to travel or do the work himself. He decided to enter the O&P field and became an apprentice with the Minneapolis Artificial Limb Company. In 1931, he launched his own prosthetic facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, where he and two technicians served amputees in both North and South Carolina.

Hinnant’s sons, John and Milton, worked for the facility and took it over after their father’s death in 1954; they were followed by Hinnant’s grandson. Jason Riffle, CP, purchased the business in 2018.

Riffle himself comes from an O&P background. “My grandfather and his three sons, including my father, who was a below-knee amputee, were practitioners, so I’m third generation in the field. My uncle also owned O&P practices as a certified prosthetist. I started professionally in 1991, and in 1995, my father and I opened a practice in Paris, Texas. We ran it until 2008, when my father retired.”

Riffle worked for other practices and then took over W.T. Hinnant O&P four years ago. The facility has nine employees and recently opened a new office in Camden, South Carolina, staffed by a full-time practitioner, Delisa Lawson, CPO. The facility recently became a residency site, and Riffle is looking forward to working with up-and-coming practitioners.

W.T. Hinnant O&P started out as a prosthetics-only facility. Today, up to 90% of patients are limb loss patients, although Riffle expects that ratio to change as the facility offers more orthotic services. “Insurance companies are asking us to do compression, shoes, and inserts, so we are trying to figure out a way to service the entire community with orthotics and prosthetics,” he says. “Our prosthetic patients are a mix of legacy patients, who have been coming here for 40-plus years, and vascular and orthopedic referrals from the community.” The practice primarily sees adult and geriatric patients, as another facility in the area specializes in pediatrics.

The company embraces such advanced technologies as microprocessors, myoelectric upper-extremity prostheses, and transtibial socket designs, as well as scanning and 3D printing. However, the facility will go “old school” for long-term patients who don’t want to change. “We still do quad sockets” for patients who have been seen at the facility for four decades, Riffle says. “We even do thigh lacers and leather waist belts and exoskeletal legs. … We want to accommodate our patients.”

Owner Jason Riffle, CP, works with a prosthetic patient.

Jason Riffle, CP

FACILITY: W.T. Hinnant Orthotics & Prosthetics OWNERS: Jason Riffle, CP LOCATION: Charlotte, North Carolina, and Camden, South Carolina HISTORY: 89 years

The facility accommodates a significant percentage of prosthetic patients but is expanding its orthotics business as well.

One of Riffle’s success stories is that of a 36-year-old woman with a hip disarticulation and below-knee and above-elbow amputations. “She came to me because her prostheses were falling apart,” he says. She didn’t want an arm prosthesis, so Riffle fit her with the Helix hip and a C leg. Now, she can now climb stairs, exercise, work full-time, and drive. “She used to fall three or four times a day, and now she doesn’t fall at all. She is very independent!”

Another patient lost his leg below the knee in a motorcycle accident seven years ago and struggled with depression. Riffle worked with him and found him the help he needed, and today he is a peer visitor for the facility, who connects with new patients.

Riffle would like to expand in the future, both with new offices and improved services. “It’s hard to find help,” he notes, “but we want to attract good-quality practitioners to the facility and continue to provide excellent outcomes for our patients and communities.”

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

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