The Orthopedic Partners
Business Model
Tarik Kardestuncer, MD
Healthcare has gone through tremendous changes over
the last decade. Everybody in our community has dealt
with these changes in their own unique way. Some
chose to retire. Others chose to leave the community.
Most of us have spent countless hours with colleagues
discussing these tumultuous times. What we did at
Orthopedic Partners was to embrace this change as an
opportunity.
Founded in 1957, Orthopedic Partners, LLC (formerly
the Norwich Orthopedic Group) has grown steadily
since its inception by Drs. Christopher C. Glenney
and Thomas J. Masterson. But the pace of change
accelerated quickly over the last several years. We
understood that change is necessary and not always in
our control, and so we decided to ask ourselves these
tough questions. Who are we? What is our mission
statement? What are our goals? And, how can we
continue to remain relevant into the future?
As a result, last year we decided on a name change as a
way to express more clearly our goals and mission. So,
Orthopedic Partners was born. To us, “Partners” has
multiple meanings. First, we want to remain “Partners”
with our patients and families. We understood clearly
that we could not jeopardize this strong physician-
patient bond that the group had worked on fostering
over the past five decades.
Second, we are now fourteen physician “Partners”,
(along with eight physician assistants, and nine physical
and occupational therapists), working together to
achieve the highest quality care for our community.
We grew to fourteen physicians in part by joining forces
with well-established surgeons in the New London
area. We felt that by welcoming established surgeons
into our practice we could solidify a “partnership”
for the foreseeable future. This task was not easy.
Established surgeons have unique practice
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cultures, expectations and histories. To unify, we
needed to overcome those differences and focus instead
on shared goals. And, when level heads prevail, it
becomes clear that our shared interests far outnumber
our differences.
Third, we respect and welcome the ability to work as
“Partners” with our local hospitals. Despite challenging
differences, we realized long ago that we have many
more shared goals than we have differences. As a result
of this partnership, our working relationship with
our local community hospitals is now better than it
has been in past decades. For example, members of
our team now direct the joint replacement programs
at both The William W. Backus Hospital and
Lawrence + Memorial Hospital. Furthermore,
Hartford Hospital and Constitution Surgical Center in
Waterford have formed a robust, joint venture with the
shared goals of improving efficiency, reducing cost of
care, and increasing the value of service to
the community.
In conclusion, we at Orthopedic Partners believe
strongly in two guiding principles. First, “Autonomy is
Priceless”. Without patient-physician autonomy, we
will cease to exist. As such, all of our efforts work to
maintain this precious formula. Second, change will
continue forever. We’ve decided to embrace it and not
to fight it. g
Editor’s Note:
In my small world of oncology nearly all private practices have
capitulated, most acquired by hospitals or large networks. Three
survive in Connecticut! I asked Dr. Kardestuncer what was the
secret sauce, not just to survival, but to thrive. The answer is
at once very simple and very difficult as discussed above. Eight
doctors working together harmoniously. The communities of
Eastern Connecticut are the biggest winners. Bravo!
–Dennis E. Slater, MD
O P E N JO URNAL • W I NTE R 2018