Implementing user-focused designs and recognizing the long-term impact of consolidation are two takeaways that orthopedics can learn from other industries, according to multiple surgeons.
Orthopedics can look to other sectors of the healthcare industry to see the impact that continued consolidation can have on the entire continuum of care, from patient outcomes to costs to autonomy.
Outside of healthcare, the rapid advancements and acceptance of new technology, as seen in the consumer electronics space, can also provide lessons for orthopedic surgeons
These two orthopedic directors recently connected with Becker’s to share what they believe orthopedics can learn from other industries to improve care and physician satisfaction.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: What is one thing that orthopedics should borrow from another industry?
Michael Gross, MD. Orthopedic Director of Union Middlesex Orthopedics (Woodbridge, N.J.): As orthopedic surgeons, we should borrow the rapid innovation and user-focused design principles from the consumer electronics industry. Wearables, for instance, can offer continuous biomechanical feedback, allowing us to monitor patients’ progress in real time. Virtual imaging, like augmented reality overlays, can help us plan surgeries with unmatched precision. By embracing these technologies, we can customize implants, refine surgical techniques and deliver more predictable, efficient and personalized patient outcomes.
Joshua Siegel, MD. Director of Sports Medicine and Arthroscopy of Access Sports Medicine & Orthopaedics (Exeter, N.H.): One thing orthopedics should borrow from another industry is an honest recognition of the risks of consolidation and loss of autonomy, the kind of hard-won lesson that many mature industries have already learned. In fields like manufacturing, finance and technology, companies that tried to grow by swallowing up every smaller competitor eventually realized that unchecked consolidation often increased costs, slowed innovation and reduced responsiveness to customers. Orthopedics is now facing a version of that very risk within healthcare.
In medicine more broadly, there’s strong evidence that physician practices have increasingly been absorbed into larger systems and corporate ownership, with at least about half of doctors now employed by or affiliated with hospital systems, up from far fewer a decade ago. This has come at a time when reimbursements for many services, including orthopedic procedures like arthroplasty, have been cut significantly in real terms while practice costs continue to rise, pushing clinicians toward larger employment models rather than independent practice. This trend toward consolidation is linked with higher overall spending on care and shifting more of the healthcare dollar away from the clinicians actually providing the care. Studies looking at hospital-physician consolidation in particular find that prices tend to go up when practices are acquired or integrated with hospital systems, and there’s little evidence of corresponding improvements in quality. A side to this is the burnout and loss of joy providers feel with lack of control.
By learning from other mature industries that have had to contend with the pitfalls of consolidation, orthopedics can be more deliberate about preserving clinical autonomy, resisting the assumption that bigger always means better and ensuring that any structural changes align with patient care and clinician leadership rather than just organizational growth.
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