SYRACUSE — A new orthopedic-equipment provider in Syracuse aims to lend doctors a crutch and support patients who are learning how to strap on their knee braces. New York Brace Systems specializes in equipment ranging from splints to continuous passive-motion machines, which move joints following surgery. The equipment provider, which is located in suite 112 […]
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New York Brace Systems specializes in equipment ranging from splints to continuous passive-motion machines, which move joints following surgery. The equipment provider, which is located in suite 112 at 2949 Erie Blvd. E., provides braces, splints, and post-operative products directly to patients with prescriptions and helps private medical practices stock supplies like braces and crutches.
“We can really affect every stage of that process,” says Adam Feck, New York Brace Systems’ practice administrator. “We work with patients, but we also have an opportunity to work with institutions, hospitals, and doctors’ offices to eliminate some of their burden.”
New York Brace Systems offers a stock-and-bill program under which it supplies physicians with orthopedic products so they can equip patients. The orthopedic-equipment provider then handles billing and restocking the physicians’ offices.
The supplier delivers equipment directly to patients who visit its office and patients in hospitals. New York Brace Systems employees travel to hospitals as far away as Buffalo, Utica, Elmira, and Potsdam.
When meeting with patients, New York Brace Systems’ employees can custom-fit braces. They also teach patients how to wear equipment properly.
“The big thing is education,” says Jamie Stempowski, patient-service representative at New York Brace Systems. “If you don’t educate a patient on how to wear a brace, they’re not going to wear it.”
New York Brace Systems can also expose patients and doctors to the latest types of orthopedic equipment, according to Kimberly King, its patient liaison. Manufacturers are rapidly coming out with new designs, she says.
“Doctors writing the prescriptions don’t always know about the newest braces,” she says. “That’s where Jamie [Stempowski] comes in. That’s his specialty.”
And the orthopedic-equipment provider adjusts patients’ braces if they encounter a problem so they do not need to return to a physician’s office, according to Feck.
“They can come back here into our fitting room if a strap breaks,” he says. “They don’t have to go back to the doctor, pay a co-pay just to get a strap.”
New York Brace Systems opened five months ago, Feck says. Currently, three employees work from its office at 2949 Erie Blvd. E. It leases 1,300 square feet of space there from Syracuse–based Greenwood Real Estate, LLC, according to Feck.
The orthopedic-equipment provider is owned by Viscent Orthopedic Solutions, a company headquartered in Plano, Texas that operates 19 similar facilities in 16 other states. Viscent’s orthopedic offices have different names, although many are named in the convention of New York Brace Systems. For example, the company’s office located in Chapel Hill, N.C. is known as Carolina Brace Systems.
Feck is targeting $120,000 to $150,000 in revenue at New York Brace Systems in 2012, he says. He wants to double revenue in 2013, he adds.
Word-of-mouth will be critical to future growth, according to Feck. New York Brace Systems is also working with the Onondaga County Medical Society and sending out mailings to increase its client base, he says.
New York Brace Systems wants to expand to offer prosthetics in about two years, Feck continues. It would need additional space and more employees to do so, he says.
“There’s a lot of equipment that goes into manufacturing prosthetics,” he says. “It’s going to be an investment on the company’s side. We’d probably have to relocate the office to a space twice the size of this one and have a lab.”
Feck did not provide a cost estimate for expanding to provide prosthetics. The exact timeline for offering artificial limbs will be dependent on the office’s revenue growth, he says.
New York Brace Systems will likely add one employee within a year and could take on a total of four to five more employees over the next several years, Feck says. Again, he says the rate of adding new employees will be determined by revenue growth.
Feck is an independent contractor of Viscent, serving as New York Brace Systems’ practice administrator. Stempowski and King work directly for the company.
Feck also owns Manlius–based ACF Medical Products, LLC, which distributes medical devices in Central New York for DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. and Bledsoe Brace Systems. Eight people work at ACF.