Michigan Orthopedic Center in Lansing, Mich., wanted a way to keep its back-office staff from being overwhelmed by rising patient communication demands. When the practice’s 11 orthopedic surgeons went looking for outside vendors to help, they found the technology they needed largely didn’t exist — so, with the help of a developer, they decided to build it themselves.
Clay Dorenkamp, MD, an orthopedic spine surgeon at the practice who also serves as its chief technology officer, said the project grew out of a familiar strain: Physicians want to focus on patient care, but back-office capacity hasn’t kept pace with patient volume. Dr. Dorenkamp, whose practice runs a high-volume total joint and spine surgery service line, spoke with Becker’s during the 23rd Annual Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC Conference.
“Our main goal as physicians is to be there and care for our patients,” Dr. Dorenkamp said. “One of the things we’ve really struggled with is keeping our back office staff able to meet the increasing patient demands, and being able to effectively communicate and engage with our patients.”
That gap has been the practice’s focus for the past year, Dr. Dorenkamp said, as leadership began exploring technology that could help staff respond to patients more efficiently. The search didn’t go the way he expected.
“There are so many solutions out there,” he said. “We actually started this process about a year ago, and a lot of solutions didn’t exist. So we’re actually working with a company to develop a product to fit our solution.”
The shift from buyer to co-developer changed how Dr. Dorenkamp thought about the project’s stakes. As the surgeon who will use the tool with his own patients, he said the responsibility for making sure it works falls on him.
“I have to be the one sitting there across from patients, making sure that it works well, it functions well and it’s safe for my patients to use,” he said. “That’s been one of the biggest challenges for me — to feel confident in having something that I can trust to deliver the care that I feel my patients deserve, and the standard I want to be accountable for.”
That caution comes as AI tools marketed for diagnosis and clinical decision-making draw increasing attention — and increasing skepticism — from physicians on the conference circuit. In a separate session at the same conference, physicians discussed how AI is easing administrative burden and documentation, but acknowledged it isn’t yet ready to replace clinical judgment or make diagnoses. Dr. Dorenkamp’s view is similar: He’s less interested in AI that promises to out-diagnose a physician than in tools that solve the administrative bottleneck already limiting his practice.
“There’s a lot of headlines that make it sound like ChatGPT or Claude is better at diagnosing a patient than a doctor is, when in reality, that’s not where medicine needs help today,” he said. “We need help managing our back office and making sure we’re getting patients through the system effectively and efficiently.”
Insurers, he added, are moving faster on AI-driven tools than most provider organizations — a gap he believes practices and hospitals need to close on the operational side, particularly around payer communication and revenue cycle burden, rather than in the exam room.
Building the tool internally hasn’t removed the need to bring the rest of the practice along, Dr. Dorenkamp said. Deploying new technology, custom-built or not, still depends on getting leadership and staff aligned behind it.
“If only one person is pushing something, you’re never going to get anywhere — even in a medium-sized orthopedic clinic like ours, especially in larger organizations,” he said. “You have to be able to communicate effectively with leadership to show why this is important, why it’s going to improve patient care, and ultimately give you a meaningful ROI in the future. Alignment and communication are probably the biggest leadership skills in deploying these.”
For Dr. Dorenkamp, that alignment — as much as the technology itself — will determine whether the tool his practice is building actually delivers the relief its back-office staff need.
At the Becker’s 32nd Annual Meeting: The Business and Operations of ASCs, taking place October 29-31 in Chicago, ASC leaders, surgeons and healthcare executives will explore strategies to drive growth, enhance operational performance, navigate reimbursement challenges and prepare for the future of ambulatory surgery. Apply for complimentary registration now.
