Hanger Orthotics

Hanger, Inc. (NYSE: HNGR^{[permanent dead link]}) (formerly Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc.) is a leading national provider of products and services that assist in enhancing or restoring the physical capabilities of patients with disabilities or injuries that is headquartered in Austin, TX (formerly Bethesda, MD). The company provides orthotic and prosthetic (“O&P”) services, distributes O&P devices and components, manages O&P networks, and provides therapeutic solutions to patients and businesses in acute, post-acute, and clinic settings. Hanger, Inc. operates through two segments: Patient Care and Products & Services.

The service options at Scottsdale's Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics will leave you feeling relaxed and renewed. For medical treatments such as urine testing and blood testing, this medical facility is exactly what you need. Remember to take yourself to Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics and take a break from the day with savvy services and beauty treatments.

The primary division of Hanger, Inc.'s Patient Care segment is Hanger Clinic (formerly Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics), which specializes in the design, fabrication, and delivery of custom O&P devices through 677 patient care clinics and 109 satellite locations in 44 states and the District of Columbia as of September 30, 2018.^[1] According to the company's 2017 annual report, the patient care market for prosthetic and orthotic services in the United States is estimated at $4 billion annually. Hanger Clinic represents about 20 percent of this market. They employ about 4,600 people, including about 1,500 prosthetic and orthotic practitioners.^[2]

Notable Hanger patients include:

• Jeremy Campbell, winner of two gold medals in the 2008 Paralympic Games, and world-record holder for the Pentathlon P44;^[3]
• Aron Ralston a mountain climber who became famous in May 2003 when he amputated his lower right arm with a dull knife in order to free himself from a fallen boulder
• A notable non-human Hanger patient is Winter, a bottlenose dolphin (the main attraction at Clearwater Marine Aquarium) notable for her prosthetic tail (designed and manufactured by Hanger)

History[edit]

James Edward Hanger, the first documented amputee of the American Civil War, founded the company in Virginia in 1861.^[4]

A remark in Ambrose Bierce's postwar memoir that 'We shot off a Confederate leg at Philippi' refers to Hanger.^[5] At 18 years of age, Hanger joined the Confederate cavalry at Philippi, Virginia, on June 2, 1861. One day later, during the Battle of Philippi, Hanger was sheltering inside a stable with the rest of the Churchville (Virginia) Cavalry when the 'first solid Union cannon shot of the war' bounced into the stable and struck his leg. The injury required amputation of Hanger's leg above the knee, and he underwent the first battlefield amputation of the war, at the hands of Union surgeons.^[5] Hanger returned to his parents’ home to recuperate wearing a prosthesis that was basically a wooden peg. His dissatisfaction with the fit and function of the limb replacement led Hanger to design and construct a new prosthesis from whittled barrel staves, rubber and wood, with hinges at the knee and foot. The device worked well, and the state legislature commissioned him to manufacture the “Hanger Limb” for other wounded soldiers.^[6]

Manufacturing operations for J.E. Hanger, Inc., were established in the cities of Staunton and Richmond. Hanger was awarded his first patent for an artificial limb, number 155, from the United States Patent Office on March 23, 1863.^[7] Over the years Hanger developed and patented additional products for veterans and other amputees. In 1906, Hanger moved the company’s headquarters to Washington, DC. In 1915, he traveled to Europe to help World War I amputees and to learn from European prosthetists.

Hanger’s five sons were active in operating the family business. In 1915, they divided J.E. Hanger, Inc., into four separate companies, with each operating in a different region of the country. At the time of Hanger’s death in 1919, the companies had branches in Atlanta, St, Louis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, London and Paris.^[6]

Significant technological advances in the U.S. prosthetic industry were largely absent in the years leading up to World War II. The new wave of amputee veterans demanded better prosthetic options, and in 1946, the federal government began providing funds for research and development in prosthetics.J.E. Hanger, Inc., was able to introduce new prosthetic socket designs made from improved materials such as thermosetting resins.

Beholder 2 collector. Also around this time, the orthotics industry (braces /supports) sought to combine with the prosthetics industry. In 1950, the American Orthotics and Prosthetics Association was formed, and with that came a new emphasis on the education and certification of clinical practitioners. By the mid 1950s, J.E.Hanger, Inc., had added orthotic services to its business, and had expanded to 50 offices in the U.S. and 25 in Europe.^[8]

The 1960s and 70s held relatively few technological improvements, but the 1980s marked the beginning of a period of advanced technological development that continues to the present day. In 1986, Sequel Corporation, a Colorado-based communications company, sold off its cellular phone business and began investing in the orthotics and prosthetics industry. In 1989, Sequel bought J. E. Hanger, Inc., of Washington, DC. At the time of purchase, J. E. Hanger, Inc., was an $8 million business with offices in 11 cities and eight states. Soon after, Sequel changed the name of the company to the Hanger Orthopedic Group. Ivan Sabel, president and chief operating officer, was focused on centralizing the design and manufacturing of the company's prosthetic and orthotic devices and distributing them nationally.^[8]

In 1996, the company bought J. E. Hanger, Inc., of Georgia. This acquisition doubled the size of the company, which now had 175 patient care centers, six distribution sites, four manufacturing plants and 1,000 employees in 30 states. Hanger continued purchasing small companies and by 1998, was operating 256 patient care centers. In 1999, Hanger Orthopedic Group bought its biggest competitor and the industry leader, the orthotics and prosthetics division of NovaCare. This added an additional 369 patient care centers. In 1999, Fortune Magazine ranked Hanger Orthopedic Group as 79th on its list of One Hundred Fastest-Growing Companies.^[9] Following the NovaCare acquisition, the company continued to expand its corporate holdings with related specialty businesses.

Subsidiaries[edit]

Hanger, Inc. operates seven business lines within two segments: Patient Care and Products & Services.

Hanger, Inc.'s Patient Care segment comprises Hanger Clinic and Linkia.

Its Products & Services segment includes Accelerated Care Plus,Hanger Fabrication Network (formerly National Labs), Innovative Neurotronics,Southern Prosthetic Supply (SPS), and SureFit.

SPS has distribution centers in five states, distributing more than 400,000 products offerings. Through its SureFit subsidiary, SPS also manufactures and sells therapeutic footwear for diabetic patients in the podiatric market, and through Hanger Fabrication Network, it is a fabricator of O&P devices both for our patient care clinics and competitor clinics.

Innovative Neurotronics, Inc., specializes in the development and commercialization of emerging neuromuscular technologies. Neuromuscular refers to the use of electrical stimulation to improve the functionality of an impaired extremity.

Linkia is a network management company that works exclusively with the orthotics and prosthetics industry.

Research[edit]

Employees of the company are editors and contributing authors of textbooks such as Prosthetics and patient management: a comprehensive clinical approach,^[10]Functional Restoration of Adults and Children with Upper Extremity Amputation,^[11] and Physical medicine and rehabilitation: principles and practice.^[12]

Legal problems[edit]

In 2004, allegations of billing fraud were made against the company when an office administrator reported Hanger employees in New York for forging false prescriptions for non existent patients.^[13] A class action lawsuit was brought against Hanger for allegedly using the fraud to artificially raise stock prices.^[14] Although 14 offices were named in the lawsuit, Hanger said that only one location was involved in the fraud.^[15]

References[edit]

1. ^'Hanger, Inc. 2018 Q3 Filing'(PDF). Hanger, Inc. September 30, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
2. ^'Hanger Annual Report 2017'(PDf). investor.hanger.com. Hanger, Inc. Retrieved February 27, 2019.
3. ^'U.S. Paralympics - Features, Events, Results - Team USA'. Team USA.
4. ^Robert J. Driver, Virginia Regimental History Series, 14th Virginia Cavalry, published 1988 by E. E. Howard Inc., Pge 131.
5. ^ ^abRoy Morris (1998). Ambrose Bierce: alone in bad company (reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 320. ISBN0195126289. pages 25-26
6. ^ ^abEdward L. Lach (2005). 'Hanger, James Edward'. In Mark C. Carnes (ed.). American National Biography Supplement 2 (reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 224. ISBN0195222024.
7. ^'History of the United States Patent Office, Appendix'. p. 207. Archived from the original on February 5, 2009. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
8. ^ ^ab'Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc'. Funding Universe Company Histories. Retrieved March 9, 2009.
9. ^Daniels, Cora; Lanning, Deirdre; Maroney, Tyler; Tarpley, Natasha (September 6, 1999). 'Fortune's One Hundred Fastest-Growing Companies'. Fortune Magazine.
10. ^Kevin Carroll and Joan E. Edelstein, eds. (2006). Prosthetics and patient management: a comprehensive clinical approach. SLACK Incorporated. p. 266. ISBN1556426712.CS1 maint: uses editors parameter (link)
11. ^Robert Henry Meier; Diane J. Atkins, eds. (2004). Functional Restoration of Adults and Children with Upper Extremity Amputation. Demos Medical Publishing, LLC. p. 380. ISBN1888799730.
12. ^Joel A. DeLisa; Bruce M. Gans; Nicholas E. Walsh; William L. Bockenek, eds. (2004). Physical medicine and rehabilitation: principles and practice (4th ed.). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. p. 1926. ISBN0781741300.
13. ^'Wary Employee Questions Hanger Orthopedic Billing (washingtonpost.com)'. washingtonpost.com.
14. ^'Class-action suits filed against Hanger'. Baltimore Business Journal.
15. ^'FindArticles.com - CBSi'. findarticles.com.

External links[edit]

James Edward Hanger (February 25, 1843 – June 9, 1919) was a Confederate States Army veteran of the American Civil War, a prosthetist and a businessman. It is reported that he became the first amputee of the war after being struck in the leg by a cannonball.^[1] Hanger subsequently designed and created his own prosthesis, then went on to found a prosthetic company that continues in business today.^[2]

Early life and war service[edit]

Hanger was born at Mount Hope, his father's plantation near Churchville, Virginia. His parents were William Alexander Hanger and Eliza Hogshed Hanger.^[3] He attended local elementary schools and, in 1859, enrolled at Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, to study engineering. He was an 18-year-old sophomore when he decided to leave school and join the newly formed Churchville Cavalry, which was under the command of Captain Franklin Sterrett. Two of Hanger's brothers and four of his cousins were already enlisted with the company, and as he prepared to join them, his mother packed food and clothing to send along for her sons. An ambulance corps carrying supplies for the Confederacy passed through town, and Hanger joined the group, traveling to Philippi, Virginia (now West Virginia). He arrived on June 2, 1861, and after enlisting, spent the night in a nearby stable with a small group of untrained and badly equipped Confederates. While on guard duty the next morning, Hanger heard gunfire, and ran into the stable to get his horse. At that moment, a Union cannonball ricocheted inside the stable, striking his left leg below the knee. This was the beginning of the Battle of Philippi, also known as 'The Philippi Races'.

Author Robert J. Driver, Jr., in his book The 14th Virginia Cavalry, documents Hanger's firsthand account of this experience:

The first two shots were canister and directed at the Cavalry Camps, the third shot was a 6 pound solid shot aimed at a stable in which the Churchville Cavalry Company had slept. This shot struck the ground, richochetted (sic), entering the stable and struck me. I remained in the stable til they came looking for plunder, about four hours after I was wounded. My limb was amputated by Dr. James D. Robinson, 16th Ohio Volunteers.

Hanger's shattered leg was amputated about seven inches below the hip bone. This loss of limb is said to have been the first such occurrence of a war that saw more than 50,000 additional amputations performed.^[4]

Hanger remained in Philippi for several weeks and then was sent to Camp Chase in Ohio. In August 1861, he was returned to his family home in Virginia in a prisoner of war exchange.

Recovery and invention[edit]

Dissatisfied with both the fit and the function of his above-knee prosthesis, Hanger designed a new prosthesis constructed of whittled barrelstaves and metal. His design used rubber bumpers rather than standard catgut tendons and featured hinges at both the knee and ankle. Hanger patented his limb in 1871^[5] and it has received numerous additional patents for improvements and special devices which have brought international reputation to the product.^[1] The Virginia state government commissioned Hanger to manufacture the above-knee prosthesis for other wounded soldiers. Manufacturing operations for J.E. Hanger, Inc., were established in the cities of Staunton and Richmond. The company eventually moved to Washington, D.C.

Other inventions credited to Hanger include a horseless carriage (used as a toy by his children); an adjustable reclining chair; a water turbine; a Venetian blind; and a lathe used in the manufacturing process for prosthetic limbs.^[3]

Hanger married Nora McCarthy in Richmond in 1873. The couple had two daughters (Princetta and Alice) and six sons (James Edward, Herbert Blair, McCarthy, Hugh Hamilton, Henry Hoover and Albert Sidney). The family moved to Washington, D.C., in the 1880s, and their home near Logan Circle still stands today. All of Hanger's sons worked in the family business as adults.^[4]

Hanger retired from active management of the company in 1905, however he retained the title of president. In 1915, he traveled to Europe to observe firsthand the latest techniques of European prosthetists. As a result, the company received contracts with both England and France during and after World War I. At the time of Hanger's death in 1919, the company had branches in Atlanta, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, London and Paris.^[4]

Hanger's children and grandchildren, along with in-laws, cousins and other associates, continued operating and expanding the company.^[6] By the mid 1950s there were 50 Hanger offices in North America and 25 in Europe. In 1989, J. E. Hanger, Inc. of Washington, D.C., was purchased by Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc. and became part of their wholly owned subsidiary, Hanger Prosthetics and Orthotics. According to the company's 2007 annual report, net sales for this patient care services segment were $571.7 million.^[7] As of 2008, Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics sees about 650,000 patients annually.

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abRobert J. Driver, Virginia Regimental History Series, 14th Virginia Cavalry, published 1988 by E. E. Howard Inc., Page 131. ISBN0-930919-60-2
2. ^Stewart Sifakis, Who Was Who in the Civil War, Facts on File Inc., NY, NY, 1988, Page 280. ISBN0-8160-1055-2
3. ^ ^abEdward L. Lach Jr., Mark C. Carnes (editor) American National Biography Supplement 2, Oxford University Press, 2005. ISBN0-19-522202-4
4. ^ ^abc'He Lost His Leg and Gave it to Thousands,' The West Virginia Hillbilly, May 27, 1961.
5. ^'History of the United States Patent Office, Appendix. Patent # 155, 03/23/1863, James E. Hanger of Staunton, VA, for Artificial Limb'. www.myoutbox.net. Archived from the original on 2009-02-05. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
6. ^'Hanger Orthopedic Group, Inc. -- Company History'. www.fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2009-05-06.
7. ^Hanger Annual Report 2007, Hanger Prosthetics & Orthotics, Retrieved 2/23/2009.Archived 2008-10-03 at the Wayback Machine