News

Date: June 3, 2009

Syndication leads to successful venture for Fort Wayne Orthopedics

Physician practices are responsible not only for assuring quality patient care, but also for keeping their businesses profitable by increasing and maintaining revenue and controlling costs. In its first year of a long-term contract, EthosPartners has provided Fort Wayne Orthopedics – an independent physician practice in Indiana – the tools to do just that.

One example is Ethos’ leadership in developing and managing a successful physician syndication, which has led Fort Wayne Orthopedics to gains in improved efficiency, larger market share and better physician loyalty.

In June 2008, Ethos helped Fort Wayne Orthopedics launch a joint venture with Lutheran Hospital, which built one of the few hospitals in the U.S. solely dedicated to orthopedics in 2006, under the name Lutheran Musculoskeletal Center, LLC.

As part of the partnership, Fort Wayne Orthopedics’ physicians have partial ownership of the orthopedic hospital and help ensure top-quality patient care for residents living in northern Indiana, southern Michigan and northwestern Ohio. The joint venture consists primarily of inpatient services at Lutheran Medical Park and outpatient surgical, physical therapy and MRI business on the FWO campus.

Since that time, the merging of inpatient and outpatient orthopedic resources has led to enhanced efficiencies and the elimination of redundancies on the two campuses.

In addition, Lutheran Musculoskeletal Center recently was renamed to The Orthopedic Hospital of Lutheran Health Network to make it easier for patients to identify with because it highlights the main specialty of the facility.

Through its exceptional expertise in leading joint ventures, Ethos succeeded in making the syndication as seamless as possible for Fort Wayne Orthopedics’ physicians and patients. Over the next three years, the firm will continue to manage the practice and implement plans to improve overall performance and operational efficiency.