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Manufacturers Offer Clinical Software
By Judith Philipps Otto Some of O&P's leading manufacturers are also
joining the movement to provide software systems that offer
clinical support to O&P practitioners.
Otto Bock
Otto Bock HealthCare has recently released new software
technology designed to delight the clinician.
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Photo courtesy of Otto Bock HealthCare |
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Its newly updated TF Design and TT Design CAD/ CAM
software each offer a range of new and improved features, including
the new Total Surface Weight Bearing Socket (TSWB) socket shape, an
integrated urethane liner, non-uniform reduction profile, and a
lateral brim adjustment tool.
The TT/TF CAD program not only allows the practitioner to
identify and select components for the prosthesis from the socket
to the floor, but offers a "build-it-on-screen" option that creates
solid documentation in the process.
The system asks questions about what kind of functionality the
prosthetist is looking for, seeking to define the patient in
clinical terms, based on practitioner input regarding mobility
grade, weight limit, etc. It sifts through and eliminates options
as it poses further questions, such as "Single axis knee or a
polycentric knee?" as it provides increasingly specific menus. If
you make one choice, you get another menu. Suggested options are,
naturally, Otto Bock components.
"Although in this sense it doesn't let you cross the spectrum of
the prosthetist's universe, it's a very useful guide," said Michael
Leach, CPO, Professional Services Department.
"It allows the prosthetist/business owner to work faster; it
allows him to be certain that the functional qualities of the
prosthesis is what he's looking for," Leach said. "It's most
cost-effective because it allows users to take advantage of
discounts based on a total Otto Bock system, and it's fabricated
for them through our central fab services, so they don't have to
have a lab or technician," he explained.
While not brand new, Otto Bock's updated MYOBoy Software still
offers useful and exclusive virtues, Leach said. It enables
measurement of the strength of muscle impulses and identifies
impulse sites so the practitioner can determine the appropriate
type of myoelectric upper-limb device. It also allows the patient
to virtually "try on" the prosthesis and prints out an accompanying
justification. This unique feature allows the practitioner to
predict the level of competency a patient can reach with the
device, because the muscle strength has already been tested. This
provides vital documentation to accompany the billing.
In addition, a separate biofeedback tool, which installs on a PC
without special hardware, allows patients to be connected to the
device and use the muscle impulses to control the path of a little
racecar through an onscreen maze.
What appears to be a game is actually a painless way to help the
patient strengthen and gain control of the specific muscles that
will control the movements of the prosthesis. "Even kids like it,"
said Karen Lundquist, marketing communications manager. "We believe
that it lets them have more success and a faster learning curve,
and allows people to immediately and effectively use their new
myoelectric prosthesis."
Ordering and customizing the described software is managed on a
common platform with Otto Bock's CAD/CAM programs, and the combined
result has been recently renamed. The former Otto Bock CAD Centre
is now known as the Otto Bock Data Station, designed to manage the
job data and the customer data of the individual programs.
The Data Station is described by Jeff Ashenbrenner, Otto Bock
marketing manager, as a global platform to manage total patient
care. "The Data Station creates a patient record wherein
practitioners can also save three-dimensional shape captures,
enabling such comparisons as changes in limb volume. This
documentation serves as quantifiable justification when claims
issues arise."
For more information about Otto Bock clinical software
systems, contact Otto Bock HealthCare; 800.328.4058; www.ottobockus.com.
Ohio Willow Wood
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Photo courtesy of Ohio Willow Wood |
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Ohio Willow Wood's OMEGATM Tracer
systems have been making rapid strides in the CAD arena,
introducing a series of software and hardware that allows
practitioners to create orthotic and prosthetic devices. In
addition to capturing anatomical shapes, the software allows shape
modifications and also provides complete documentation of shapes
while maintaining a library of templates for future shapes.
Most recently (March 2005), software collections systems are
required for the financial aspects of the business. The OMEGA
Tracer software allows users to maintain documentation in one
place, ready to send out when required.
"And if you had to do it repetitively, the software maintains
that history, so you don't have to recreate documentation packages
each time," pointed out Lisa DiGiacomo, Ohio Willow Wood's
marketing communication manager.
Although the capabilities of CAD software have been around
virtually since CAD's first appearance, these advantages are not
widely understood, and hence, not put to use as often as they might
be - a continuing challenge for Ohio Willow Wood.
"We still find ourselves having to teach folks to think and
rethink CAD," said DiGiacomo. "We have quite a few people out there
who really don't understand the basics of CAD and its competencies,
let alone all the other software packages that you may want to
think about in order to make your practice as streamlined as
possible. There are still many practitioners who remain comfortable
with hand-to-plaster transfer, and believe it's very important to
do it that way. In fact, the tools are roughly the same, the
practitioners are still using hand skills; it's just a little
different type of hand skills."
Tracer software doesn't eliminate cognitive decision-making, nor
attempt to think for the practitioner, as he or she develops
solutions based on knowledge of what a patient faces and what tests
would be best for a particular patient, DiGiacomo said, adding that
it does make implementing those solutions much easier.
Coming Soon
- "Based on the pace of technology, we could update three times a
year," DiGiacomo said, "but I think our audience would be a little
irritated. It's a constant challenge to balance the introduction of
new technology with how often the market can absorb - and afford it
- without getting frustrated." Relearning new systems and
techniques also takes up valuable time; there's a frequency limit
beyond which the embracing of new technology is no longer
cost-effective for the learner.
- "I certainly see new shape-capture devices becoming even more
compact, like cell phones, PDAs, and other technology," DiGiacomo
said. "This works really well for practitioners who have to go from
hospital to hospital to nursing homes. With increasingly mobile
practitioners, the demand for smaller and more portable devices
will also increase."
- "Software improvements will require even less time to create
even more exceptional outcomes: i.e. a good-fitting, comfortable
prosthesis in less time."
For more information about OMEGA Tracer Systems, contact
Ohio Willow Wood; 800.848.4930; www.owwco.com.
Companies mentioned in this article are representative and
for reader information; this is not a complete list of companies
offering CAD and other clinical management software. The O&P
EDGE does not endorse any specific companies, products, or
services.
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Take-Charge Software Helps Manage O&P Practices
- May 2005
It's no news that these are tough times for O&P practices, and if there's a lifeline available to assist you in improving efficiency, developing documentation, increasing security compliance, and reducing paper clutter, it's only sensible to seize it gratefully.
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Table Of Contents - May 2005
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