Guest Column: Dr. Noah Raizman, Orthopaedic Medicine and Surgery
As orthopaedic specialists, we typically spend a lot of time performing, developing and talking about the latest clinical techniques. But advancements in practice management can often fade to the background.
This is especially true in the context of national associations and conferences. But earlier this month, Dr. Subir Jossan and I were privileged to speak about the influence of supergroups in the future of private practice at the annual meeting of the American Society for the Surgery of the Hand (ASSH) - and we had a captive audience.
As you can imagine, there was tremendous interest in the work and growth of CAO. Because we envisioned a new future and took the steps to form our own unique supergroup more than three years ago, we are well ahead of many of our colleagues in the medical industry. Still, the widespread consolidation and rapid changes to the healthcare industry and reimbursement models remains a source of significant anxiety for many private practitioners.
They want a new way, a better model for success. Attendees were eager to hear about the nuts and bolts of joining forces to create an independent, influential orthopaedic group, which was the emphasis of Dr. Jossan’s presentation. The advantages are significant and obvious. But the hard part – in their minds and our own experience – lies in creating a new, cohesive group identity.
It’s nothing less than a philosophical shift. It’s never easy. But it’s also critical to success.
As I discussed in my presentation, there are really only two ways to do this. The first is to join together with the understanding that you immediately surrender your individual practice names and brands, launching as one brand new organization. This is the model of established supergroups such as Resurgens Orthopaedics and OrthoVirginia. Or, you can undertake a gradual change in brand identity, embracing the new name over time as we are doing.
Regardless of when and how this transition is made, this is often the hardest part for us physicians. Many of us built our practices from scratch, and it’s easy to think you are relinquishing your identity to something that is not yours.
But we are finding that a name and brand change is really impactful for future patients, not current patients. Your patients’ loyalty won’t change because of a name. Our identities as compassionate and excellent physicians won’t change, either. What will change will be the ease with which new patients can find you, and a greater power at the negotiating table because of the practice unity. At some point, to be truly successful, groups must trade their individual identities to let the marketing power of a single brand work for them.
Our session included excellent presentations by Dr. Dan Lewis of OrthoCarolina and Dr. Kay Kirkpatrick from Resurgens Orthopaedics, allowing attendees to see firsthand how each group has approached these challenges to establish a successful organization. For CAO, the opportunity to share the stage with such recognized, established supergroups is an important step in building our name recognition within the industry.
We should be proud of what we have accomplished so far. In four years, we have pioneered an innovative, successful new business model to preserve the high-quality care and autonomy of our private practices. We have grown into the largest orthopaedic group in the country. We are recognized alongside industry leaders such as Resurgens Orthopaedics and OrthoCarolina, as demonstrated in our presentation at ASSH.
As an organization, we still have work to do to truly embrace and leverage our unique brand and build internal cohesiveness. But we have made powerful strides. As we continue to work together, dedicating ourselves to the mission and vision we established, we can significantly influence the field of orthopaedics. We can advance high-quality, low-cost care for patients everywhere and provide a roadmap for other practitioners dedicated to private practice care.
Reminder
Brian Communications worked with Drs. Raizman and Jossan to develop their presentations and remarks. If you have any future speaking engagements, please reach out to Bill Tierney from Brian Communications via bill@briancom.com or 484.385.2985. As The Centers moves forward as a unified group, their team can help ensure all marketing materials are on brand and messaging is aligned.