Jeffrey M. Brandt, founder of Ability Prosthetics & Orthotics, thinks his business model will help his company thrive in a competitive, growing industry.
‘‘Our cornerstone to our mission statement is patient education,” Brandt said. ‘‘We understand the compassion you have to have. We can sit down and hold a hand. Sometimes you just be with them. ... When you start with that mission, it serves you well.”
Brandt launched the first Ability Prosthetics and Orthotics location in Gettysburg, Pa., in 2004, then a second in Hagerstown in 2005 with now-vice president Jeffrey T. Quelet, and then added a third on Thomas Johnson Drive in Frederick in 2006, where John P. Jacobs is managing practitioner. The company, with headquarters in Gettysburg, opened its fourth office in Exton, Pa., last year.
Brandt now is eyeing a half-dozen ‘‘up-and-coming” locations in Virginia and Pennsylvania and elsewhere in the mid-Atlantic region as the company projects record revenues of $3.2 million this year.
‘‘We’re starting to enter a point where we’ve proven this out with hard numbers,” said Brandt, a board-certified prosthetist and orthotist. ‘‘The buzz is at its highest.”
Ability Prosthetics has focused its expansion efforts on establishing full offices on the fringes of cities with growing populations and competitors with only part-time satellite offices. A paperless operation, the business has streamlined billing and filing systems that serve as templates for future branches and reduce administrative time, Brandt said.
Prosthetics and orthotics care is a $3.5 billion industry nationwide, with roughly 3,000 facilities providing services, according to the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association. The most common cause for amputations is diabetes: Physicians perform about 80,000 diabetes-related amputations a year, followed by 30,000 related to peripheral vascular disease.
Even with major players such as Hanger Orthopedic Group of Bethesda, which reported net sales of $157 million for the first quarter of 2008, the regional prosthetics industry still has room for growth, Brandt said.
‘‘I have great respect for Hanger,” Brandt said. ‘‘I say, ‘Why not be that big?’ But we need to focus on what incremental growth is right for us.”
Unlike many prosthetic and orthotic companies such as Hanger, Ability does not have a fabrication lab, instead connecting with about 40 suppliers throughout the country. Brandt said this gives patients a broader selection of products.
Ron Packe of Thurmont is among Ability’s clients in Frederick. Packe, a retired employee for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, developed vascular disease that eventually led to an infection in his right leg, which was amputated last fall.
Packe linked to Ability through Frederick Memorial Hospital, one of six hospitals in Maryland and Pennsylvania the company works with. He has personalized his prosthetic leg with a sticker of a wolf howling at the moon. After losing 130 pounds and adopting a regimen that includes swimming and other exercise, Packe said, his post-amputation life is improving.
‘‘Losing your leg is a big adjustment,” Packe said Tuesday in Ability’s therapeutic room. ‘‘Anytime you can be somewhat normal without a wheelchair, it’s a big thing. Being able to walk, I’m very thankful for that.”
With a steadily growing client base, mainly baby boomers and seniors, Brandt said his plans to continue opening new locations have attracted some investor interest.
‘‘The things we wanted to do differently were all about the patient experience, like getting them an appointment quickly,” Brandt said. ‘‘People are coming out of the woodwork.”
