While the pandemic drastically changed the landscape of healthcare, it also accelerated many of the current trends–many that impact orthopaedic practices. Here, we discuss these trends and what your practice can do to leverage them. 

1. Virtual Care

With strict limitations on the number of people allowed within an area throughout the pandemic, as well as transportation issues, there has been a push for virtual care. Despite policies and practices moving back towards a kind of “normal”, patient interest in virtual appointments has not decreased. 

In fact, a 2021 study evaluating patient interest in orthopaedic telehealth beyond the pandemic showed that despite clinic reopenings and an increase of vaccinated people in the country, the number of searches for virtual orthopaedic care is still double the amount that it was previously.

Is virtual care as effective as in-person care, though?

A systematic review of the state of telehealth in orthopedics in 2021 can answer that question. The study showed that the shift towards virtual consultations for diagnosis, consultation, rehabilitation, and follow-up: improved patient and clinician satisfaction, produced good clinical outcomes, and decreased costs.

Even though pandemic-related restrictions are lifted, it would be wise for your practice to continue with (or start offering) secure online appointments for more routine consultations and follow-ups.

2. ASC Growth

Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) are outpatient offices that specialize in same-day surgeries and pain management. The types of procedures performed in an ASC are too complex for a regular doctor’s office, but not intense enough to require an inpatient hospital stay.

The number of ASCs is only growing, with cardiovascular and orthopaedic specialties expected to lead ASC growth. 

The global ASC industry was valued at $81.3 billion as of 2020. It is projected to reach $120.7 billion by 2027, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 5.8%.

The main drivers behind ASC growth are:

  • Hospital overflow, which motivates hospital administrators to outsource as many procedures as possible to an outpatient setting
  • Advancements in technology and equipment (along with the ability to acquire these tools), which have allowed smaller offices to perform more procedures
  • Increased number of outpatient procedures covered by the Center of Medical Services (CMS)
  • Potential cost savings for patients and benefit providers
  • The development of minimally invasive surgeries and tailored pain management protocols (especially in the orthopaedic sector)

This all translates to huge potential revenue opportunities for your orthopaedic practice but is contingent on fostering relationships with hospitals and primary care providers.

3. Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) can be understood as a fusion between artificial information and real-world images performed through optical or video see-through techniques. Although AR was originally intended for entertainment and gaming, the first high-accuracy head-mounted display engineered specifically for surgical use–Xvision, was the first to be approved by the FDA. 

Since then, many more AR systems have become commercially available, with a focus on user-friendliness and cost-cutting via mass production, along with precision and accuracy.

Clinical uses for AR in orthopaedics include:

  • Preoperative Procedure Planning: Physicians can better plan for surgeries to reduce the amount of time spent in surgery. They may also use AR to explain procedures to patients visually, with the ability to see how their muscles or bones will look, how implants will be placed, etc.
  • Instrumentation Placement: Procedures like spinal surgery are prone to major consequences if there are any malpositions of screw instrumentation. AR can be used intraoperatively to improve the surgical navigation of instrumentation placements.
  • Arthroplasties: AR can be used to superimpose cup orientation during surgery as a safe, effective tool.
  • Trauma Surgery: With the use of AR before and during complex trauma surgery, surgeons and patients are exposed to radiation for a shorter length of time, with no reduction in the success of procedures.
  • Orthopaedic Oncology: With high surgical accuracy and exact execution, surgeons will be more capable of maintaining the safety margins required for tumor excision without removing an excessive amount of healthy surrounding tissue.

If you invest in AR, consider advertising your practice’s use of its technology and the benefits to patient health that comes with it. 

4. Supply Chain Challenges

While the most hard-hitting COVID-related supply chain challenges may have passed, there is still a global shortage of labor and shipping logistics issues.

If you have too little DME stock physically on the shelves at your practice, you will have to send patients to another DME supplier. This is time-consuming for patients and a loss of revenue for your practice.

On the other hand, if you order an excess of DME to brace yourself for shortages, or you lose track of an order that reappears when a replacement order comes in, you could have DME sitting on your shelves for a long time. This translates to cash flow interruptions and the potential for product losses.

5. Outsourcing

Many orthopaedic practices are realizing that it’s not realistic to keep every staff member trained and knowledgeable about every component of the practice. Coupled with advances in secure health record sharing, remote working, and software developments, this is pushing more practices towards outsourcing billing, supply chain management, and claims denial processing to specialized third-party providers.

SelectOrtho is one of those third-party providers. We present holistic DME compliance reviewing, DME billing and inventory management, claims submissions and denials services, and reporting on the state of our clients’ DME program. 

There are solutions for orthopaedic practices of every size. Smaller practices may only be interested in accessing our proprietary DME billing system, whereas larger practices may be interested in having dedicated SelectOrtho DME experts work in-house.

SelectOrtho is always evolving based on trends impacting healthcare, and we assure you that you’ll have the most up-to-date DME knowledge and software for use within your practice’s DME program.

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