Member Spotlight

Community Services

New facility caters to patients in a small Nebraska town and surrounding areas

IF HE HAD KNOWN what was coming, Brandon Quick, CP, BOCO, would not have chosen to open his new facility in January 2020. Nevertheless, New Horizons Orthotics and Prosthetics managed to thrive during the pandemic. “It was pretty hairraising,” says Quick. “But it forced us to become inventive in marketing our services.”

Because of COVID-19, Quick was not able to meet directly with referral sources, so he assembled marketing materials and sent them along with patients to share with their physicians and therapists. “We’d invite doctors to Zoom meetings,” he says. “They would sit with their patients and get me on the line, and we were able to accomplish the goal.” His marketing efforts were successful, and the facility began to pay for itself within only four months.

Quick was originally drawn to O&P by his personal experiences with the profession. He lost his leg below the knee in 1986 as the result of a hunting accident, and was so impressed with the two prosthetists who worked with him that he decided to become a practitioner himself—and later became business partners with his former clinicians.

Certified in 2001, Quick and his prosthetic partners opened a small facility, Nebraska Orthotic and Prosthetic Services. When the business sold to Hanger, Quick continued to work there for 10 years, and then decided to set out on his own again. He soon opened New Horizons in Kearny, Nebraska, where he is a sole practitioner. He is assisted by an office manager, Jo Cook, and a business manager, Sandi Olson, as well as a part-time technician. Much had changed since Quick last ran his own facility in the early 2000s, mainly with insurance. One change in particular has made care more difficult: “If a patient has had anything, from an ankle support orthosis to a full custom ankle-foot orthosis, in the past five years, they’re not eligible for another brace,” he says. “It’s a big hurdle, and we’ve had to appeal just about everything.”

New Horizons uses computer-aided design (CAD) for all above-knee prostheses, but Quick and his technician still hand-craft below-knee devices. “I can’t get the results I want with CAD,” he says. “We’re pretty old school around here. I’m a fan of hand craftsmanship. You get that personal touch and the ability

New Horizons Orthotics and Prosthetics

FACILITY:

New Horizons Orthotics and Prosthetics

LOCATION:

Kearny, Nebraska

OWNER:

Brandon Quick, CP, BOCO

Brandon Quick, CP, BOCO

HISTORY: 18 months

Jo Cook Sandi Olson to put your spin on it. Even with CAD/CAM, subtle differences appear that shouldn’t be there.”

Working in a small town— Kearny has a population of about 30,000—allows Quick to develop personal relationships with patients. “We see them on the street; we know their families; we’ve been in their homes.” The practice also draws from nearby Nebraska communities, such as Grand Island and North Platte, serving much of the western half of the state.

While many of his patients have diabetes, Quick says he has seen an increase in trauma cases. He suspects it may have something to do with pandemic. “People are getting cabin fever and doing [foolish] things,” he suggests. Quick has a history of O&P missionary work, particularly in St. Lucia, and hopes to resume these activities when the pandemic subsides and international travel ramps back up.

While he does not advertise that he is an amputee, Quick finds that patients respond well and that it gives him an underlying connection to and empathy with his patients.

He hopes to expand his facility, both by adding another practitioner to the office and by opening an additional location. The snag, Quick says, is finding qualified clinicians in central Nebraska. “I think our compensation and benefits package is great,” he notes, “but it’s difficult to attract practitioners who want to live in a small town.” In the meantime, Quick will continue to serve his community, offering the quality patient care and neighborly attention he is known for.

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

Bracing and Beyond

California company continues to innovate in designing orthoses and related devices

VQ ORTHOCARE WAS launched in 1988 by Jim and Dorian Knape as a manufacturer and supplier of electrotherapy products. In 2006, the company added a knee bracing line, and today the company manufactures and distributes a wide variety of proprietary medical devices and braces as well as recovery and rehabilitation products. Headquartered in Irvine, California, the company has manufacturing facilities in Vista, California, and a national system of representatives.

The company’s flagship bracing product is the OActive Osteoarthritis Knee Brace, introduced in 2009 and now entering its third iteration. “It was the first universally sized osteoarthritis knee brace that could push or pull to relieve either lateral or medial compartment,” explains Carl Macchia, BBA, CO, director of product marketing, bracing. Its universal sizing eliminated the need for sized inventory in the form of a highly effective and ultralow-profile brace that patients and clinicians prefer, Macchia says. “We really led the way with that brace.”

Another innovation, the Active Thigh Cuff, is a patented uppercuff system that moves with the thigh musculature, reduces slipping and resulting malalignment, and improves suspension, total contact, and control, Macchia says. The company uses the cuff on double-upright ligament and double-upright osteoarthritis braces. “When you have an arthritic knee with laxity in a rigid brace with metal uprights on either side, the knee can move inside the brace during gait and crash into the frame,” Macchia explains. The product “allows the brace to move with the anatomy, have a little spring to it, a little more flexibility, so patients are more comfortably corrected.” This year, the company released an osteoarthritis wrap brace called TRUlign. “It’s a comfortable wrap that changes angle for improved three-point leveraged pressure relief,” Macchia says. “Patients love the look and feel of wrap braces, and we put the lessons we learned with OActive into it. A rigid brace looks like a medical device, but a wrap brace looks more like something that’s treating an athletic injury.” The new product comes in three sizes, so O&P facilities need to keep only three rights and three lefts in stock at a time, reducing inventory costs.

Another offering, the Eclipse Cervical Collar, features a universal design that is more rigid and open than other leading collars, according to Macchia. It also eliminates Velcro closures, so when patients don the device, they replicate the initial fit as determined by their orthotist. The clinician sets it and then patients can just snap it on, he notes.

VQ OrthoCare headquarters

COMPANY: VQ OrthoCare

OWNERS:

Jim and Dorian Knape

LOCATION:

Irvine, California

HISTORY:

33 years

eCast app

VQ OrthoCare also has been furthering a technology called BioniCare, an electrotherapy device for osteoarthritis that can be used in bracing products or on its own. Unlike transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) units, which only mask pain, BioniCare treats the underlying cause of the disease by stimulating joint tissue and improving the overall health of the osteoarthritic knee, says Macchia. “It was the only device of its kind to be granted this indication by the Food and Drug Administration, based on its numerous clinical studies,” he notes. “We have found it improves patients’ lives dramatically.”

The company developed its eCast custom brace measurement system more than 15 years ago and has been refining it ever since. Today it takes the form of an iPhone app that allows a clinician to take digital images of a patient and submit an order on the phone. “This system allows you to capture more anatomical information than tape-based systems, and it requires no physical contact with the patient, unlike traditional casting or measurement systems,” Macchia says.

The company offers in-person and online, on-demand educational courses through its Pathways to Education program, some of which provide practitioners with continuing education credits.

“We are committed to continually improving our designs in response to clinical needs and to adapting to changing reimbursement conditions,” Macchia says. “In addition to our clinical expertise, we’re able to give our customers access to extensive resources related to reimbursement, coding, and billing. All of that leads to better outcomes for patients.”

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