Expanding the Orthopedic DME Portfolio: Beyond Traditional Bracing [AAOE DME Series Session 3 - Expand]-Expanding the Orthopedic DME Portfolio: Beyond Traditional Bracing [AAOE DME Series Session 3

Expanding the Orthopedic DME Portfolio: Beyond Traditional Bracing [AAOE DME Series Session 3 - Expand] [REPLAY]

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The third session in AAOE’s DME series focused on expanding a sustainable, patient-centered DME program. Alec Johnson of Midwest Ortho at Rush emphasized that growth should address meaningful clinical needs—not simply increase revenue—and should be evaluated across four areas: patient value, physician adoption, financial viability, and operational readiness.<br /><br />Successful expansion requires a physician champion, staff education, standardized protocols, and ongoing review of utilization and performance. Before scaling, practices should confirm workflows, staffing, inventory, reimbursement, coding, and compliance processes are reliable across locations. Piloting or delaying an offering can be wiser than expanding before the program is ready.<br /><br />Examples from Johnson’s practice included expanding cold therapy into additional surgery centers, strengthening osteoarthritis bracing protocols, and evaluating a new PRP system. He encouraged practices to use data to identify opportunities, improve existing programs, and scale only when evidence supports it.<br /><br />Sponsor Select Ortho described its DME management services and offered practices a program analysis to assess operations, compliance, profitability, and national benchmarks.

Keywords

DME program expansion

patient-centered care

physician adoption

operational readiness

clinical workflows

reimbursement compliance

practice benchmarking