industry prosthetics medical equipment headquarters austin texas parent hanger orthopedic group inc. website www.hanger.com hanger prosthetics and orthotics a division of hanger orthopedic group nyse hgr provides prosthetic and orthotic patient care services in the united states . 1 the company has more than 640 patient care centers located in 45 states and the district of columbia . about 650 000 patients visit these centers each year . hanger prosthetics and orthotics operates under the corporate umbrella of hanger orthopedic group inc. headquartered in austin tx formerly bethesda md . according to the company s 2007 annual report the patient care market for prosthetic and orthotic services in the united states is estimated at 2.5 billion annually . 2 hanger prosthetics and orthotics represents about 25 percent of this market . 3 they employee about 3 500 people including more than 1 080 prosthetic and orthotic practitioners . notable hanger patients include jeremy campbell winner of two gold medals in the 2008 paralympic games and world record holder for the pentathlon p44 ; 4 retired staff sgt. heath calhoun veteran of the iraq war spokesperson for the wounded warrior project and key advocate in the passage of federal traumatic injury protection tsgli payments to assist wounded american soldiers and their families 5 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 contents 1 history 2 subsidiaries 3 research 4 legal problems 5 references 6 external links history edit james edward hanger the first documented amputee of the american civil war founded the company in virginia in 1861 . 6 a remark in ambrose bierce s postwar memoir that we shot off a confederate leg at philippi refers to hanger . 7 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 . 7 hanger returned to his parent s 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 . 8 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 . 9 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 . 8 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 . 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 . 1 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 . 1 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 . 10 following the novacare acquisition the company continued to expand its corporate holdings with related specialty businesses . subsidiaries edit in 2009 hanger orthopedic group is composed of four wholly owned subsidiaries that serve different segments of the orthotics and prosthetics industry . in addition to hanger prosthetics and orthotics holdings include southern prosthetic supply innovative neurotronics and linkia . southern prosthetic supply sps is the largest distributor of orthotic and prosthetic materials in the world . citation needed sps has four distribution centers and 270 000 products offerings . 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 11 functional restoration of adults and children with upper extremity amputation 12 and physical medicine and rehabilitation principles and practice . 13 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 . 14 a class action lawsuit was brought against hanger for allegedly using the fraud to artificially raise stock prices . 15 although 14 offices were named in the lawsuit hanger said that only one location was involved in the fraud . 16 references edit a b c hanger orthopedic group inc. . funding universe company histories . retrieved march 9 2009 . hanger annual report 2007 pdf . hanger prosthetics & orthotics . retrieved february 23 2009 . plunkett jack w. plunkett s health care industry almanac 2009 page 391 plunkett research ltd. dallas tx isbn 9781593921323 . u.s. paralympics features events results team usa . team usa . https www.woundedwarriorproject.org content view 432 878 robert j. driver virginia regimental history series 14th virginia cavalry published 1988 by e. e. howard inc. pge 131 . a b roy morris 1998 . ambrose bierce alone in bad company reprint ed . . oxford university press . p. 320 . isbn 0195126289 . pages 25 26 a b edward l. lach 2005 . hanger james edward . in mark c. carnes . american national biography supplement 2 reprint ed . . oxford university press . p. 224 . isbn 0195222024 . history of the united states patent office appendix . p. 207 . retrieved february 25 2009 . daniels cora ; lanning deirdre ; maroney tyler ; tarpley natasha september 6 1999 . fortune s one hundred fastest growing companies . fortune magazine . kevin carroll and joan e. edelstein eds . 2006 . prosthetics and patient management a comprehensive clinical approach . slack incorporated . p. 266 . isbn 1556426712 . cs1 maint uses editors parameter link robert henry meier ; diane j. atkins eds . 2004 . functional restoration of adults and children with upper extremity amputation . demos medical publishing llc . p. 380 . isbn 1888799730 . 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 . isbn 0781741300 . wary employee questions hanger orthopedic billing washingtonpost.com . washingtonpost.com . class action suits filed against hanger . baltimore business journal . http findarticles.com p articles mi qn4183 is 20040811 ai n10062860 external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title hanger inc. & oldid 742153665 categories prostheticspodiatryamputee organizationsamerican disability organizationshidden categories cs1 maint uses editors parameterall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from march 2009 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 2 october 2016 at 00 52 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non 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