Aug 11, 2026
This year's Breece Fellowship capstone project convened key stakeholders involved in the care of Medicare beneficiaries with limb loss to examine the critical transition-of-care period following limb amputation. Notable among the attendees were the American College of Surgeons, the Society for Vascular Surgery, the American Hospital Association, the Federation of American Hospitals, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the Pedorthic Footcare Association, and many more important physician, hospital, rehabilitation, and O&P stakeholders. The purpose of the meeting was prompted by a 2024 GAO report, which indicated that only 31% of Medicare patients who undergo a lower-limb amputation ever go on to receive a prosthesis.
NAAOP believes this underscores a major gap in patient care, potentially due to referral patterns, gaps in patient education, insurance navigation hurdles, or breakdowns in coordination between surgical, rehabilitative, and O&P care teams. Given the scale of this gap, NAAOP saw an urgent need to bring together clinicians and other stakeholders from across the health care spectrum to better understand where and why some patients—Medicare beneficiaries and those with other insurance—are falling through the cracks.
The afternoon was spent discussing the data and conversing about the potential causes. The goal of this discussion extends beyond the luncheon. The event was meant to identify concrete steps the O&P field and other stakeholders can take to close these gaps and improve rehabilitation outcomes for Medicare and other amputees. We are encouraged by the strong support voiced by many attendees who expressed interest in future collaboration on this issue. As a strategy to address this gap in patient care is formulated, we are confident that the O&P community will not be the only voice on Capitol Hill raising awareness of this issue and seeking solutions.
This luncheon also served as the capstone project for the 2026 Breece Fellow, Elijah Brummond. Over the course of his fellowship, Elijah has had the opportunity to learn more about the inner workings of O&P advocacy. He toured clinics such as Gainesville Prosthetics, OPGA/VGM Group, and Hanger’s National Rehabilitation Hospital. Additionally, Elijah assisted in the coordination of the second annual NAAOP Congressional Fly-In held earlier this summer. These are just a few examples of the incredible opportunities Elijah has had during his fellowship to learn and grow. As he moves on from his Fellowship experience, he does so with a more comprehensive understanding of federal advocacy and a greater appreciation for the hard work necessary to support O&P patients across the nation.