In orthopedic surgery, robots now guide the scalpel and AI completes the paperwork — and that’s only the beginning.
Few people see the change as clearly as J. Paul Schroeppel, MD, who balances life in the operating room with the sidelines of the Kansas City Chiefs, where he serves as head team orthopedist.
As chair and clinical service chief of orthopedic surgery and sports medicine at Kansas City-based University of Kansas Health System, Dr. Schroeppel has watched technology redefine nearly every part of his field – from precision in the OR to efficiency behind the scenes.
“The overarching theme right now is the embracement of technology,” he said. “It impacts everything we’re doing.”
In the operating room, that means a new generation of robotic systems and navigation tools guiding joint replacements. Robotic-assisted surgery, once limited to hip and knee arthroplasty, is quickly expanding across orthopedics.
In sports medicine, his teams use machine learning, 3D renderings and patient-specific printing to improve precision — even 3D-printing tumors to plan resections down to the millimeter.
“The ability to actually 3D-print a tumor and know exactly what the dimensions are in all planes — that’s incredible,” he said.
Technology is also transforming what happens outside the OR. His group uses ambient AI dictation tools to automate documentation.
“Early on, it was not great,” he said. “It took a lot of editing. It’s actually fairly impressive how quickly the AI has learned and adapted. The documentation has gotten so much better, even in the two years I’ve been using it.”
Easing burnout and boosting efficiency
While orthopedic surgery remains one of the most competitive specialties, burnout has become a shared concern. Much of that fatigue, Dr. Schroeppel said, stems from the administrative side of medicine.
“One of the biggest factors is all of the non-clinical burden — the paperwork, the time it takes, the two hours at night going through and signing notes and looking at labs and imaging,” he said. “The more we can offload those burdens and give providers more of a work-life balance, the better.”
At the University of Kansas Health System, provider wellness is a systemwide priority, with dedicated resources for surgeons, clinicians and advanced practice providers. Technology plays a major role there, too — AI scheduling systems are helping improve accuracy and reduce turnover in high-stress front-end roles.
“That’s another opportunity to really leverage AI and technology — to streamline that workflow,” he said.
An aging yet active population is also changing orthopedics. Patients in their 70s and 80s now expect to stay athletic and independent — and their injuries reflect that.
“The classic textbook indications for some of our surgeries, particularly in sports medicine, are kind of being thrown out the window,” Dr. Schroeppel said. “People are living longer and staying more active, so we’re seeing those very active injuries at later stages in life.”
That shift has fueled a steady rise in joint replacements and new pressure to deliver advanced care efficiently.
“Margins are narrower, reimbursements are tighter,” he said. “We have to make sure we’re embracing new technology, but also doing it in a cost-effective manner.”
Balancing innovation with value
Value-based care sits at the center of that conversation. The traditional fee-for-service model, Dr. Schroeppel said, is flawed and must evolve toward measuring true outcomes.
“We want to make sure that what we’re doing is improving quality of life,” he said. “There’s no sense spending a lot of money on a service that’s not improving quality of life and is just incurring additional cost.”
He believes patient-reported outcome measures should play a larger role in defining value — but warns the model must account for complex cases.
“We’re often getting the worst of the worst — patients no one else wants to take care of,” he said. “Those same patients have the highest risk of postoperative complications and may not have great outcomes afterward.”
In rural regions, the stakes are different but just as high.
“You don’t want to do something that’s going to hamstring a rural system and make them not solvent,” he said.
At the same time, his department is moving as much elective orthopedic care as possible to outpatient settings.
“We’re doing as much as we can out of the higher-cost hospital environment,” he said. “That includes joint replacement on an outpatient basis, provided it’s safe and appropriate.”
Looking ahead
Education is another area where Dr. Schroeppel sees technology driving progress. Arthroscopic and sports procedures are “rep-dependent,” he said — skills that can only be mastered through repetition.
“Historically it wasn’t worth the cost, because it just didn’t replicate what true surgery is,” he said. “We’re getting a lot closer to being able to simulate an entire surgery outside of the human body.”
His research also explores predictive analytics, from using machine learning to optimize spine fusion outcomes to helping professional athletes prevent injuries.
Working with the Kansas City Chiefs, he’s seen data transform how the NFL approaches injury prevention.
“When you look at what we’re doing in the NFL, it’s remarkable,” he said. “We’re using data to understand when injuries happen, in what scenarios, and how we can alter rules, protective equipment and training to minimize risk.”
Beyond the technology, Dr. Schroeppel believes the future of orthopedics depends on caring for the whole patient.
“We’re starting to have a better understanding beyond just the surgery — nutrition, mental health, having appropriate support resources,” he said. “Providing that more comprehensive care plan helps patients do better.”
For Dr. Schroeppel, that approach embodies the future of orthopedics and sports medicine.
“It’s an exciting time,” he said. “The tools we have now are incredible, but it’s how we use them — to make care safer, more efficient and more personal — that will define the next decade.”
