Although we ended up not moving until dd had finished her expander stage, we had asked, and our ortho also said that if we were making payments, we would just pick those up with the new ortho, and if we had paid in advance we would get a refund. We are supposed to move into phase 2, and did an initial consult with an ortho here then called my old one to compare prices, and apparently the new one's price is better. So, pricing may be a regional issue too. As far as driving, that would depend on how far of a drive it is. (Did I miss that in a post?)
Oh, and I do remember our ortho saying we wanted to find one that uses similar techniques, but I'm guessing if yours gave you the name of the appliances then that would be all you would need when talking to a new one. Luckily, they all seem to give free consults.