Academy Recap

This past week I have been in Chicago where we are celebrating the Academy’s 50th annual meeting #AAOP2024…and what a great meeting it has been!  As the Scientific/Clinical arm of the profession, the Academy is dedicated to promoting professionalism and advancing the standards of patient care through education, literature, research, advocacy, and collaboration. I have enjoyed seeing lots of people at our booth and throughout the hotel this week: it’s always good to catch up. My most recent blog topics have been right up the Academy’s mission to improve professionalism in the field and the sessions have been filled with some really good tips for doing just that.  The “Observational Gait Assessment” course was amazing and demonstrated how something you do every day can be objectified and turned into a data-backed story about the change you made. Another presentation on a new, affordable disinfection technology that helps wound healing, made a strong case for the integral role O&P plays in the patient care continuum. 

Today, there is a talk on the practical use of the PROMIS (Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) in Clinical patient care.  The PROMIS is available in your OPIE system and is a tool I have been stressing for a few years.  In this session, Hanger representatives will be talking about how they are using it for payer justification. Tomorrow (Saturday) is a presentation on medical necessity and the need to shift our thinking from device provision to providing healthcare. I am looking forward to these sessions! 

If you are here, I hope I was able to chat with you.  If you haven’t come by the booth yet, please do!