Miami-based OrthoNOW, to date the only orthopedic urgent care franchise in the U.S., has just awarded its first Master Franchise Agreement in Michigan and simultaneously signed an Area Development Agreement in Augusta, Georgia.
First OrthoNOW Urgent Care Master Franchise Awarded
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Alejandro Badia, M.D., a hand and upper extremity surgeon and co-founder of OrthoNOW, told OTW, “OrthoNOW has 54 Master territories available across the U.S. A seasoned entrepreneur, Kelly Olin, has been awarded the first such franchise in the state of Michigan. Her plans are to open 32 centers across Michigan within five years.”
“The idea behind the master franchise is that they partner with OrthoNOW. Each time we sell a franchise the proceeds are shared equally with the master franchise. This model allows the franchise to grow much faster and with a much better level of quality.”
“As for the Area Development Agreement, it was secured by orthopedic surgeon Dr. Terry Arrington and orthopedic physician assistant Bernard Scherer. They purchased the rights to two centers and have plans to open them within 18 months. Anyone purchasing an area development has the exclusive rights to it.”
Justin Irizarry, CFO and co-founder, told OTW, “This is a new concept. Other than OrthoNOW, the only type of standalone emergency orthopedic care is being done by a few surgeons with extended hours. The competitive advantage of our model is that we capture new patients versus recapturing patients. Further, as our presence grows we will have additional influence with insurers.”
In the June 7, 2017 news release, Bernard Scherer said, “Working in a general urgent care I kept seeing patients who needed access to a specialist and we could not help them. We wanted to be able to bring our orthopedic training into a setting that would provide excellent, timely, cost effective care to patients.”
Dr. Arrington stated in the news release, “OrthoNOW provides a proven system that eliminates improper patient care and provides downstream revenue and sustainability for the practitioner.”
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This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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