azor
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..."Where have you seen..."???...hey, I tried to answer this question but you know how it goes...I guess I could start posting testimonials...hmmmmmmmm....hey!...that might not be such a bad idea!...besides, if some someone chooses to uses CTTC's product as a bugzapper, who's to deny them?...right?...the company needs to start selling some them things one way or t'other, right?...ain't there a 10Q coming up pretty soon?...
..."I might subsequently say to my staff: "No, I meant aspirin, or non-narcotic analgesics are allowed, not narcotics."??????...lordy, son you aren't that naive, now, are you?...if they DIDN'T allow narcotics, then there likely wouldn't be any participants...and all the other studies so far have allowed narcotics and I'm pretty sure in this case the description wasn't "accidentally overly broad"...besides, you WANT narcotics and you WANT him to measure their use -- that ALLEGEDLY is an important selling point (ie it reduces narcotic dependence)
...as for neurotin, any anticonvulsant is likely disallowed because of possible effects on nerve conduction -- don't want to obfuscate those "scrambled" signals now do'ya?...but why disallow ANY -- pretty much any medicine somewhere along the line affects some neuron -- how do you know which ones do what?...neurontin is not addictive -- habit forming perhaps, but not addictive...
..."Calmare's device is fantastic."????...now if there were just some RANDOMIZED, BLINDED, and APPROPRIATELY CONTROLLED studies to PROVE that so the third party reimbursers would loosen their purse strings...hmmmmmm...I feel a song coming on -- to dream the impossible dream...la-da-da...da-da...daaaaa...
..."The Calmare machine can not be used to kill bugs in an efficient manner."????...I beg your pardon!...I've got tesimonials out the wazoo proclaiming CTTC's device to be the finest bugzapper on the market!...why, some say it'll knock down mosquitoes at 40 paces!...and all the little blinking lights put on a real pretty show to boot!...
...oh, yeah!...go ahead!...go ahead and say it -- but it ain't got no RANDOMIZED, BLINDED, and CONTROLLED studies to demonstrate superiority over other bugzappers !!...yeah, right!...I know!...but, hey!...I KNOW it works cuz' I seen it!...
..."Does CTTC sell "bugzappers" as you constantly post?"????...actually, nooooooo...I guess I shouldn't do that, huh?...after all, comparing bugzappers to the "calmare" would probably be construed as libel by the bugzapper manufacturers...
..."believe he was counseled by his attorneys to resume to show that he is committed to the cause."?????..why on earth would anyone's attorney counsel something like that?...in a libel case, truth is an ABSOLUTE defense...and presuming the attorney(s) are using MY posts, then he has ABSOLUTELY nothing to worry about...since -- as surely everyone knows -- EVERY one about CTTC is true and comes complete with links that anyone can use to confirm such...
...as opposed to CTTC who CLAIMS the bugzapper is "not" a TENS device even though their own 501K application AND the FDA approval letter says it IS a TENS device:
"Competitive Technologies, Inc. claims substantial equivalence of the Scrambler Therapy MC-5A TENS Device to the predicate devices based on the intended use, fundamental technology, and operation characteristics."
..."substantial equivalence...to predicate devices"...and the predicate devices listed are:
http://www.lhasaoms.com/E_HAN_Digital_Electronic_Acupunctoscope-44-1720-page.html
http://www.lhasaoms.com/Neuro_Wave_-44-1397-page.html
...weighing in at about $400 and $200 respectively (although probably available on ebay for a lot less)...
...courtesy:
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf8/K081255.pdf
..."There are hints from the company that Medicare is still considering whether to reimburse."????...oh, yeah...just like there were "hints" from the company that insurance reimbursement was just around the corner...and "hints" that they wouldn't have to return Nano's 750 grand...and hints that upwards to TWO HUNDRED clinics were going to be opening...and "hints" that all those foreign distributors to OVER THIRTY countries were going to be pouring in orders to the company...hey!...there's an idea!...maybe CTTC can start marketing "hints"!...that's one thing they're good at producing!...
..."Don't listen to rrtzmd. He's just a crank."???...begging your pardon?..."don't listen"?????...uhhhhh, who exactly has CONSISTENTLY been RIGHT about EVERYTHING -- clinic openings, distributor sales, Marineo, Nano's arbitration, insurance/Medicare/Medicaid response, etc, etc, etc...COMPLETE with LINKS to back up everything up, no less!...but DON'T listen to me?...no, of course not!...
..."From the note prior..."?????...your point?...my quote allegedly came in a letter or email from Aris Despo...and in a personal, casually written (as opposed to a formula PR) response to Sheehan, Despo uses "dr." in front of Idrees and D'Angelo's names while he just calls the inventor "Giuseppe Marineo"...my point being that it hints at him KNOWING Marineo hasn't ANY degrees to justify calling him either "Dr." or "professor"...
...your quote is just Sheehan's response to someone else and sounds cut and pasted from a CTTC PR...I don't see its relevance...
..."Analgesics don't equate in my mind with narcotics."????...although I don't quite see the point you're trying to make, narcotics are considered "analgesics"...neurontin is an "anticonvulsant"...
..."Treatment success story"???...charming...and so kind of you to take a moment from a no doubt busy day to share it on a stock discussion board...as opposed to, say, a pain discussion board...it always strikes me a tad odd how many success stories seem to appear on the stock discussion boards -- as well as on the forums of people looking to make money providing therapy...
...yet on the pain discussion boards, in TWO YEARS one can find only about FOUR or so positive comments versus FIFTEEN to TWENTY negative or no benefit comments...curious how such a miracle painkilling device could arouse so little enthusiasm on the pain boards...I mean, what with all those people suffering chronic pain...why one would think relief would have motivated them to share their success far and wide, and the pain boards would have become a veritable choir singing the praises of the bugzapper...
...alas, no...one is left to tread a trail worn with redundancy through the maze of the stock discussion boards instead...
..."seem like they are continually dealing with self-inflicted wounds"???...you mean like:
http://civilinquiry.jud.ct.gov/DocumentInquiry/DocumentInquiry.aspx?DocumentNo=4349829
...ah, yes...read and reflect upon it for it is truly a treasured document...and to think it cost CTT shareholders only something north of $600,000...a mere pittance...although, to be fair, that probably could have bought quite a bit of advertising in medical journals -- a topic brought up in post #6753...I still can't seem to find any, however...
..."no this testimonial won't count."????...certainly not to the people that matter...you know, all those people working at insurance companies and at Medicare and at Medicaid...three guesses what they want...come'on now!...surely you have'em memorized!...
..."It does work."???...hey, that's great!...how about a post from a website that's NOT trying to sell bugzapper therapy:
"My husband went to get Scrambler Therapy. He has severe pain in his left arm and back do to nerve damage in his neck.
It did not work for him. His pain went down while he was having the treatment, but as soon as he walked out the door it was back to the same old stuff."
..."same old stuff"???...I wonder how many others ended up like that after treatment...quote is from:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread151633-2.html
...now this is just plain cool:
http://webprofile.info/jrooney/index.html
...now that indicates that Rooney worked for CTT for just six months:
VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES AND MARKETING, FAIRFIELD, CT (03/2010 – 09/2010)
...but there's nothing after that...geez, has the poor guy been unemployed since then?...I guess joining CTT wasn't the smartest career move he could have made...
...but I'm surprised CTT let him leave, given all that he accomplished in those six months:
"Recruited to establish and manage the sales and marketing start up operations of the company's first commercialization start-up. Accountable for establishing and leading the sales channel and marketing messaging for quick access to the US marketplace for the companies new 510K cleared device. Responsible for immediate staffing, training and coaching of the US regional sales organization. Reporting to President. CEO and Chairman challenged with immediate goal of US commercialization, corporate profitability, and establishing a CSO that can take on future products for growth.
Selected Achievements
Designed and coached a sales training program to effectively influence the decision to purchase that delivered new clinical and economic evaluations in less than 30 days of the representatives completing training.
Developed and executed a CSO recruitment strategy that in 6 mos. grew the CSO from 6 to 44 representatives who generated strategic market access with 11 new product evaluations worth over $1mm in less than 6 mos.
Within 4 mos. established successful critical landmark economic reimbursement evaluation in strategic oncology segment."
...wow!...I'm surprised CTTC's business isn't booming after all that!...
...in case anyone is interested in reading the judge's final decision in the Nano case:
http://civilinquiry.jud.ct.gov/DocumentInquiry/DocumentInquiry.aspx?DocumentNo=4349829
...man, that judge pretty much spit in CTTC's face on every point...basically, the judge seems to say that once CTTC agreed to arbitration, they were bound by the agreement -- a point I made last summer...and my favorite line:
"The assertions, without more, are nothing more than expressions of the defendant's disagreement and dissatisfaction with the award."
...HAW!...how much did it cost for CTTC to express its "disagreement and dissatisfaction"?...something somewhere north of $600,000???...money well spent for a temper tantrum?...
...by the way, what happened to the suit against the AAA?...did that thing finally settle?...
..."(at least that is what we have heard)."????...well, Aris, could you have been just a little more...uhhhhh...shall we say, "specific":
"We just shipped 2 Calmare devices to our first clinic in Ireland. The physician, Dr. Ashan Idrees, trained in Rome with Giuseppe Marineo several months ago and we expect he will be operational within the next 30 days. We have 10 devices in Saudi Arabia, 3 devices shipping to Albania, a cancer clinic in India with one device and that doctor was trained by our trainers by skype and then he just received additional training 2 weeks ago with Dr. Jack D’Angelo on Staten Island. There are ongoing discussions with groups in Australia but it will take time complete the registration documents with the Health Ministry so I do not expect to have a functioning operation in AU until next summer (the earliest). I would not recommend Bangladesh because they have not sent anyone to Rome or the US for training, yet. There are a couple devices in Greece, and I believe a solo physician has one and doing rather well (at least that is what we have heard)."
...HAW!!..."at least that is what we have heard"????...what's that all about?...from who?...he couldn't have picked up a phone and called?...has the physician bought anymore machines?...has ANYONE in Greece bought anymore machines?...maybe Aris had a "hearing" problem since "doing rather well" usually translates into more sales...right?...
..."3 to Albania"????...okay, that's nice...what about France, Germany, Switzerland, Norway -- ya'know -- all those countries where somebody might actually have some money?...
...I wonder how those "ongoing discussions" with Australia are going...CTT hasn't been very generous with PRs discussing that...I'll presume not very well since that post was from FOUR MONTHS ago...
...funny thing is though, TENS devices are ALREADY approved in Australia, so what exactly are they discussing?...moreover, WHY are they discussing?...given the current rate of sales,shouldn't they pick just ONE country and focus on successfully selling it there...
...hmmmmmmm...I noticed he used "Dr. Ashan Idrees" and "Dr. Jack D'Angelo" but the inventor was just "Guiseppe Marineo"...Freudian slip or maybe they're just such good buddies he forgot to give him a title?...
...the quote is from:
http://crps.physiciansforpatients.com/norm90/comments/rainbowchaser
..."You failed once again."????...I did?...so you don't believe the SEC filings or you think Aris bought shares and din't report doing so?...
..."Good to hear that they are advertising in medical journals. Has anyone seen any adverts?"??????...really?...looked all over!...couldn't find them!...maybe none of the journals were willing to take payment in CTTC stock...
..."I'm not real clear on how experience managing a golf course."????...I don't see how it qualifies him to manage sales reps for ANYTHING...so what motivated CTTC to take him on board?...and what is he -- employee or subcontractor or what?...
...by the way, did I finally clear up for you your question about how to figure out that Aris Despo never bought any shares of CTTC stock?...
...also, you haven't been updating the lawsuit progress...have they gotten to discovery yet?...I do hope they get around to finding out where Marineo got those degrees -- don't you?...
..."What specific medical equipment sales experience does he bring to the table?"???...indeed, does ANYONE outside the new board member have ANY experience selling medical devices:
http://www.competitivetech.net/media/pdf/Annual%20Meeting%202011.pdf
...I mean, for example, "T. Conley" appears to be a co-owner of a nine hole golf course in Rhode Island:
http://ri.chamberocommerce.com/member/7702640/LLC_Conley_Manning_87_Riverside_Dr_Wakefield_RI_02879
...and now he's CTTC's "U.S. Sales Coordinator"?????...I'm not real clear on how experience managing a golf club:
http://www.thegolfcourses.net/golfcourses/RI/37900.htm
...qualifies someone to manage "20 reps" selling bugzappers!...was there a PR that I missed?...is he now an "employee" of the company or just some sort of "subcontractor"...
...where did he even come from?...courtesy D'Amato maybe?...or possibly courtesy of his maybe son or brother who's a broker at Merrill Lynch:
http://www.totalmerrill.com/WM/pages/accolades.aspx?pageurl=KING_GROUP
...not sure which one he is but I presume he's related since he worked at the golf course in 2003:
http://www.brightscope.com/financial-planning/advisor/411482/Kyle-Ryan-Conley/
...what motivated CTTC to put Mr. Conley in charge of US sales?...that seems like something shareholders have a right to know...or does somebody have to "authorize" release of that information?...
..."Although manufacturers of the device say it has been used to treat more than 3,000 patients with neuropathic pain syndrome, it has not been tested in a true placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized controlled trial."????...well, gee!...I wonder who gave him that idea?...I wonder if i can sue him for plagiarism...
...but, "The trials showed the device provided impressive pain reductions compared to narcotics."...hmmmmmm...too bad none of the trials showed a significant reduction in narcotic use after treatment...maybe Toby's will...hmmmmmm...doesn't look like it though:
http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01261780?term=mc-5a&rank=1
...looks like all he's measuring is pain on an analog scale...tsk, tsk...overlooking the effect on narcotic use might may provoke some negativity from third party reimbursers...
..."RT did a much better job of seeking out information and, like it or not, found numerous facts, however, distasteful to many of us, did contain more than one grain of truth. his points were researched by someone, if not him alone, that was doing a very good job."????...aw, gosh!...sniff!...now look what you've gone and done!...snifffff!....I think that's just about the sweetest thing anyone's ever said to me!...I'll try to keep up the good work!...
...by the way, I presume CTTC spent YOUR shareholder equity to send Alison Manganares and Michele Harrington here:
http://www.jwmarriottstarrpass.com/
...ummmmmm...nice!...for the ASPMN National Conference:
http://www.aspmn.org/Conference/documents/CombinedPre-Reg.pdf
...CTTC says they're bugzapper "trainers":
http://www.competitivetech.net/media/pdf/Annual%20Meeting%202011.pdf
...I'm kinda curious as to what they accomplished there...I mean, I PRESUME they weren't learning about the bugzapper there, right?...and they don't appear to have been teaching anything:
http://www.aspmn.org/Conference/documents/ASPMNAM2011_RegistrationBrochure_WebFinal.pdf
...CTTC certainly didn't broadcast their "participation"...how exactly did their participation benefit CTTC shareholders?...and besides, who are they exactly?...I mean, Alison at least is a nurse:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/amaganares
...but I don't see any pain experience there though...and who's Harrington?...the only "Michele M. Harrington" I could find is:
http://www.whitepages.com/name/Michele-D-Harrington/Waxhaw-NC/23ntsep
...the only thing they have in common is that they both live close to Aris Despo...Harrington is only 12 miles away and Alison is practically next door:
http://maps.google.com/maps?pq=+2024+groves+edge+ln+north+carolina&hl=en&sugexp=pfwl&cp=39&gs_id=1w&xhr=t&q=1704+THERRELL+FARMS+RD+WAXHAW,+NC+28173&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1680&bih=961&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x885429a5f5261485:0x60f8dd1464e4f500,1704+Therrell+Farms+Rd,+Waxhaw,+NC+28173&gl=us&ei=7LAkT6EHi5a3B5WlkaIL&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CB4Q8gEwAA
...well, ain't that convenient huh?...hmmmm...I wonder if they left with him...
..."The only real question is does it work or not."???...maybe...but it's nevertheless IMPORTANT to CTTC's business to consider what customers and third party reimbursers care about...and something like the inventor claiming -- for whatever reason -- to have degrees that he really doesn't might be discouraging to pertinent parties...especially if CTTC knew about it all along...
..."One double-blind study at a reputable institution is all you need."????...wouldn't it be wiser to ask some "reputable" third party reimbursers instead?...
..."the substantive accomplishments"????...uhhhh...what "substantive accomplishments"?...exactly...certainly not insurance/medicare/medicaid reimbursement...certainly not the TWO HUNDRED clinics that are supposed to be opening...
...well, there were those 12 machines sold to the military...of course, that was SIX MONTHS ago...going to have to pick up the pace if that's to have any impact...
...and, of course, Aris Despo did resign...I guess that could be considered an accomplishment...although why he would resign when the company's future was so bright is hard to understand...and you have to wonder exactly how much cash he took with him...what with the $775,000 going out the door on top of that, that's gotta make a dent in the old balance sheet...
...then there was that Form D "Notice of Exempt Offering of Securities" that raised some cash...of course, it wasn't quite clear how many shares were distributed and at what price...
...aren't we about due for another 10Q within the next 3 weeks or so?...maybe that'll help clear things up a bit...
..."Sometimes people post the same stuff hoping to draw others out..."????...well, you do realize that someone passing by and new to the board might not be aware of all that has been posted previously...
...but what is amusing about your post is that you seem to be complaining about ME even though it was CTTC's management that flushed around 1.4 MILLION dollars of YOUR equity -- presuming you're a shareholder -- down the toilet...
...and even though it was CTTC's lawyer who apparently didn't understand Nano's contract...
...and even though I recognized that the arbitrator's comments -- the ones CTTC tried to use to get him dismissed -- were nothing more than him indicating that they were wasting money on the arbitration since Nano's contract was "bulletproof"...if they had made the effort to simply understand what the guy was saying or even if they had just taken a moment to read my interpretation of what he was saying, they could've learned something that would have saved YOU over SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND dollars...
...but ME you diss?...go figure!...
...so what did the Nano "fiasco" finally cost altogether, do'ya reckon?...let's see -- $750,000...plus $25,000...plus "...in the nine months ended September 30, 2011...legal fees ($583,000) associated with the legal activity relating to the former CEO challenging his termination for cause..."...plus whatever other legal fees have been incurred since September 30...how much might that be by now?...$50000?...$100,000??...$200,000???...any ideas?...
...in any case, gotta be at least 1.4 MILLION dollars of shareholder equity walking out the door that produced ZERO benefit to shareholders...
...quarterly report is due in 2-3 weeks isn't it?...perhaps that will clarify it...
...well, there goes another $25,000:
"CTTC will pay an additional $25,000 as settlement of additional amounts of statutory interest."
...from:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Competitive-Technologies-Inc-pz-1556139158.html;_ylt=Aip.yUUDQ3tvgCOpqsLwFXqiuYdG;_ylu=X3oDMTIxdmYzYjNrBG1pdANXaWRlIFF1b3RlcyBNb2R1bGUEcG9zAzMzBHNlYwNNZWRpYVJlY2VudFF1b3Rlc1BvcnRmb2xpb3NXaWRl;_ylg=X3oDMTFvdnRqYzJoBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25zBHRlc3QD;_ylv=3?x=0
..."Ah, yes. I do have many questions..."...well, hopefully, you no longer need to question whether Aris Despo was an "officer" of the company...of course, I'm presuming you saw my previous post where I pointed out that you could find Despo's name under "Current Executive Officers:"...right there below Johnnie's name...
..."They are going on."???...unfortunately for CTTC and its shareholders, only ONE of those comes close to meeting the criteria of being blinded, correctly randomized, and appropriately controlled that are required by third party reimbursers...and that ONE (Campbell's) has only 40 patients and such a small sample size is unlikely to detect a significant difference between groups...
...moreover, it's won't be clear to what extent it even meets the criteria until it is finally published and available for study...and in the meantime what else in terms of studies that are pertinent to gaining third party reimbursement are going on?...none that I can find...
...and it's going to be REAL hard to get excited about opening ANY of those TWO HUNDRED clinics that were SUPPOSED to be opening without some guarantee of third party reimbursement...
..."I have called and they have been reimbursed."???...great!...did you also call that "CTPost" editor and straighten him out that about that "Not yet covered by insurance, treatments are $250 each" comment?...
...by the way, I can't seem to find your response to my pointing out that under "Current Executive Officers:" and right below Johnnie's name is "Aris D. Despo"...I was just wondered if you had any questions...
..."you will find that he skirts the topic"???...begging your pardon, but I'm not the one skirting the topic -- presuming the topic to be third party reimbursement...I have posted links to documents by insurance companies expressing their opinion of the device and detailing their payment policy...I have posted a link to a Medicare/Medicaid site detailing their payment -- or rather NON-payment -- policy regarding the therapy...I provided a link to a newspaper article confirming no insurance coverage...and I even posted links to therapy websites explaining the insurance coverage...
...any "challenge" to me to make calls is irrelevant...what I think won't affect business...however, CTTC and its shareholders SHOULD be interested in what potential consumers think...how many of those potential consumers read that newspaper article -- tens of thousands?...hundreds of thousands??...millions???...telling ALL of them that therapy runs $250 per treatment and ISN'T covered by insurance...
...so, you see, it just doesn't seem like I'm the person that should be making phone calls...CTTC should be making calls to line up some clinicians to do a number of randomized, blinded, and controlled trials sufficient to prove superiority to other TENS devices...now please don't go wagging on about how "it's not a TENS device"...it doesn't matter if it's a gumball machine -- it STILL needs those studies to get insurance coverage...
...and while he's making those calls, maybe Johnnie can call Jean and "authorize" the release of the name of the school that granted Marineo his ALLEGED "PhD"...or is it "DSc"?...HAW!!...CIA University College of Bioengineering!!...HAW!!!...oh, no!...HAW,HAW!!!...here it comes again!!!...HAW, HAW, HAW!!!!...
..."Don't you see you have no credibility here..."????...geez!!...who CARES about MY credibility?...I provided links to a half dozen insurance companies detailing their policy -- are those companies not credible?...I provided a Medicare/Medicaid link showing their policy -- was it not credible?...I provided a link a newspaper story from LAST WEEK -- was that not credible?...I quoted D'Amato's, Chalmers', and Sheehan's websites -- were they not credible?...
...aren't ALL THOSE the ones whose credibility MATTERS?...why don't you call THEM and tell THEM they have no credibility because they won't call anyone?...
..."Call any of them."????...why?...I could care less...it's CTTC and its shareholders that should care, right?...because the company's business depends ultimately on being able to tell potential customers that treatment fully reimbursed...indeed, before deciding to take on the job of arranging manufacture and sale of the device, CTTC management SHOULD have looked at what hurdles they would ultimately have to jump to succeed...their first stop SHOULD have been at an insurance company to see what it would take to gain category ONE CPT codes and full reimbursement...
...but what did they do instead?...if we build it, they will come...oops!...hardly anyone came...then they flush 75-80 THOUSAND dollars of shareholder equity down a toilet -- aka "consultant" -- for what?...to help get a virtually useless category THREE CPT code?...on the other hand, MY advice -- recall RANDOMIZED, BLINDED, CONTROLLED studies -- was not only correct but it was FREE!...even Nano couldn't have screwed those up...well, maybe...
..."I am personally unconvinced that no one is reimbursing..."???...would you like me to post some more insurance company statements detailing their opinion of the device and their reimbursement policy?...I mean, I've only posted complete with LINKS about a half dozen or so plus a statement from Medicare/Medicaid indicating they won't reimburse any part of it...
...you, on the other hand, refuse to provide ANY links to ANYONE saying in writing that they'll pay for it...you even refuse to identify a SINGLE insurance company and how much they will pay for it as though you think it's somehow illegal to do so...have ANY of the bugzapper clinics put on their websites ANYTHING identifying sources of reimbursement OTHER than links to things like "mymedicalloan.com" on D'Amato's and Chalmers' sites...or what Sheehan puts on his site:
"We believe that the Calmare Therapies Pain Relief System will begin receiving insurance reimbursements when the therapy is more widely used and the insurance companies have collected sufficient data proving its effective treatment of pain."
...and then there's the laughable statement on Spero's site:
"Will insurance cover the treatment?
YES - We can bill your Insurance company for Office visits and the treatment."
...HAW!!...well, gee, the doc doesn't QUITE answer the question, now, does he?..."billing" the insurance company and ACTUALLY collecting money from the insurance company are quite the two DIFFERENT things, now aren't they?...
...and per:
http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Stamford-practice-offers-pain-relief-technology-2642734.php#license-4f19607db6adc
...which said:
"Not yet covered by insurance, treatments are $250 each."
...$250???...each???...and not covered by insurance??...oh, my!...I'm sure that'll attract a lot of interest...maybe you should write a letter to the editors straightening them out...
..."Despo had a title. But was not an actual officer of the company."???...say what?...uhhhh, he was "executive vice-president" in charge of "business development" and he IS listed as an OFFICER:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/102198/000136086511000118/cttc10k2010a2july202011.htm
...under "Current Executive Officers:" and right below Johnnie is "Aris D. Despo"...what part of that don't you understand?...
..."Does Despo's name appear in any of the documents for which you provided a link?"?????...uhhhhhh...nooooooo...because he didn't buy any stock, he didn't have to file a form 4 to report the transaction...
..."My name isn't in any of those documents and I own shares in CTTC."???...welllll...presuming you aren't an executive at the company or other kind of "insider" -- since if you were, then you'd know the source of Marineo's ALLEGED degrees -- then you aren't required to file form 4 and, consequently, your name isn't on any of those sites either...
..."How do you know this?"???...uhhhh...well, for one:
http://www.sec.gov/cgi-bin/browse-edgar?action=getcompany&CIK=0000102198&type=&dateb=&owner=only&count=100
...or another:
http://www.google.com/search?as_sitesearch=secform4.com%2Finsider-trading&as_q=despo
...or another:
http://www.secform4.com/insider-trading/102198.htm
...of course, those all presume Aris conformed to SEC rules and regulations...
..."This guy Moussa seems pretty solid."???...well, although he may be "solid," my post was meant to suggest perhaps his company is having as much difficulty with its product as CTT -- given the relatively paltry cash raised courtesy of Taglich in their last round of financing compared to their first...I mean, if he can't make his own company attractive to sources of capital, what can he do for CTT?...
..."get CTTC to document Marineo's credentials"???...the point being that if he thinks the device works and he wants to see it more widely available, then clearing up that issue might resolve potential clients' concerns and perhaps take a step towards building those TWO HUNDRED clinics that were SUPPOSED to be opening...and it is an issue to CTTC directly since -- as I discussed in a previous post -- using phoney degrees to promote and sell an item might have some economic repercussions, not to mention legal ones...
..."One organization in one state."????...oh, heaven forbid!...how many more would you like:
"TEMPR devices for all indications are considered experimental or investigational based upon:
1. Insufficient scientific evidence to permit conclusions concerning the effect on health outcomes,
and
2. Insufficient evidence to support improvement of the net health outcome, and
3. Insufficient evidence to support improvement of the net health outcome as much as, or more
than, established alternatives, and
4. Insufficient evidence to support improvement outside the investigational setting.
These devices include, but are not limited to:
? CALMARE Pain Therapy Treatment
? Scrambler Therapy MC-5A"
...that's from:
https://secure.azblue.com/pdf/medpol/o243.pdf
...or how about one from D'Amato's state:
"Although the TEMPR device has been approved by the FDA, evidence to date is limited. Therefore, the TEMPR device is not medically necessary as there is insufficient peer-reviewed scientific literature to demonstrate its efficacy.
Medical Criteria: Not applicable.
Policy:
Transcutaneous electrical modulation pain reprocessing is considered not medically necessary as there is insufficient evidence in published, peer-reviewed literature to support its efficacy.
...that's from
https://www.bcbsri.com/BCBSRIWeb/pdf/medical_policies/TranscutaneousElectricalModulationPainReprocessing.pdf"
...gee, do ya'think that's why he's been so slow about building all them clinics he promised?...
...and then, say what, Pilgrim:
"0278T Transcutaneous electrical modulation pain reprocessing (eg, scrambler therapy), each treatment session (includes placement of
electrodes) Provider liable — procedure code not eligible for payment."
...from:
https://www.harvardpilgrim.org/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/PROVIDERS/MANUALS/PAYMENT%20POLICIES/H-3%20NON-COVERED%20SRVS_011512.PDF
...I presume you understand what "provider liable" means...
...and then at Health partners, 1278T falls under:
"1. Not covered, and prior approval is required.
The following is a list of Category III T Codes that are generally not covered and require prior approval."
... from:
http://www.healthpartners.com/files/57788.pdf
...whew!!...can I quit now?...I'm gettin kinda tired here!...