Helmets/DOC band??

Re: Helmets/DOC band??

• doubleOmommy

  January 2012

  I'm in CA, but my son got a DOC Band a week ago and we have already seen improvement in the shape of his head! It's so light and he doesnt seem to notice it anymore. DOC Band has a facebook page that has a lot of great info...

  https://www.facebook.com/#!/DOCBand

  Good luck with your decision! Here's a pic of Owen in his DOC Band:)

  

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• unm00red member

  January 2012

  I'm in Phoenix, Arizona.  I researched both the local CranialTech and Hanger offices and did initial consults before deciding to go with CranialTech.

  There were a couple of things I preferred about CranialTech.  First, Hanger does a lot of other kinds of orthotics and doesn't specialize in either cranial helmets or kids.  We sat in an office full of orthotic shoes for seniors and the orthotist was kind of a jerk to LO when we went in for our initial consult.

  By comparison,the ladies at CranialTech were awesome with LO and their offices were very kid friendly. (Stocked with toys, etc.)
  

  Hanger does not start helmets until 5 months where CranialTech will start at 3.  I believe this may be due to the heavier weight of the Hanger helmets and concerns about infants having sufficient neck strength. I wanted to start as soon as possible because LO has fairly severe cranial shape issues and the sooner we started the more favorable the outcome was likely to be.

  (The orthotist at Hanger tried to tell me that there is actually a bulletin from the American Pediatric Association advising against starting helmets before 5 months.  However, when I asked him for the specifics of when this was published, he quickly changed the subject.  I spent an afternoon hunting for this information afterwards and came up with nothing.  I'm pretty sure it was b.s.)
  
  I also liked that CranialTech does weekly checks/tweaks to the helmet whereas Hanger only wanted to see us once a month.  Every single week we've been in, they've made some sort of change to the helmet to address mild chafing or account for growth from the previous week.
  

  That being said, here are some of the negatives to going with CranialTech...  You are correct that a lot of insurance will treat them as out of network.  A lot of the big insurance carriers don't go with them because they don't have nation-wide coverage.  Hanger does.  

  CranialTech also tends to be more expensive.  LO's helmet at CranialTech ran $3800 (inclusive of all appointments) and is covered at the lower, out-of-network rate by our insurance.  At Hanger it would have only been $2500 and covered in-network.

  There is also a high sales factor at CranialTech I find kind of smarmy and annoying.  Each week when we go to get his helmet fitted, the orthotist brings in the mold of his head and points out changes she's seeing.  Frequently, I feel like she's overstating the amount of change that's occurred.

  Also, even if you receive approval from your insurance, CranialTech is pretty obnoxious about wanting to receive payment up front.  We had to write them a check for the full amount of LO's helmet and then they cut us a check back when they receive the 60% our insurance will cover with them being out of network.

  Finally, I'm starting to wonder a little about how "customized" the CranialTech helmets actually are.  CranialTech essentially has a single design that can be created as either right-facing or left-facing. They make a big deal about how they "customize" their helmets based on the photo-scan of your child.  However, the shop that vinyl-wrapped my LO's helmet tells me they're able to use an identical pattern for every kid's helmet, it's just a question of how large they have to scale it based on head diameter.
  

  All in all, though, CranialTech was the better of the two choices for us.  My advice would be to go for an initial consult at both places, get definitive answers on what your insurance would cover, and then go with what your gut tells you.

  (If you haven't already, you might also want to check out the plagiocephaly board on YahooGroups to see if anyone has experience with your local offices. I frequently see people looking for feedback along these lines.)
  

  I hope this helps.
  

   

   

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