9 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7
I
'm not sure
which idea
scared and
excited us
more — open-
ing our own surgical
center, performing
same-day joint
replacements or form-
ing our own management company in order to create and oversee
bundled payments for our total joint cases. This was in 2015, when
same-day joint replacement and the movement away from fee-for-ser-
vice and toward value-based payment was just starting to take hold.
Creating a system where the surgeons doing the procedures are the
same ones overseeing the payments? That was almost unheard of. But
the 4 of us orthopedic surgeons, Frank Aluisio, MD, Frank Rowan,
MD, Matt Olin, MD, and I saw these megatrends looming on the hori-
zon, and we wanted to get out in front of them. We formed Delta Joint
Management and off we went.
Since Delta opened in August, we've performed 80 total joint surger-
ies. We expect to do 200 next year and keep doubling it after that.
How We Negotiated Our Own
Bundled Payments for Total Joints
These surgeons
saw the coming of
same-day joints
and value-based
payments.
Stephen Lucey, MD | Greensboro, N.C.
• CALLING THE SHOTS Orthopedic surgeon Stephen Lucey, MD (far left) and his
colleagues own a surgery center and oversee their own total joint bundled payments.
Delta
Joint
Management
