Newport Beach, Calif.-based DISC Surgery Center is capitalizing on its growth and has its eyes on multistate expansion, founder Robert Bray, MD, told Becker’s.
Within California, DISC has seen significant growth with new physicians and ASC locations opening in recent years. In 2024, DISC Surgery Center added multiple physicians, and in 2025 the group has plans to open ASCs in Tarzana and Carlsbad, Calif.
Dr. Bray credited much of that success to DISC’s business model with TriasMD.
“The difference is we are going with a physician-first model for private practice physicians,” Dr. Bray said. “All you have to do is read about consolidation and how many physicians that end up employed are not happy with that position or their loss of autonomy. I started private practice a long time ago out of the Air Force, and it was difficult. Then it became near impossible to run the individual practice. As an individual you do not have enough power or control to get through the insurance companies or contracts or all the HR management.”
DISC’s model, under a management agreement with TriasMD, provides support to physicians while letting them remain independent. The model has more than 100 surgeons who perform more than 1,200 spine surgeries and more than 300 total joint replacements yearly, Dr. Bray said.
And in the next couple of years Dr. Bray hopes to begin a foothold in other states including Florida, an expansion hotspot for other large orthopedic groups.
“We’re expanding in the states somewhat guided by the insurance companies we work with on contracting because they have places they would like to see us expand,” Dr. Bray said. “We’re looking at options in a variety of states, not only the South. The reason we’re considering Florida is specific. It’s the same reason that it works [in California], which is there are a lot of physicians that do not want to be an employee of a major group but rather wish to maintain their autonomy.”
DISC is already in active negotiations in two states, a spokesperson for DISC confirmed.
