In 2023, CentraCare-owned St. Cloud Hospital cut off St. Cloud (Minn.) Orthopedics from its on-call partnership for trauma care, and since then the practice has leaned into new approaches to stay afloat.
The move was one of the biggest challenges CEO Ed Kelly faced since the practice was founded, he said in a July 23 report in St. Cloud Live. The health system also added 10 surgeons that had affiliations with the University of Minnesota Physicians, increasing the competition for the practice.
So Mr. Kelly began leaning into the importance of patient choice in its messaging. As a private practice, the group began widening its scope and has partnered with critical access hospitals in six nearby cities.
St. Cloud Orthopedics also began offering athletic training services for athletes with local high schools.
“We are independent, and there’s just a different level of care that can come with that, just different, whatever it is, but it definitely is fantastic, so it’s been really awesome being a part of that and what we do here,” Mr. Kelly said in the report.
St. Cloud Orthopedics was founded in 1955.
