Historic First: NAAOP Brings Advocates Together for In-Person Legislative Fly-In

Published in Orthotics & Prosthetics on August 01, 2025

Last week, 33 stakeholders, advocates, and leaders from around the O&P industry convened at the offices of Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC in Washington, D.C., as part of The National Association for the Advancement of Orthotics and Prosthetics’s (NAAOP) first ever in-person legislative fly-in. Co-sponsored by OPGA, the fly-in kicked off with an in-depth discussion and strategy session surrounding several legislative priorities affecting O&P providers and patients. Leading the way was the newly reintroduced Medicare O&P Patient Centered Care Act (H.R. 4475/S.2939) as well as the impact of CMS’s proposed rule and the expansion of anti-obesity medication coverage to the limb loss community among others.

The strategy session was broken up midday with a luncheon to celebrate both Annika Berlin, NAAOP’s 2025 George & Dena Breece Fellow on the conclusion of her fellowship, and to honor George Breece, NAAOP’s long time and founding Executive Director, on his 80th birthday and upcoming retirement.

 The VGM/OPGA team with Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA)

Joined by every past Breece fellow, leaders from NAAOP, AOPA, Academy, ABC, BOC, NCOPE, The Amputee Coalition, and OPGA/VGM ended the afternoon hosting an event for Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA), a long-time legislative champion and introducing co-sponsor of Medicare O&P Patient Centered Care Act in this congress. The evening concluded with a dinner to recognize and honor OPGA and Ossur’s 2025 grant winners, Nicole Bakovich and Avery-Claire Littleton.

 L to R:  Nicole Bakovich (Todd Eagan Grant Winner), Adam Miller, Avery-Claire Littleton (Russell Walker Grant Winner), Michael Barnett, Powers Law

On day two, it was time to hit the hill, and the group did so in full force with over 60 meetings with legislators and staff from districts around the country. The group advocated for support on legislative priorities, access to and quality of care, preventing fraud and abuse, and the future of O&P care for providers and the patients they serve.

“Our first Congressional fly-in with our partners from OPGA was a resounding success,” said George Breece, Executive Director of NAAOP. “A good number of our NAAOP Board members and all eight of our Breece Fellows participated along with leaders of other organizations. We are so thankful to OPGA/VGM for their tremendous support to make this such a success.”

OPGA was honored to co-sponsor this event through its continuing support of NAAOP. If you aren’t already a member and want to join NAAOP or need more information, please visit https://www.naaop.org/join. There is no better time to join the fight to help form the future of O&P.