The effects of the pandemic and subsequent elective surgery bans across the U.S. highlighted the need for flexibility and practice models and the advantages of economies of scale.
Now, as groups begin to resume normal surgical schedules and prepare for a potential second wave of the virus, alignment with larger organizations and physicians is becoming more attractive. Anthony Romeo, MD, executive vice president of the Musculoskeletal Institute for DuPage Medical Group in Illinois and Amy Chauffe, assistant vice president of the orthopedic service line at Ochsner Health System in Louisiana, discussed current trends and concepts in orthopedics during a panel at the Becker's Healthcare Orthopedics + ASC Virtual Forum on Aug. 26
Below is an excerpt from that discussion. Click here to view the full panel on-demand as well as access other panels and interviews from the event.
Note: responses are lightly edited for clarity.
Question: Where do you see orthopedics really growing and developing over the next few years?
Amy Chauffe: I think over the next few years, you're going to see more mergers and acquisitions. I think the pandemic accelerated that. Some of the private practices just don't have the analytics and the management support, and we've started to see that here in this market where they've reached out and started to talk through what a partnership would look like. What would a collaboration look like? What sort of management assistance or analytical assistance, or even IT assistance could we provide?
I do think you're going to start to see a shift towards more group practice or more employed [physicians]. And then what does that look like even? Joint ventures, collaborations, you name it. It could look different depending upon what each practice needs. I think that, but I honestly do think that you'll see a lot more collaboration with health systems than ever before.
Dr. Anthony Romeo: To Amy's point, you just can't afford [to run your practice] if you're a group of six to 10 physicians. It's so expensive to have the technology available that the institutions do. And I also think that the institutions have learned ways to develop relationships; it doesn't have to be a complete employment of the physicians. They can create what they consider a win-win by just becoming the management service organization for the physician group. Sometimes that's a really nice avenue where the group has done well, so physicians can continue to do what they've done well in caring for patients and then the healthcare system gets to benefit from organizing those services and allowing them to raise the bar in the current competitive environment. I agree a hundred percent with what Amy's talking about.