Making Rounds
By combining multiple practices, Cape Fear Valley Health now provides almost total orthopedic services
With an aging population and more people migrating to the area, Cape Fear Valley Health began planning three years ago to increase its capacity to treat orthopedic patients.
Successful negotiations with Cape Fear Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, Fayetteville Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, and Huff Orthopedics and Sports Medicine led all three practices to join the health system.
The expansion was significant for the health system, but it’s the patients they serve who will benefit most.
“Now we’re able to offer orthopedic services within Cumberland, Harnett, Hoke, Moore and Sampson counties,” said Colby Warren, Service Line Administrator for Orthopedics and Sports Medicine. “Now we can offer more specialized orthopedic services in those areas, and we’ve also brought in other specialties, including spine and orthopedic trauma.”
“We’ve expanded our ability to care for a wider range of orthopedic conditions" - Edwin Newman, MD
Today, Cape Fear Valley offers adult spine surgery for patients and has a surgeon specializing in hand surgeries and an orthopedic trauma surgeon specializing in pelvic fractures. Moreover, the health system offers hip, shoulder and knee replacements and provides robotic hip and knee replacements.
Sports-related injuries, including ACL, muscle and bicep tears, fractures and hip and knee pain are among the most common ailments treated by Cape Fear Valley Health’s orthopedic doctors. The health system’s full range of orthopedic care includes feet, ankles, hands, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, spine orthopedics and sports medicine.
Cape Fear Valley Health believes in a comprehensive and collaborative approach to orthopedic care, with a team of specialists who work closely with patients to develop personalized treatment plans that address their specific needs and goals. Providers at the eight orthopedic clinics in the system will complement each other by communicating to determine the best plan of action for patients while making visits more seamless for them.
That’s good news because Americans are living longer, and it’s no secret that as people age, they tend to need more orthopedic care.
“The population here is aging for people that are going to need knee and hip replacements,” Colby said. “People are moving here with the military … we have accidental injuries, broken bones, muscle tears and things like that. The need is definitely there.”
Edwin Newman, MD, a general orthopedist who graduated from East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine and performs dozens of different orthopedic procedures, but most enjoys hip replacements, was hired by Cape Fear Orthopedics and Sports Medicine in 2007 and said joining forces with Cape Fear Valley Health is a win-win for everybody.
“The environment in medicine is getting more difficult for private practices, and we found ourselves spending more time worrying about the business aspect of it and taking away opportunities to focus on patient care,” Newman said. “We also started thinking about protecting our employees.”
Newman cited Physician’s Assistant Averi Brown as the glue keeping everything together. At any given time, he said, the hospital has close to 100 orthopedic patients whom Brown monitors.
“She seems to be the one common denominator that helps us take better care of the patients,” he said. “She’s a really pleasant, professional person who’s an asset and helps take care of the hospital.”
So, what’s among the biggest advantages to patients now that Newman’s practice and the others are part of the Cape Fear Valley family? Patients won’t have to make three-hour roundtrip commutes to Chapel Hill or Durham for top-notch orthopedic care.
“I think it ensures that they have access to our clinic,” Newman said. “Before, not too long ago, there were some conditions that we’d sort of universally transfer out of the local area, conditions that were complex enough to be at one of the tertiary care centers like Chapel Hill or Duke.”
“We’ve expanded our ability to care for a wider range of orthopedic conditions,” Newman continued. “I’d say other than complex pediatric conditions, we pretty much have other fields covered. Some of the complex orthopedic sarcomas we refer, and there’s thankfully not a lot of those.”
Word has spread about the expanded orthopedic services in various ways, including online notification to patients, providers marketing themselves, Making Rounds LIVE radio show, and one doctor appearing on TV to discuss joining the health system.
“We already have a lot of patients that are part of Cape Fear Valley Health in some capacity, whether it be primary or specialty care,” Colby said. “So, a lot of patients in the community are already familiar with Cape Fear Valley, and to have another service under our umbrella, a lot of patients are really happy about it.”
For more information about orthopedics at Cape Fear Valley Health, visit capefearvalley.com/ortho.
