Ball Receives Business Education Award During AOPA World Congress

Published in Orthotics & Prosthetics on September 19, 2017

VGM’s Ryan Ball received the Sam E. Hamontree Business Education Award during the American Orthotic and Prosthetic Association’s (AOPA) World Congress.

The award, voted on by attendees, recognizes the best business education paper, idea and/or proposal presented at the annual education event for O&P professionals. Ball presented to a large audience who chose his presentation as the best among the finalists.     

“It was such an honor to even be nominated for the Sam E Hamontree Business Education award, let alone receive it and present during the World Congress,” said Ball, director of VGM Market Data, a division of VGM. “The O&P profession is full of clinicians who become business owners, so business operations is a critical part of a successful O&P practice. I was proud to share my expertise with the professionals in attendance.”

Ball, a nationally recognized expert in using quantitative data to grow business, received the award based on his presentation titled “Competitive Differentiator: Executing a Data-Driven Growth Strategy in O&P.” His presentation highlighted how using data can create greater efficiencies and identify new growth opportunities for O&P providers. 

“Big data now impacts all facets of America’s health care and payment delivery system, including the orthotics and prosthetics segment,” Ball added. “Every O&P business needs to find more referrals, and every O&P business has at least one competitor. Data can provide the differentiating factor to find new business growth opportunities.”

For VGM, Ball’s award marked the third time in the last four years an employee was at least a finalist, winning twice. CEO Mike Mallaro won the award in 2014 and Christina Throndson with VGM Forbin was a finalist in 2015.

Todd Eagen, president of Orthotic and Prosthetic Group of America (OPGA), VGM’s division dedicated to serving the O&P profession, stated, “Our consistent representation among the group of finalists for this award is a great indicator of the thought leadership we attempt to bring to the O&P profession. OPGA’s commitment to our membership community is to advance the profession, and a big part of that deals with helping our members run their business better. This does exactly that.”

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1. orthotics and prosthetics
2. vgm