Evolving business models in orthotics

Nancy Schneider, Braceworks Custom Orthotics, Calgary.

This submission provides an important historical context for understanding the current challenge facing the Orthotic and Prosthetic community in Alberta including Alberta Aids to Daily Living (AADL), Suppliers, and Providers: maintaining sustainable access to Orthotic care for people with mobility disorders in the face of declining real rates of reimbursement combined with increasing costs and a shortage of skilled Clinicians.

Under the Canada Health Act, the federal government delegates responsibility for providing health care to the provinces. This delegation of responsibility to the provinces results in a degree of variability of funding of Orthotics and Prosthetics between provinces across the country.

Funding of Orthotics and Prosthetics in Alberta is characterized by structural inequities that favour Prosthetics at the expense of Orthotics. To the extent that the structural inequities that exist in Alberta are related to governance by volunteer-run, non-profit organizations, they may be generalized to the Canadian experience.

Finally, in a Call to Action a number of recommendations are made to address the challenge of sustainable access to Orthotic care in Alberta serving as a model for other provinces across Canada.

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Evolving business models in orthotics, Schneider N. Canadian Prosthetics & Orthotics Journal. 2021; Volume 4, Issue 2, No.3. doi: 10.33137/cpoj.v4i2.35876