Philadelphia-based Rothman Orthopaedic Institute expanded into Florida in 2020 through its partnership with AdventHealth and plans to accelerate growth in one of the most competitive markets for orthopedics in the coming years.
Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth is a 53-hospital system with locations across nine states. Thirty of its hospitals are in Florida, which has a rapidly growing population, and the health system said it found its ideal orthopedic partner in Rothman.
"We had a really unique opportunity three years ago with AdventHealth," Jon Schmidt, Rothman's vice president of operations, said during a panel at the 21st Annual Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Management-Driven ASC + The Future of Spine Conference in Chicago. "They were really without an orthopedic group, and searched far and wide to find what they thought would be their best solution, and they landed on Rothman Orthopedics. We took a three-year journey to date to recruit 32 subspecialist physicians and use the data that both AdventHealth and Rothman had to create a hub-and-spoke model that develops facilities where patients are and where it aligns best with AdventHealth."
The hub-and-spoke model connects satellite community practices to AdventHealth's academic center in Central Florida and provides physicians with options to refer patients to multiple locations that can optimize care quality and reduce unnecessary expenses. Having the flexibility to direct less complex surgeries to lower-cost ASCs while referring complex surgical cases to higher-cost academic hospitals also benefits providers, payers and patients.
"Over the next five years, we'll continue to work with Advent Health, expand access for patients and identify further growth opportunities," Mr. Schmidt said. "It's a growth market, but there's also a lot of competition in it. The data that Advent and Rothman pulls together will help create the best facilities."
AdventHealth opened its $100 million, 300,000-square-foot innovation tower in Orlando in late 2022, with Rothman leasing space in the facility.
"Our main facility is in central Florida, and it's where AdventHealth's tertiary hospital is. AdventHealth has 10 campuses throughout central Florida, so we've put facilities and clinics in those areas, Mr. Schmidt said. "A lot of our outpatients will go to our new ASC from a surgical perspective, but we'll keep as many patients as we can out of the hospital setting in their community because our goal is to keep patients in the community that they live in. If the best site of care is for them to go to an ASC, then we'll get them to that care for the surgery."
The hub-and-spoke model develops ASCs and clinics closer to home to provide services where patients live and work and bring only higher-acuity procedures that make the most sense to the hospital.
"It is a dynamic time in our market with a rapidly growing population, and we are looking to position ourselves to meet that need," Mr. Schmidt said.