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Systems & accessSeptember 18, 2026

Humotech is launching a mobile clinic to let patients try different prosthetic feet before picking one. Here is what that changes about how foot selection works.

Most prosthetic foot prescriptions are written from a catalogue, not from experience. Humotech's new mobile clinic in Pittsburgh gives patients a way to test-drive options before committing. Here is what the service involves, why trialing is harder to run than it sounds, and what the model means for how O&P care gets delivered.

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Systems & access

Syria's conflict left 86,000 amputees. 3D printing prosthetics centers are trying to meet the need.

Two centers in northwest Syria now depend entirely on 3D printing to make prosthetics, together serving 100 to 150 patients a month. What the technology changed, and what it has not.

Life & mobility

AOPA's top research prize went to a study asking how socket pressure affects limb health

Matthew Wernke's award-winning presentation at AOPA's National Assembly targets a gap that should not exist: almost no data currently guides how prosthetists distribute pressure across the residual limb when designing a socket.

Systems & access

Hanger is acquiring Numotion. The combined company will touch 1.5 million patients annually across O&P and complex rehab.

Hanger Clinic, the country's largest O&P provider, is acquiring Numotion, the country's largest CRT and power mobility company. Both brands stay, both sets of patients stay, and Patient Square Capital controls the combined entity. Here's what the deal actually means for the people in the waiting rooms.

Life & mobility

Four prosthetic ankles, eight terrain tasks: a study finds variable stiffness matched carbon-fiber returns on flat ground and was preferred going downhill

A randomized crossover trial from Hugh Herr's group tested two quasi-passive prosthetic ankles against two standard energy-storage-and-return feet across a range of walking conditions. Variable stiffness held up on level terrain and was preferred by subjects on a 5-degree decline. Variable damping was the least preferred design in every condition.

Systems & access

Medicare is adding a prior authorization requirement for new O&P suppliers this fall. Here is what changes and for whom.

Starting October 15, newly enrolled Medicare DMEPOS suppliers and those undergoing ownership changes must get prior authorization for a list of orthotic items before claims clear. The rule is authorized under existing law and does not replace other prior auth requirements already in place.

Life & mobility

The Ethnocare Overlay pumps up socket fit without removing the leg. Now it works above the knee too.

An air-bladder sleeve that manages socket volume fluctuations in real time has expanded to transfemoral users. It fits inside existing suspension systems and has a US reimbursement code.

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