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

Hanger Clinic and Numotion announced this week that Hanger will acquire Numotion in a cash transaction. The combined company will operate under the name Hanger Numotion and will be controlled by Patient Square Capital. Numotion CEO Mike Swinford will lead the merged organization. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.

On raw numbers, this is the largest combination in the history of the orthotics and prosthetics sector. Hanger currently runs 925 O&P clinics across the United States. Numotion operates more than 200 locations in the United States and Canada focused on complex rehabilitation technology, which includes power wheelchairs, custom seating, and other specialized mobility equipment for people with significant functional needs. Together they will serve more than 1.5 million patients annually.

What Hanger and Numotion actually do

Hanger is the largest O&P provider in the country by clinic count. It employs prosthetists and orthotists who fit custom prosthetic limbs, orthotic braces, and related devices. If you have seen a Hanger clinic in your area, it is probably the place your insurance network directed you for prosthetic care after amputation.

Numotion occupies a different lane. It is a complex rehabilitation technology provider, or CRT supplier, which means it specializes in power wheelchairs, manual wheelchairs with custom configurations, seating and positioning systems, and other durable equipment for people whose mobility needs fall outside what a standard pharmacy shelf can address. Numotion is owned by private equity firm AEA Investors and has grown into the largest CRT company in North America.

The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Why this combination is notable

The O&P sector and the CRT sector rarely overlap on paper. They bill under different HCPCS codes, are regulated under different parts of Medicare and Medicaid, and are typically staffed by different clinical specialties. In practice, the populations they serve overlap considerably.

Many lower-limb amputees use a power wheelchair or scooter for longer distances, high-fatigue days, or situations where their prosthesis is being repaired. People with bilateral amputations often rely on power mobility as their primary means of getting around. Someone recovering from major lower-limb surgery may cycle between Numotion for a chair and Hanger for a prosthesis within the same rehabilitation episode.

The stated rationale for the combination is that a single, scaled platform lets the companies share infrastructure, invest in technology, and reach patients across more of their mobility journey. Whether that is how the patient experience actually changes depends on decisions that have not been announced yet.

What is likely to stay the same, at least initially

Both press releases and both CEOs emphasized that each brand will continue to operate under its own name with its own clinical staff. Hanger clinics will continue fitting prosthetics and orthotics. Numotion locations will continue providing power mobility and CRT. There is no announced plan to co-locate services or merge clinical operations.

For most patients currently receiving care from either company, the transition to shared ownership is unlikely to affect your next appointment. The practitioners fitting your prosthesis or configuring your chair work under their clinical credentials, not under a corporate umbrella that changes with each acquisition.

What can change over time

The experience that follows a large acquisition depends on how the combined company chooses to run shared functions. The ones worth watching are insurance contracting, staffing continuity, and scheduling capacity.

Insurance contracting

A combined company has more leverage when renegotiating payer contracts. That can mean broader acceptance of insurance plans. It can also mean that contract terms, reimbursement rates, or network status for specific payers shift in ways that affect your out-of-pocket costs. Those changes tend to surface months after a transaction closes, not in the press release.

Staffing continuity

O&P care is built around individual clinical relationships. Your prosthetist’s knowledge of your residual limb, your gait, and your prior devices does not automatically transfer to a colleague. If your practitioner leaves in the period following an acquisition, ask for a full transfer of your clinical records: socket measurements, prescription history, and any prior authorization documentation your insurer has on file.

Scheduling and wait times

Acquisitions of this scale come with administrative integration work. Billing system migrations, credentialing updates, and clinical software transitions can create temporary backlogs. If you have a scheduled fitting or follow-up, confirm the appointment after the transaction closes and keep a record of any prior authorizations tied to your current device.

The private equity question

Patient Square Capital is a healthcare-focused private equity firm. The announcement says it will control the combined Hanger Numotion entity. Numotion was previously owned by AEA Investors, another private equity firm.

Private equity in healthcare draws scrutiny because the return timeline and the care quality timeline do not always point in the same direction. Efficiency initiatives that lower costs for the company can translate to shorter appointments, reduced staffing, or limits on which devices get recommended if cheaper alternatives are available.

That concern is worth naming, but it is not inevitable in any specific case. The relevant question for patients is less about who owns the company than about whether the specific clinic and practitioner relationship you rely on remains intact and accessible.

Watch for changes in billing, watch for practitioner turnover, and do not assume that what your insurer agreed to cover under Hanger or Numotion’s prior contracts will automatically carry over under the combined entity’s renegotiated terms.

The next question the deal raises

Hanger Numotion will be the single largest provider of both prosthetic and complex rehab services in the country. That concentration matters for patients who have limited options in their geographic area, because a dominant local provider negotiates payer contracts with less competitive pressure.

It also raises a question for the O&P field: if the largest clinic network and the largest power mobility network are now the same company, what happens to independent O&P practices and smaller CRT suppliers competing for the same insurance contracts? National networks use their scale to negotiate payer contracts on more favorable terms than solo practices can match. Adding Numotion’s CRT scale to Hanger’s O&P scale makes that negotiating position considerably larger.

That is not a problem for Hanger Numotion’s press release to solve. It is worth knowing when you are deciding whether your current clinic or your next one is the right fit.