Hi, everyone, and welcome. If you were, looking for the webinar on growing pains, scaling orthopedic growth, and competitive markets, you are in the right place. My name is Joe Zebach. I'm the director of marketing here at Hatch. I'll be your moderator today.

I know it's a busy time of year. Calendar's packed. We're all planning, so thank you so much for carving out time. The goal of today's session is to give you a look into how an independent orthopedic group of CR is thinking about growth, competition, the trade off, and the trade offs that come with it. So a little bit of housekeeping before we get started.

We are recording this session today, and so we'll send that out to folks that are here and folks that couldn't make it.

And we also have time for q and a after the meat of the conversation. So as you have questions that pop up along the way, just send them in the q and a or in the chat, and I'll be sure to to bring them up.

With that, I'd love to introduce our speakers. First, we have Wayne. He's the CEO of Orthopedic and Spine Center of the Rockies. Multiple locations in the Colorado area serving patients.

And one of the interesting things I think we'll get into is just the dynamic of the market in the north versus south type area, but I don't wanna give anything away. And before OCR, Wayne spent several years in health system leadership around strategic partnerships, growing growing orthopedic service lines, and things of that nature and bring some interesting perspective, which we'll we'll dive into. Also, we've got Chris Poole. He's the CEO of Hatch.

As many of you know, Hatch works with indie orthopedic groups to drive high value referrals from out of growth channels, think workers' compensation, value based partners like TransCan and Coral, the Rebound, as well as consumers and their self directed referrals with a twenty four seven chat triage offer. Today, Chris is gonna be doing most of the post hat wearing and his conversation with Wayne covering growth challenges, the growth levers that independent ortho groups have access to today, among them being access, partnerships, data, and how they design the organization. And then lastly, ending with advice from Wayne in q and a.

So that's, the quick overview. We're gonna have fun dropping your questions. Chris, if you wanna take it from here, take it off.

Awesome. Thanks, Joe. Wayne, great to see you.

Yeah. Good seeing you too, Chris.

Well, I'm glad to spend some time with you today. I think we've got an interesting conversation as it relates to growth. Let me go ahead and and kick us off and, set up some framing.


Shifting Strategies in Orthopedic Growth
I think sort of starting first, we we should acknowledge that the days of what we call a hatch, a single growth playbook, I think, are likely behind us. This is true broadly speaking in health care. I think it's absolutely true within orthopedics.

When I think about that reality and the dynamic within OCR, you're not really just growing. You're effectively growing across two different markets, and you have to navigate designing and managing distinct strategies to facilitate that growth under one roof.

And I think it suggests that the independent practice of today has to be much more intentional about where and how it competes. So I'd like to start off with a few questions, around that. First, from a, your vantage point, what are your biggest, changes that you've seen as it relates to how orthopedic groups grow?

Yeah. I think some of the the biggest I don't know if change is the right word or, you know, probably more challenges, right, is just with declining reimbursements and, you know, increasing costs, how do independent orthopedic groups stay relevant? And then as you're seeing, you know, a lot of independent groups are either moving over and becoming employed or large private equity groups are are are buying them out, which shows that there's some opportunities from an efficiency per perspective. But I think it's more than just efficiency. Right? It's really, you know, how do you truly provide that patient centered care and and ensure you're you're meeting the needs of of the community? And and coming here to OCR, I've been here about fourteen months now, and I, you know, quickly recognized that in order to be able to stay relevant and be able to scale to help reduce some of those costs, you need all you have to have the right tools in in order to be able to do that.

And technology is changing so quick and just trying to figure out, you know, if you are gonna be able to manage and maintain some of, you know, some of those cost structures, you know, how to use AI and and leverage that, you know, to help reduce cost, but also maximize some some of your charge capture. So I think those those have been some of the the key strategies we've been looking at over over the past fourteen months to better prepare us for the future.


Market Dynamics and Competition
Going back to your question as far as having different markets, so for those that are are not aware, OCR, we're primarily in in Northern Colorado, but servicing Nebraska, Wyoming, as well as some of the other surrounding states.

And then as we continue to move down south towards North Denver, a totally different market that's a lot more hypercompetitive where you have multiple health systems, a lot of other private equity or insurance based type of type of groups that you're competing with as well as some some independents.

And and so how you market and really create awareness to be able to convert those clients into patients, it takes a different strategic approach.

And a lot of it is ensuring that you make it that easy bun for them to be able to see you. And I think that's probably the biggest opportunity that we've been working on right now is how do we truly become more patient centered, make it easier for patients to come see us versus, you know, employed, you know, physician within a hospital or even private equity or another independent practice.

Interesting. Yeah. Margin compression, I think, is is sort of been a challenge for health care services broadly for the last several years, and you have seen a lot of, growth and expansion as it relates to, you know, whether it's AI tools or other tools that create efficiencies, across the the delivery of care and and in even in some respects managing the practice from a a back office function.

You touched a little bit on how competition looks across your two markets. I know you've got one market that's sort of highly competitive. You've got another market that maybe is competitive, but but maybe not as much or in a different way.

How did what are the growing pains that you experience across the two? I mean, is it just competition and and through that differentiation as it relates to, like, being more patient centered? Or are there other strategies that you're employing or deploying to to sort of achieve growth in the face of competition?

Yeah. I think I think the the biggest part that dealing with both, whether it's a hypercompetitive market or what I call a captive market, you know, where we are you know, we we own the the majority of the market share. You could have all those patients, but if you can't get them in in a timely fashion, then, you know, it's all for naught.

And and they're going to look elsewhere to where to where they're gonna get in. And and so the first part is having the right tools, you know, in order to be able to get that patient in in timely. And and because we've been so behind from a technology perspective in in our telecom as well as from from a web portal perspective, those are the strategies that we've been really focused on right now, ensuring that you have the infrastructure and and the tool kit in order to be able to get patients in timely.

Yep. Yep.

Yeah. And then and and so I think that's the the that's the first part that that you have to be able to do, whether you're in a cap captive or a hypercompetitive market. Where it becomes a little bit more challenging in a hyper competitive market is ensuring from a a brand awareness that patients know who you are and really what differentiates you compared to your your competitors with within those markets. So there, you really have to have more of that marketing lens in on as far as how do you gonna reach those specifically within those specific regions, demographics.

How do you promote that high value touch when they do contact you, you know, from a click through rate or or whatnot, and then making that process more seamless to where they're not having to fill out appointment schedule request. Right? But but they can actually get in in a in a timely fashion.

So those are really been some of the key focuses that we've been working on here. So making it easier for patients to get scheduled, but also from a marketing perspective, ensuring we're touching those right patients, that are gonna be able to help drive that care.

Yeah. I I agree. I think we think a lot about, top of funnel, how do you capture the top of funnel, best, and then even in in a many respects, the throughput, both in terms of the patient experience and the speed at which a practice can move those patients from, you know, coming in that top of funnel to ultimately, you know, scheduling, an appointment. So great great insight there. I wanna switch directions for a little bit. I think given your background, this is particularly important and and frankly quite interesting.


Insights from Health System Leadership
So you have a background in health systems.

You've spent some time within leadership at a health system, growing the the the practice I'm sorry, the volume associated with that health system. What insights or learnings from your time in the health system space do you see as missing or undeveloped in the orthopraxist space?

Yeah. I think putting on my independent ortho lens, orthopedic clinical lens, and, you know, talking to some of our peers. I think how people look at health systems is, you know, not just competitor of the enemy, which I I think you can't look at it that way because I think there's a lot of synergies within. And and again, if we put our patient centered hat on, we need each other.

Unless we're gonna own our own hospital, you know, which I I I know there's some practices that may have that, you're gonna have to partner with the health systems in order to be able to get that that that best experience. And I'm a firm believer you need to be integrated in order to be able to give that best patient experience within that. So I've been very blessed to be able to work at a couple health systems to have been patient centered, patient focused. And the benefits where health systems give you is they're just looking for a partner that will be loyal and and and and be able to to, find somebody that's gonna help ensure that they're successful as well as, the practice is successful.

So whether that's being employed, whether that's through a PSA, or working directly with an independent practice. And I found that to be something very common throughout the multiple states that I've actually worked from a health system perspective.

They also want to have that integration to ensure that we are giving the best patient care, and especially if they're going to have their primary carers refer into that. How do you create that better integration and ensure we're managing the patient better, but also trying to reduce costs and redundant testing that sometimes happens when you don't have that integration.

And the third part, from a health system perspective, where I found helpful, is they do have a little bit more resources to be able to help support that patient population to ensure that quality of care and success.

And so, what we've done here at OCR is we felt that that strict partnership is important as we continue to grow.

It's important that our health systems are also successful in in their growth. And then so we've actually created kind of those five pillars that we look at to ensure that we're not only meeting the needs of our private practice, but we're ensuring that our health systems are also meeting their needs either from a growth perspective or taking care of the patients from access perspective. We're aligned in in our strategy for growth with within the service line. We're collaborative to help them reduce costs either from a vendor agreements or or or whatnot. And and then, obviously, maintaining quality of care, you know, for for their patients. And and I think that's been one of the big differentiators that we've been very successful with because they they understand that we understand, that needs to be a win win. It can't be just one-sided, especially when you start looking at at it from a patient centered lens.


The Importance of Strategic Partnerships
Yeah. I would say a lot of the groups that we work with at Hatch, I think, would describe the their, at least many of their local hospitals as strategic partners. But it sounds like, you know, if done correctly, they can be become a a strategic partner along with the practice, and and much less of a competitor.

Yeah. And and I think it's even gonna be more important. And, you know, when I made the decision to move over, you know, to the private practice side, I I just felt it's getting to the point with declining reimbursements, this shift in sites of care due to improved technology or processes, that's going become more challenging for health systems to afford these highly compensated specialties.

And and so if you can partner with an independent group and not have to pay those high cost salaries but still work together to where, you know, we're we're helping the health systems grow but but also the practice. I think that's where you really create that that win win. And and so it's gonna be interesting because I I do see that pendulum potentially, you know, swinging, you know, from the employed model to, know, either some type of employment light to independent model.


Integration for Better Patient Care
Wayne, earlier sorry, Chris. Jumping in here. Earlier, you mentioned just the importance of integration. Can you double click or expand on that? Does that integration is in terms of, like, the referral partnership itself and the the patient journey? Does that span into the actual ones and zeros, the technology? What is the what is the nature of being a a more deeply integrated partner actually look like in practice?

Yeah. I I think it's all of the above. Right? And and when I look at integration is for all the caregivers that are taking care of that patient, do they have access to the care that they've received, to their past medical history, you know, to to the different procedures that that they had? And so a lot of it has to come, you know, back to from a, you know, EMR perspective. And and so we've made a strategic decision to go within the EMR that probably ninety percent of the patients within Colorado are are using.

And and that part of that also, again, is to make it easier for patients. Now they have one app that they can go to, for patient scheduling to send a note to their physician asking for a question to be able to pay their bills and to be able to get their medical records quickly and to view them and their test results and and and other things. And and so, again, from from that lens is is kind of where we've decided, you know, from from that direction, to to move.

And I do believe that's going to help with that integration, especially because we have district partnerships with the health systems and all the primary care docs are on that as well, that they're going to be able to have easier access to see what was done and and be able to make the better assessment on on on their next treatment plan.


Modern Growth Levers for Orthopedic Practices
It's great. Great insight, Wayne. Thank you. I wanna move into, a topic that I think selfishly we we we discuss a lot here at Hatch, which we have coined as modern growth levers. I was gonna start around differentiation, but I think we've touched on that already.

One of the things that we argue here at Hatch is that independent practices in theory should be much more agile than health systems. In fact, this is should be a core competitive advantage. And this will allow orthopedic practices to actually position themselves, for example, within their competitive markets in in different ways.

Maybe beyond differentiation, let's touch on access for a bit. So this is a hot topic. It has been for a long time. I think in some ways, the origins of access started with sort of more brick and mortar facilities, and then it's evolved from there.

When it comes to, strategic growth, how do you think about access? Is it all equal? Do you think about differentiated access? What's your sort of thinking and and approach on the subject?

Yeah. I I feel you gotta meet the patient or client where where they're at. And I I used kind of phrase. Right?

Because patients are paying more out of pocket due to high deductible plans or co pays or or or not having insurance at all, they're gonna want care how they want it, when they want it, where they want it. And and so we have to figure out how to make that entry point easier for them. So whether that is a a urgent care or walk in clinic, or is it somebody that wants a call, or somebody that doesn't wanna talk to anybody. Right?

And I'm finding that with new generation and and even with my kids. Right? They just wanna text. They don't wanna talk to anybody.

Right. And and so how do we do that? And and so we're trying to hit all all those different buttons, but obviously be more strategic with it. So one of the first ones we looked at is looking at a twenty four seven injury expert line to where if a patient is hurting and and they just wanna figure out, you know, do I need to come in right away or or not, you know, to be able to get some some of that that advice, we we've created that that that opportunity for them.

Selfishly, I think I also did it because until we go on to our new EMR platform where patients could schedule directly into it, It takes thirty to forty minutes sometimes to be able to get somebody on the phone, especially during during the the busy times. And so I'm also utilizing it to where it's a triage to figure out how quick do I need to get a patient in that's just trying to get scheduled.

And and and so it it's been extremely successful for us. We just did a ninety day pilot within ours. During that ninety days, we had over, I think, three hundred and twenty patients that were referred to our practice.

And, you know, out of that, hundred and ten of them were new patients to OCR. And and out of that, we were able to convert twenty new surgeries.

And and I I don't know. We we probably would have caught some of that, but I think we would have lost some of that too if we didn't have that because if we couldn't give them a way to access us, they would have looked somewhere else.

And and and so I I think that's gonna be a a big tool, you know, as we continue to to move forward to that's gonna be able to help us and and reach new patients that are utilizing technology instead of maybe the old ways of going on, you know, to Google or or or whatnot to to be able to help find that provider.


Leveraging Technology for Referrals
The other part, Chris, that we're looking at is how do we use that same technology to be able to help us manage this changing landscape of referrals. And and what I what we're finding here in Colorado is that we're having a lot of employers looking for either some type of MSK program since that's usually one of their primary cost drivers within their their self funded plans. Or what we're finding is that these employers are are going with these navigator type groups and saying, well, you see the us for this price, but also what else can you give us, you know, from a value driver perspective.

And so what we're looking is how do we kinda use even that same twenty four seven access, you know, type of line to be able to, lack of a better term, use almost like a concierge service for direct to employers for these self funded plans in order for us to be able to flag these folks that are coming into our systems. Because the part that these employers don't want or even the patients, right, is accidentally billing them for service. So just trying to figure out ways to give them that value add, give them prioritize scheduling where appropriate as well as flagging them to where we're ensuring that only the employer is getting that bill for versus someone else. And and we need to be able to that's integrated with our system to be able to do that. And so those are some things that we're looking at long term and and how to utilize technology to help support us.


Partnerships and Growth Strategies
Yeah. You sort of took I'm gonna blend your response into the the next question that I had around sort of how do you think about partnerships. I think building off of your point, what we've seen is that the the nature of building these, in in some cases, it's direct to employer partnership or some sort of entity that represents a a channel for patients.

I think a lot of the industry has rushed assuming to, rushed to this is a sort of financial arrangement. And then what we've seen is those groups that have actually, had the most success, it ends up being exactly how you said more of an access concierge level of experience. And so how do you think about taking a concept, for example, like twenty four seven chat that has worked well within the consumer channel and expand it within these other growth channels such as employer or local, regional partners and managing that such that you can further differentiate yourself, deliver on that great experience both to the patient and to the employer or who whomever is alongside that patient.


Organizational Design for Growth
So, love love that insight and that response. I wanna move to a question that I don't or or a thought I don't hear raised often around, org design as it relates to navigating growth. So dynamic markets, shifting referral patterns, and new market change where growth comes from and where tomorrow's opportunities are, how are you evolving your organization to meet the moment?

Yeah. I think from a org design perspective, you know, a lot is gonna be, you know, based upon some of the tools and and so forth and some of the decisions we're making right now. You know, if if I in a perfect world, right, I I think I would have created the org structure, you know, based upon where we're going. Right? Where is the puck going in three to five years? And and and we are looking at that right now.

But because we were behind from a technology perspective, I had to make some strategic decisions that we're gonna have to move forward with what we feel is gonna be the best infrastructure or tool to bring us to success in ensuring that we are driving revenue capture, you know, that we are, you know, obviously reducing denials, bad debts, that we're managing our costs, understanding what the tools are able to do to help reduce the manual processes and the redundancies of of things that that we had. I'll give you a case point. We have about twenty four systems right now in order to make our operations work.

And, you know, when we go to this new platform, you know, we're gonna go down probably to about seven or eight. And and and and so with that, understanding where there's gonna be some org redesign that's going to have to occur. Right? How do we repurpose people and and and ensuring that people are also working to the top of their license to be able to help maximize efficiencies and and productivity from that perspective?

All while still, as you mentioned, you know, what does that org structure or design look like long term, ensuring we have the right structure to be able to, you know, provide good clarity and direction, you know, to each of the different departments for success in our growth.

Yeah. Yeah. It's a really interesting thought how technology, you know, in some ways, depending on where a practice or provider group is at in its journey, can sort of be sort of the the first lever to pull as it relates to growth. And then from that, you've got sort of these successive steps, whether it's org design or other things that you need to sort of evolve to meet now where your technology capabilities are.


Data Challenges and Opportunities
So great great insight. Wanna move to a question around data. I think this is a topic that we talk about a lot at Hatch. It certainly was a lot of our partners.

When you think about, you know, data as it relates to your ability to to measure your growth, do you find that there's data that's missing or hard to get to sort of inform that?

Yeah. Right now, with with with twenty four different systems, it's it's very challenging to to pull data right now, you know, and and but we know that that that lens is is gonna be changing here in in a couple months.

But I think it's also just knowing the right data, you know, that that you're pulling and assuring that you are defining, you know, the metrics that are are most important. And and we're recognizing that even by moving to this new platform.

Yeah. We also don't wanna just replicate what we're doing before and bring it over, but, you know, where are there's gonna be some optimizations and what are the the key performance indicators or the metrics or the reporting that that we're going to want to to pull out.

And and so I think every practice or company may be a little bit different on on what they feel is is important. If I look at more from a growth perspective, first thing I'm just looking for is, you know, new patients. Right? They they need to be a certain percentage of your volume growth in order to be able to, you know, sustain and and continue to be real relevant as we we move into the future. So I think that's that's a big one for us as, you know, new patients, you know, to the organization.

I think looking at, you know, time for that next available appointment for a new a new patient getting in, ensuring that it's not getting past that two to four weeks depending on the subspecialty because patients are not gonna wanna wait that long. And and so with that also is what is that provider model look like?

Because if you have capacity from a surgical perspective, you probably don't need another surgeon. But you how do we create access, you know, through the extender model to be able to give direction to that patient and and or to tee them up if surgery is gonna be a candidate for surgery in the future. So I think having that understanding of that first next available for those new patients is gonna be important. And the part going back to what you said maybe we don't have now, it's it's hard to measure how many patients actually have been referred to us versus how how many actually came to us.

And and I'm hopeful with the new platform that we're going on, we should be able to measure that.

But then also, how many patients are finding us not through our strategic partnerships that that are coming through us again through our twenty four seven access line and and and you know, so we could and where within the communities as well because that's gonna be able to help us decide, you know, maybe where we may need to put a satellite location or where we need to look at future growth in the future.

Yeah. Yeah. Really interesting point. I mean, I think early in my career, I was always taught what gets, measured gets managed. And so, the absence of data makes it it hard to to manage, parts of your business. But but even to your point, which is thinking through what I what we kind of refer to sort of the the optimization of the patient journey and all the different successive steps that a patient in a practice sort of works through, and understanding it in a lot of ways, where are your bottlenecks, where you have additional capacity, and how do you make changes to optimize that. So very, insightful.


Future Growth Strategies for OCR
So I wanna move to to close out, our conversation by looking forward.

You have a very clear view of twenty twenty six. And to your credit, I think, which we've heard today, and I certainly know we've talked about it in the past, you're actively making investments in growth at a time where maybe some are even pulling back or or certainly a bit more reluctant.

What's something in OCR's twenty twenty six growth playbook that might not be on most practices' radar?

I I think I I mentioned, you know, a lot of it already, and I'm I'm assuming it it may be on private practice playbook. I don't think it's necessarily unique per se. Our our first part in is that we we need to enhance our our technology, our platforms that we're gonna be able to work through that's gonna be able to to to take us to the future. So we're in the middle of a of a big implementation plan. So we'll be going live with our new new EMR in in February.

And and so we we we call our project project SOAR, to where, you know, we need to stabilize our our current operations. Once we get a new platform, we'll optimize. And then, you know, after we optimize, then we'll realize, you know, a lot lot of the successes, you know, that we have within that.

I also believe we need to continue investing in in our people.

And and part of that also is starting with your leadership team and ensuring you're giving them the tools and resources to be successful, ensuring you're giving them the data, the reporting, that they can pull to be able to help measure their area to to ensure that they're they're they are driving, you know, success from that perspective.

And what I think could be a little bit more unique from a private practice perspective is we are putting out a long term recruitment strategy.

And and and so, you know, we're developing a three year recruitment strategy and not potentially just even from organic growth, but are there opportunities for us to, you know, continue to be able to grow outside? And are there like minded independent groups to where we need to integrate, partner, merge to ensure that we are staying independent as fiercely independent orthopedic groups. And and then I think the the the last two is we of declining reimburse disbursements because of of our government payers, and even we're seeing some of that, you know, through through our commercials with a lot of these bundle program type of requests, You know, what does rep what are some revenue diversification opportunities that we need to be looking at, you know, to be able to help, you know, drive more profits, you know, back back to the clinic?

And and while doing that, how do we continue to work with our payers and and really create a pair pair contracting philosophy or methodology in how we're gonna to stay relevant because payers continue to squeeze or they're making it more challenging and difficult to get paid.

For example, couple of our payers now are asking for itemized bills for everything that we send them, or instead of sending them just the last chart of when the patient was seen to justify surgery, they're now wanting the whole medical records, but of course they don't let you know that until they denied you twice.

So I think those are the things where, you know, as as we continue to move forward in twenty twenty six, you know, ensuring that we're we're fine tuning our our processes, ensuring that we're we're staying ahead of that puck.

And then I think probably the last one is is a term that, you know, one one of my peers taught me is we we just gotta stop milking mice, meaning, you know, there's a lot of things we do within our practice that don't generate revenue, and there's not really a a reason why. And then I think we need to understand what those are and then focus on putting those efforts and and especially resource capital resources, things that are gonna generate more revenue, you know, to the organization for us to be successful.

Very, very well said. I think the diversification of of revenue sort of jumped out at me as a as a logical sort of tried and true business strategy that, I don't know that I honestly reflecting on my time in this space that I've heard a lot, discussed. That said, I don't wanna oversimplify, but I think in terms of some themes, I'm taking away from our conversation is that for OCR technology and the right technology really is the foundation to support a multitude of growth strategies, whether it's, you know, providing the right access within, the consumer channel to facilitating partnerships, almost, concierge relationships with employers, driving operational efficiency in the face of margin compression, and then also enabling the right types of data to inform decision making and and measure success. So this has been great. I think, Joe, in terms of the next piece of our webinar, we may have some audience q and a.


Audience Q&A Session
Yes. I'd like to open up to the audience q and a. On the bottom of your screen, you should see a q and a button. You can drop in, any questions you might had along the way.

We're still sitting at basically over forty people in chat, so no pressure, guys. But if you have question, speak now or forever hold your peace. I know one of them, Wayne, that I have is when it comes to kind of this reconciliation of just the app sprawl, right, going from twenty four down to eight ideally, and you mentioned earlier having your your physician's practice top of license.

If you're to kinda, like, wave a magic wand or do some dreaming, what what is the ideal, like, data driven executive type things that you'll be doing that maybe you can't do now? Obviously, you mentioned new patient volume. You mentioned knowing at the click of a button the next available appointment.

But what other sorts of data and decisions and conversations with the physician leaders do you envision being able to have more of either faster or more frequently or differently as you realize project SOAR?

Gosh. That's a a lowly question and, right, depending on how and where and, yeah, we're very blessed to be vertically integrated, meaning we have our private practice, we have imaging, we have therapy, we have our surgery centers, we even have recovery centers where people can stay overnight.

And and so each of those are you're gonna have different metrics and and things to make them, you know, more efficient. Right now, you know, a lot of with again, my what we call our project SOAR is let's get the the new technology in there, decide what are some of the measures, metrics that we're gonna have within each of those specific entities. Because right now, we don't have great visibility within that.

And so, you know, have each of the leaders help define what is gonna be most important with within those, and and and then create some optimization and efficiencies within that. And then determine are there what are the right AI tools to be able to help us be successful.

So for example, you know, right now, the twenty four seven injury expert line has definitely helped us, but it's not helping our phone line situation. And and and so what AI tool is going to be best for us, because there's a lot of them out there right now, to be able to help us be successful in in first answering everyone's call within a minute, meeting the needs of of of the patient, whether they're just trying to reschedule or cancel an appointment, fill a prescription, whatnot, you know, get getting those messages to the right right patient or or I'm sorry, right provider, right teammate at a right time, and then try to get them scheduled. I mean, I think that that's gonna be the biggest part.

The other part that I'll that we do not do well right now is really understanding our block utilization within our surgery centers, because, obviously, that's where we generate the higher margins.

And and so how do we become more efficient in that aspect?

And and the great part is be because our physicians are the shareholders as well, You gotta include them in the conversations. And And that's where we've we've we've found a lot of success here. Our our shareholders give a lot of of trust with within our leadership team to do what's right to ensure that we're getting in patients timely from a from a surgery perspective, but we're also making good sound decisions on what cases should be done there that are also gonna, you know, drive drive profits, but timeliness and and and when patients are being seen.


Marketing Strategies for Employer Partnerships
We have a question from Bruce here. How do you market directly to employers? Do you have any suggestions on how to think about ideal targets?

You mentioned, obviously, self funded earlier. That sounds like a key piece of it.

Yeah. We this is an area that's going back to a plan of twenty twenty six, we don't do great yet, and meaning I don't have a dedicated business development team.

Where we've been blessed is that we are very involved in the community, and and by being involved in the community, you build relationships. And and so we've we've had a lot of employers reach out directly to us, And and through those relationships, we're we're now building upon those. And then, hopefully, through some of the trial errors that we're we're making, we'll we'll continue to be able to go out and and understand, again, what are the employer needs that they're really looking for and and start putting more of that strategic plan to together for them.

The others have been through, you know, different forums that that we're part of.

Again, they're working with more navigators working that that director employers are looking specifically for a need.

Right now, we we see a lot going back to, you know, total joints. Right? Who's willing to be able to do this bundle for for this price? We're seeing a lot from a spine, from a MSK perspective.

And so assuring that not only just from a pricing perspective that we're competitive, but those value adds that I mentioned previously to utilize technology to be able to offer that, whether that means not collecting or pre collect or postponing pre collections, you know, or prepayments from patients to ensure that, again, giving them prior prioritized scheduling at least somebody that they can talk to to get them in in timely and as well as offering them quality metrics or adherence compliance metrics of how their their their clients are doing for for that specific employer. So I see that continue to be able to grow as as we continue to move forward in the future.

Thank you.


Closing Thoughts on Patient Experience and Technology
Everyone, we got a couple minutes here left. Chris, do you wanna share any kind of closing thoughts before we wrap it up?

I may just build off of the the the question we just had. I know that the, when we look at our, orthopedic partners who are using our sort of expanded platform for employer partnerships. One of the common themes that we've seen is can you actually deliver on a on a differentiated experience? I think Wayne's touched on that today in terms of timing of collections.

What's that employee's experience coming into the to the practice? Is it different? Does the employer find it appealing? And then I think even in some ways downstream, what type of information can you take back to the employer to quantify and qualify the nature of that relationship from maybe the number of patients that were that that that came through, the time it took them to access the the care of the facility, maybe even patient experience surveys associated with that base.

And so I think what we have seen through our work with Wayne and and several others is that, it's not always about a a rate discussion. What's the reimbursement rates? It it oftentimes is what you know, the experience. And do we perceive the group is providing, quality care?

So Yeah.

And no. I I I like that, Chris. And I I think the other part that we're recognizing, and a lot of it, I think, is with this generation, is the patient types that are utilizing this technology. And and what we're finding, it's that eighteen through forty five year old age that wants that text, you know, type of capabilities. And most of them are commercial based, you know, as well. And, again, that's not why we're in in health care, right, to only capture that. But in reality, to help offset the declining reimbursements that we're seeing from a government perspective, you need that population in order to be able to to be sustainable within that.


AI Solutions for Healthcare Providers
And I I did see there was another question right right there. It's how are we helping our physicians and APPs, you know, be successful with some of the different AI solutions? I think the the biggest part for our for our physicians and providers is is just the the AI ambient scribe, you know, type type of technology. It it's been a life changer for those that have trialed it over the past couple months here with with the new platform that we're going on. And for those that aren't familiar, it is where you bring in your your phone or laptop, iPad, and it literally records the whole whole visit, but then puts it out to where it can differentiate between a patient, family member, as well as the provider's voice, and truly put together that chart within a couple of minutes after that provider leaves that room.

And that's going to be a big life changer for our providers. Right or wrong with EMR and the high-tech and Meaningful Use type of regulations that went out, all it did is add more administrative burden to the health care system. So, you know, if there's technology now that could help start reducing, you know, some of that burden, it's gonna be a big win win and hopefully help improve the the quality of work life balance for our providers.

Thank you, Wayne.