During a time when the U.S. healthcare industry is emerging from a period of reform to transformation an unlikely entrepreneurial duo, orthopedic surgeon Dr. Alejandro Badia and financial industry expert and Wharton alumni Justin Irizarry, saw an opportunity to disrupt the multi-billion-dollar orthopedic healthcare delivery system and to simultaneously achieve the industries “Quadruple Aim”: better outcomes, lower costs, improved patient experience and improved clinician experience.
In 2010, the two men had a conversation about healthcare that encompassed two healthcare fundamentals; the patient and the bottom line. Badia’s focus was on the patient and the waste associated with the traditional healthcare delivery method; people with orthopedic issues being directed to an emergency room and after an initial consult and a battery, often, of unnecessary and costly tests, directed then to see a specialist. Irizarry’s attention was on the economic power of the 48-billion-dollar annual orthopedic healthcare industry and the 20-billion-dollar annual healthcare franchise sector. With these basic principles serving as their guide they created and activated a healthcare franchise business opportunity they called OrthoNOW®.
The pair realized that for a patient, the opportunity to go straight to a specialist following a non-life threatening sports injury or orthopedic accident would save time, money, and produce superior outcomes. Next, they expanded on this patient centric philosophy and combined on-demand expert care with technology. They developed an app that identifies where the healthcare franchise location is and allows the patient to notify that healthcare franchise operator that they are on their way, the reason for their visit, and approximate time of arrival so the healthcare franchise staff can be ready.
Today, OrthoNOW® is the nation’s only orthopedic healthcare franchise. The disruptive healthcare delivery model is both a common sense and common cents approach to specialized orthopedic care on demand. Irizarry says, “According to the CDC, there is a 671-billion-dollar injury impact per year on the U.S. economy and NIH Researchers found that the average charge for an emergency room trip is $1,233. That figure is 40 percent higher than the average American rent right now which is $871 per month.”
Badia believes that the common thread of likability for OrthoNOW® whether you are a patient, employer, or investor looking for healthcare business opportunities is that “Each center is focused on assessment and treatment of a wide range of orthopedic and sports injuries. Additionally, every healthcare franchise provides patients direct, urgent access to the most recent advances in treatment by a team of orthopedic physicians and orthopedic specialized ancillary providers.”
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