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Your ATP Just Quit: Protecting Your Order

Daryl Bullard·

You get a voicemail from the supplier's front desk: "Just letting you know, Marcus is no longer with us. Someone will be in touch." Your chair has been on order for nine weeks. Nobody calls back.

I've cleaned up a lot of these. ATP turnover in complex rehab is brutal — burnout, commission changes, a competitor poaching. When your rep leaves mid-order, your paperwork doesn't vanish, but the person who understood why you specified a 15" seat width with a 16" back and a 2" dump does. That knowledge lived in their head, and now it's gone.

Here's how to protect yourself.

Step one: find out where the order actually is

There are only a handful of possible states, and they matter enormously:

  1. Nothing submitted. The evaluation happened, but the paperwork was never sent to the manufacturer or the insurer. This is more common than you'd think — reps who know they're leaving stop submitting.
  2. Documentation gathering. Prescription and Letter of Medical Necessity are in progress, waiting on the therapist or physician.
  3. Submitted to payer, pending prior authorization. The clock is running.
  4. Authorized, purchase order not yet issued to the manufacturer.
  5. In build. The chair is physically being made.

Call the supplier's branch manager — not the front desk — and ask specifically: "Has this been submitted to the manufacturer? Do you have a sales order number? Has prior auth been approved, and what's the auth number and expiration date?"

If they can't answer within 48 hours, that tells you something.

Get copies of everything, today

Request, in writing (email so there's a record):

  • The signed detailed product description or configuration sheet — every line item, every option code
  • The Letter of Medical Necessity and physician's prescription
  • The seating evaluation from your PT/OT
  • The prior authorization approval letter with auth number and expiration
  • Any manufacturer sales order or quote number

That configuration sheet is the single most valuable document you own. It's a line-by-line spec: frame model, seat width and depth, front and rear seat-to-floor heights, camber, axle position, back angle, caster and wheel sizes, cushion, backrest, footplate style. If you have that, a new ATP can pick up where the old one left off in an afternoon instead of re-doing your entire evaluation.

If the supplier stalls, remember: under HIPAA you have a right to your medical records, and the LMN and seating eval are medical records. Put the request in writing and reference that right.

Watch the authorization clock

This is where people get hurt. Prior authorizations expire. Medicare Advantage plans and most commercial payers typically give you 60 to 180 days, and some require the chair to be delivered within that window, not just ordered. If your ATP left in month two of a four-month build, nobody may be watching that date.

Write the expiration on your calendar with a 30-day reminder. If it's going to lapse, an extension request submitted before expiration is routine paperwork. A new authorization after expiration can mean a whole new evaluation, a new LMN, and in a few cases a new face-to-face visit with your physician.

Also note: your physician's face-to-face encounter note has its own shelf life for Medicare — the mobility exam generally needs to be reasonably recent relative to the order. Long delays can invalidate it.

Loop in your therapist

Your PT or OT is your ally here and is often the only other person who understands the clinical reasoning behind your configuration. Email them: "My ATP left the company. Can you confirm you have a copy of the seating evaluation and the measurements we took?" Therapists keep their own notes, and those notes have rescued more than one order.

Decide whether to stay or move

Staying with the same supplier is usually faster if they assign a real ATP with a RESNA credential and that person calls you within a week. Ask directly: "Who is my ATP now, and what's their direct number?" A name and a number is a commitment. "Someone will follow up" is not.

Move if: the order was never submitted, nobody has called you in two weeks, or the replacement rep tells you they need to "start fresh" with a new evaluation on a spec that was already finalized.

The honest tradeoff: switching suppliers means the authorization is tied to the original supplier's NPI in most cases, so a new supplier usually has to resubmit. That can cost you four to eight weeks. But eight weeks with someone competent beats six months of silence.

The prevention

At your next evaluation, before you sign anything, ask for a copy of the configuration sheet and take a photo of it. Get your ATP's cell number and their branch manager's name. Ask what happens to your order if they leave. A good ATP will tell you straight — and won't be offended you asked.

Ready for a Chair That Actually Fits?

A chair order shouldn't fall apart because one person changed jobs. When you work with someone who documents the spec properly and keeps you in the loop, there's nothing to lose track of.

I work directly with clients to specify and order custom ultra-lightweight wheelchairs — no middlemen, no upsells, just the chair that fits your life.

Get started at wheelchair.direct — answer a few questions and I'll reach out personally.

Your ATP Just Quit: Protecting Your Order | wheelchair.direct