Prosthetic Orthotic Clinic opens on medical mile

by Maria Hoover

Inside Business Editor

mhooer@sbj.net

Missouri Prosthetic Orthotic Clinic opened for business at 3150 S. National Ave. in mid-July and held a grand opening celebration Sept. 11.

As its name implies, the company is a provider of prosthetics and orthotics, said President Kevin Scribner, who is a certified orthotist.

"Orthotics is orthopedic bracing and prosthetics is artificial limbs, and we do all things orthotic and prosthetic. We focus on custom work, and we basically get all our patients through referrals from physicians," he said. Scribner and Dan Blackson, vice president, are partners in the limited liability company. The clinic has a staff of four, including Scribner and Blackson.

Scribner said the clinic is independent and is not tied to either of the local health systems. However, he noted, what the clinic provides is controlled by prescriptions, so referrals from area physicians and insurance companies are a necessity.

Patient base

The patients served by Missouri Prosthetic Orthotic Clinic need its services for a variety of reasons.

"When you talk about prosthetics, the most common reason for amputation would be diabetics (who) have a significant problem with circulation and healing wounds, and they end up getting infections and have to have amputations," he said "Also, you have folks that get different types of cancers and may have to have amputations."

While it's not as prevalent as it used to be, Scribner said there are also people born with limb deficiencies who need artificial limbs, and there are also amputations that result from auto accidents or other traumas.

"In orthotics, it can run a pretty wide gamut from different disease states, cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, strokes; those are a number of problems that require bracing. You also have situations where, again, it might be diabetes or some other type of vascular issue that causes problems in the extremities as well as trauma. A lot of the fractures of the spine have to braced," Scribner said.

Once a patient receives a prescription for a prosthesis or a brace, they visit Missouri Prosthetic Orthotic Clinic and are seen by an orthotist or a prosthetist.

"That patient is evaluated. We go through a process of taking their history and evaluating their problem and determining what type of device they need," Scribner said. "When that's done, then we would take a cast of the person's limb or whatever that problem area might be, then that casting would be used to fabricate a custom item for them, to meet their particular needs."

Service

Missouri Prosthetic Ortho-tic Clinic does all of its brace and artificial limb fabrication in-house, Scribner said.

"One of the distinctives that we are trying to do with our service is that we see patients the same day that a doctor sends them to us. We don't turn people away and make them schedule an appointment for a later date. We see them the same day and we try to turn as much of our product as we can around in 24 to 48 hours," he said.

Location

Scribner, who has worked in orthotics and prosthetics for nearly 20 years, came to Springfield about a year ago to purchase a practice from another individual, but for several business reasons, the transaction didn't work out.

"I decided at that point that if I was going to have my own practice, I needed to do it sooner rather than later," he said. The new clinic's space was leased through Bob Murray at R.B. Murray Co.

"Within a stone's throw, there are just hundreds of physicians. We're right in the middle of the medical mile. Obviously, to be so close to where the patients already are, and where the referral sources already are, just makes it very handy, and it's easy to find, even if you're coming from out of town," he said.