Orthopedic surgeons spend years learning how to perform complex operations. Patients often remember something else.
How long it took to get an appointment. Whether someone returned a phone call. How quickly an MRI was scheduled. Whether anybody seemed to know what happened next.
For Thomas Obermeyer, MD, an orthopedic surgeon at Barrington (Ill.) Orthopedic Specialists, those moments have become just as important as what happens in the operating room.
“I can perform a perfect shoulder replacement and achieve a great outcome,” Dr. Obermeyer told Becker’s. “But if a patient waits two hours at every visit, has to schedule surgery months in advance or reaches a stranger with a routine postoperative question, satisfaction starts to fall apart, no matter how successful the surgery was.”
That realization has shaped how he thinks about orthopedic care. The challenge, he argues, is not simply delivering excellent surgery. It is creating a system where every step surrounding that surgery works just as well.
The handoffs patients never see
Most orthopedic care still operates through a series of transitions. A patient is evaluated in one office. Imaging is performed somewhere else. Surgery takes place at a hospital. Physical therapy happens in another building, often owned by another organization.
Each step may work well independently. The challenge is what happens between them. Patients experience orthopedic care as a single journey. Healthcare often delivers it as a collection of disconnected encounters.
“In much of orthopedics, different parts of the patient’s care journey happen in different places,” Dr. Obermeyer said. “Each piece is often owned and managed by a different organization.”
Barrington Orthopedic Specialists spent years building around a different premise: reduce the number of handoffs wherever possible. “The patient can come in, be evaluated, imaged, scheduled, operated on and rehabilitated really without ever leaving the organization,” he said. The goal is not simply convenience. It is continuity. When fewer organizations are involved, there are fewer opportunities for delays, communication breakdowns and uncertainty.
Why access comes before outcomes
Healthcare leaders often focus on outcomes. Dr. Obermeyer believes access comes first. Before a patient can achieve a good outcome, they have to reach the right provider at the right time.
“Access is critical and surely the first outcome measure that we’re evaluating,” he said.
In his view, even the best surgical outcome is impossible if patients cannot get timely access to the care they need. That philosophy led the practice to expand immediate-care clinics, add advanced practice providers and increase its presence across Chicago’s northwest suburbs.
The impact becomes most visible when time matters. A young athlete with a displaced meniscus tear may need imaging, specialist evaluation and surgery within days. In many systems, that process requires multiple organizations and weeks of coordination. Dr. Obermeyer believes orthopedic care works best when those transitions disappear.
“One injury, one organization, one team, start to finish,” he said. That model is designed to eliminate the gaps where patients often get lost.
The gamble that paid off
Of all the decisions Barrington Orthopedic Specialists has made, Dr. Obermeyer points to one as particularly transformative: opening its own ASC.
Today, the move looks obvious. At the time, it felt anything but. “It felt like a genuinely uncertain bet,” he said. The project required physician investment, regulatory approvals and a willingness to take on significant risk. What surprised him was not the operational impact. It was the recruiting impact.
“What we didn’t fully see coming in that process was that the facility became somewhat of a magnet for talent,” he said. Experienced nurses, anesthesiologists and surgical staff increasingly sought out the center because they wanted to work in a highly specialized orthopedic environment.
Over time, that concentration of talent became one of the organization’s biggest competitive advantages. As the team strengthened, outcomes improved. As outcomes improved, demand grew. The center has expanded steadily and is expected to add another operating room in 2027. Looking back, Dr. Obermeyer believes the lesson extends well beyond ambulatory surgery.
“The decision that scared us the most was also the one that was most worth making,” he said.
A different vision for independence
The healthcare debate around physician practice often presents two options: hospital employment or private equity. Dr. Obermeyer sees a third.
“The choice isn’t necessarily only hospital employment or private equity,” he said. “There may be a middle path.”
That thinking helped shape Ortho Midwest, a physician-led partnership that includes Barrington Orthopedic Specialists, Chicago-based Midwest Orthopaedics at Rush and Rockford-based OrthoIllinois. Administrative functions are shared. Ownership remains local. Clinical decisions remain physician-led.
“We unify for efficiency and market presence without an equity buyout or change in ownership,” he said.
The distinction matters because Dr. Obermeyer believes scale and physician autonomy do not have to be mutually exclusive. For independent groups facing growing pressure from consolidation, the model offers another path forward.
What comes next
Dr. Obermeyer does not believe consolidation is ending. Hospital systems will continue to grow. Private equity will continue to invest. Independent practices will continue facing pressure.
What he questions is the assumption that physician-led organizations inevitably disappear. His recruiting experience points in a different direction. “The best surgeons we’re interviewing aren’t asking for the biggest salary guarantee,” he said. “They want a stake, a say and a practice that’s built to last.”
For Dr. Obermeyer, that may be the strongest signal yet that independence still has a future. Not because physicians are resisting change. Because a growing number are looking for a way to shape it.
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.
