In August, Miami-based Badia Hand to Shoulder Center added its first associate, orthopedic surgeon Joel Peterson, MD.
Alejandro Badia, MD, a hand and upper-limb surgeon at Badia Hand to Shoulder Center and founder of OrthoNOW, both based in Miami, talked to Becker's about the decision to grow his practice this year and where he sees the field of orthopedics heading.
Question: Why did you decide that now was the best time to grow your practice through the addition of a new associate?
Dr. Alejandro Badia: In the narrow specialty of hand and upper-limb surgery, associates are often brought on due to good timing and a warm introduction by someone familiar to both of us. In this case, the timing is good as I have slowed down quite a bit, sadly due to dwindling reimbursements. But we hope to grow our ASC, and it was necessary to bring in new surgeons who otherwise would be hospital-based, which goes against my philosophy on appropriate site of service. We also needed more surgeon oversight in our OrthoNOW walk-in centers.
Q: What else do you have planned and what are you looking forward to for the rest of the year?
AB: Our OrthoNOW model is currently in due diligence period for strategic acquisition by healthcare investor /operators who clearly see the direction that healthcare is going and how OrthoNOW is the best ancillary since it feeds others: ASC, imaging, DME, OTC products and rehab
I strongly believe our healthcare system will move to outpatient specialty centers (ortho, cardiac, urologic, etc.) where walk-in convenience, coupled with clinical expertise, will disrupt the currently cumbersome, and costly, patient journey, and allow diagnostics, surgical intervention and rehab services to all be under one roof with convenient locations/parking. This vision simply comes "from the trenches" of healthcare delivery.
Q: What other innovations are you keeping an eye on in the orthopedic space currently?
AB: I am currently using a number of surgical innovations that allow further efficiency, quality and safety to bring cases to the outpatient realm and avoid expensive and inefficient hospital utilization. For example, Pristine Surgical has recently released all disposable arthroscopes that save money in many different ways and the optics are incredible. I also have been using a robotic drill technology that stops drilling at the far cortex for safety (i.e. collarbone fractures) and also measures screw length, hence minimizing wasted screws (money) and decreasing OR time. I also use a novel elbow holder system that is a good addition to our long standing robotic arm holder. Both these devices allow me to do surgery with only one assistant, sometimes none, hence more cost-savings.