Fully integrated management services organization U.S. Orthopaedic Partners first launched in 2020 with the creation of Jackson-based Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopaedic Center.
In just five years, USOP has grown in dominance across the south central U.S., supporting 10 systems across Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
Now, USOP has led its founding practice MSMOC through a major merger, adding Oxford (Miss.) Ortho & Sports Medicine and the Orthopaedic Institute of North Mississippi in Tupelo under its brand.
“We are finally doing what we had always set out to do. Our model is physician-driven, so this is really taking everything we have been driving to do and bringing it to fruition,” Allen Anderson, senior vice president of operations for USOP, told Becker’s. “The consolidation really simplifies the referral network, the marketing, patient navigation and reduces friction for everyone and makes access a lot easier.”
USOP first added Oxford Ortho and the Orthopaedic Institute as partners in 2021. Now, all three practices will operate as one, growing into an even bigger and better care network for patients in the state.
“It really started out with Mississippi Sports Medicine and Orthopedic Center and from that, we felt like we had physicians that were top of the class and pioneers in the space. They were all competitive by nature, top of the class, so finding likeminded surgeons was really the target. We knew if we had A players, they were going to find other A players,” Mr. Anderson said. “I think we recognize that patients are now becoming consumers. They are being forced to pay out of pocket more. What we do together is focus on patient care, access and experience. This allows us to deliver a more consistent patient experience through our unified approach.”
And as consolidation in the healthcare space becomes more and more common, it could prove to be a boon for USOP’s gameplan.
“We are really closely tracking consolidation trends. Whether that’s private practice, insurance, hospital, seeing how that will impact the current marketplace or if, in the future, there will be groups that need help and could be a partner for us,” Mr. Anderson said.
And as consolidation becomes more prevalent, USOP is setting its sights on some big goals for the next 12 months.
“Over the next 12 months, we are just continuing to grow the brand and improve access, continuing to work on quality, and all the initiatives we are working on with payers right now to drive down costs for patients. Working on bundled patient care, risk management, and compliance,” Mr. Anderson said. “This merger is a really special move, because starting out with MSMOC, we always looked at the North Mississippi market as a good opportunity. Now that we have cemented this partnership, it cements what we can do on a much larger scale for other groups in other states. We are setting the trend of what is to come, and proving our dominance in the market.”
