James L. Chappuis, MD, an expert in minimally invasive techniques and spinal fusion and founder of SpineCenterAtlanta, shares his basic philosophy and personal stories on issues of optimization, advancement and investments for orthopedic surgery centers.
Q: How do you optimize the value of your center?
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Dr. James Chappuis: Here at the SpineCenterAtlanta we have successfully merged strong business principles with medical practices. With those two methods combined it creates positive outcomes for the patient. Therefore, the business has a successful recipe for moving forward and being financially stable. Most medical practices only look at the medical aspect of the business rather we ensure to use strong financial principles and the best standard of care.
Within SpineCenterAtlanta we have a very basic philosophy in which we fully believe that if you practice and practice at your highest and most successful level, the money will follow. We do not get up everyday to go to the office to make a lot of money. We get up everyday to be the best physical therapist, the best surgeon, the best MRI technologist, and the best physician assistant. The reward in our society is financial.
Q: What are some of the best additions/investments for orthopedics today?
JC: The area that we have been most successful in is creating a "one stop shop" for spine care. The strongest aspect we have been able to offer is in reducing the financial burden in one particular aspect of the medical industry. That is why we offer surgical and non-surgical spine care. This entails, physical therapy, MRI, a surgery center, injections, pain relief, acupuncture and massage therapy.
We have taken basically the entire spectrum and offered it as physician services all the way to the downstream services. This allows us to afford the opportunity in providing everything that the patient needs in one location with one group of practitioners that can communicate with each other among its notice.
Q: What additions, if any, have not worked out the way you had hoped?
JC: We have tried adding yoga which was not as successful as we had hoped. There are some complementary services that have not been as prosperous. This is simply because we have had a difficult time taking complementary or cash based services and merging them into a medical model which is predicated on a copay or coinsurance model. Those additions are good examples of what we thought could have been successful because it is a great area to supplement care for spinal problems, but it just has not turned out as we had hoped. We have become more conservative with straying outside our comfort zone.