How one company aims to improve the prosthetic fitting process

The biggest problem in the prosthetics field isn’t just designing better devices: it’s the lack of data to determine which device is best for each patient, according to one industry executive.

Josh Caputo, CEO of HumoTech, said he realized this as he began his career as a prosthetics engineer.

“I thought I would invent the next biggest robot foot. I realized some of the interesting challenges in the prosthetics industry that limit the ability of companies to scale, and I wanted to do something to solve that meta-problem,” Caputo said this week during a panel at the Reuters MedTech Conference in Boston.

His company, based in Pittsburgh, has developed a robotic testing platform that allows patients to quickly try multiple prosthetic or exoskeleton options in a clinic.

Instead of having to physically build and install several different prosthetics — a process that takes time and money — the patient can try several options consecutively on a treadmill in the clinic, Caputo explained. As they walk, HumoTech’s system adjusts to mimic the mechanics of different prosthetic models, then generates an experiential data report on how each device performed for that individual.

“We are an impartial arbiter of what makes sense,” Caputo said.

During the test, the clinic collects objective data, such as walking speed and gait stability, as well as subjective feedback collected through short patient surveys. The data is then compared between devices to identify the prosthesis best suited to the patient’s needs.

The current denture fitting process relies largely on the expertise of the prosthetist, as there is no widely used, data-driven way to predict the performance of a given device for a specific patient, Caputo noted.

If a device ends up not matching, there is little recourse, he added. Replacements are usually difficult to obtain and the clinic often absorbs the financial loss.

Not only does the test have the potential to reduce hassle and potentially costs for patients and providers, but it also offers benefits to payers, Caputo pointed out.

“The payer wins because we help them avoid overpayments and we reduce the abandonment of these devices. A prosthesis costs on average about $30,000, but at the low end it’s only a few thousand, and at the high end you can spend over $100,000 for a leg. So it’s a really important decision,” he noted.

So far, HumoTech’s business approach has been to sell its system to research institutes and the VA to validate its effectiveness and build credibility. Today, the company is moving toward clinical deployment and recurring revenue models with prosthetic clinics — with early pilots showing strong patient engagement and better outcomes, Caputo said.

Longer term, HumoTech plans to create large datasets of amputee gait and device performance to enable more advanced learning models, as well as the development of better predictive decision support tools.