The St. Paul, Minn.-based Regions Hospital Masters Orthopedic Program, which provides prevention and treatment for fractures common among elderly patients, is expanding to Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minn.
Three highlights:
1. Using a tool called Mobile Outreach, the program offers on-site orthopedic and musculoskeletal care at more than 130 nursing homes and extended care facilities. Mobile Outreach enables nurse practitioners and physician assistants to visit patients in their homes, avoiding unnecessary hospital visits and facilitating follow-up care.
2. The Masters Orthopedic Program conducted 500 Mobile Outreach visits in 2016, saving an estimated $214,000 for patients and payers. There were 1,150 Mobile Outreach visits completed in 2018.
3. Orthopedic surgeon Julie Switzer, MD, leads the Masters Orthopedic Program. She is HealthPartners' director of geriatric trauma and associate orthopedic surgery professor at Minneapolis-based University of Minnesota. Dr. Switzer moved her clinical practice to Methodist Hospital in July.
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