Orthopedic patients in Northeast Florida looking for a specialty hospital now have one with the opening of the Performance Orthopedics and Spine Specialty Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent’s. This facility is part of a broader partnership between Ascension Florida and Gulf Coast and Healthcare Outcomes Performance Company (HOPCo), in conjunction with Southeast Orthopedic Specialists.

The new specialty hospital seeks to provide a “boutique” experience, which includes a separate check-in area, as well as “…dedicated clinical and non-clinical staff, operating rooms, pre-op and recovery areas, inpatient hospital rooms, a rehabilitation unit and family waiting area.”

“Patients should have the best, most personalized musculoskeletal care possible in the best setting possible, and that’s why we’ve partnered to create the new Performance Orthopedics and Spine brand and specialty hospital,” said orthopedic surgeon Gavan Duffy, M.D. “When all aspects of care are aligned and streamlined, it makes it more convenient for patients and can also help them get better, faster.”

The Ascension HOPCo partnership has led to “…a new Performance Orthopedics and Spine brand that will manage a comprehensive musculoskeletal service line and foster a clinically-integrated network of musculoskeletal physician practices.” This will also mean the co-development of ambulatory surgery centers in Northeast Florida.

“We are thrilled to see our plans to improve the level of orthopedic and spine care in Northeast Florida come to life,” said James Machado, regional president of Ascension St. Vincent’s Southside and Ascension St. Vincent’s St. Johns County, which is currently under construction. “We’ve done the research and know that our community has long needed something like Performance Orthopedics and Spine that is dedicated to bringing musculoskeletal providers together into a top-notch, comprehensive network. This ultimately improves care and convenience for those we are blessed to serve.”

The location of the new center, said Dr. Duffy, was selected based on “Convenience and community need. Ascension St. Vincent’s Southside is centrally located in Jacksonville and northeast Florida, which does not otherwise have a specialty hospital dedicated solely to orthopedic and spine care.”

When OTW asked what makes the treatment so personalized, Dr. Duffy stated, “We have a multidisciplinary team that is subspecialized and offers a full spectrum of non-surgical and surgical options. Additionally, everyone on our staff, from registration to post-op care, is specialty trained for orthopedics. This means that from the moment the patient walks through our doors to the time they are discharged, their entire care team is specialized for their needs.

DeLyle Manwaring, EVP of Marketing Transformation at HOPCo added, “HOPCo’s most vital role was bringing in a management team with decades of experience in market transformation. This team implements HOPCo’s suite of market and service line optimization tools that include our evidence-based protocols, clinical care pathways, outcomes reporting and IT [information technology] tools.