OrthoGeorgia pioneers digitally tailored sports medicine bracing Patients benefit from more cohesive, personalized care while clinic boosts revenue and prestige
Background
With seven locations, OrthoGeorgia Orthopaedic Specialists (OGA) is one of the nation’s largest and leading orthopaedic specialty group providers. The clinic embraces state-of-the-art technology to offer the highest level of care to more than 40,000 patients annually. Surgeons are internationally known as leaders in their respective fields, and the clinic has pioneered a variety of surgeries.
OrthoGeorgia’s Center of Excellence in Spine Care in Macon, Georgia treats around 7,000 patients each year, providing the highest quality treatment for back pain and spine issues. Historically, the clinic outsourced custom bracing, missing out on potentially lucrative revenues. Patients who needed back bracing for scoliosis or other conditions, such as following surgery, had to endure a time- and labor-consuming process to obtain customized bracing.
In 2020, OGA started working with mign, a Charlotte, N.C.-based company that provides digitally-tailored medical wearables. Working with mign, physicians are able to get their patients into personalized devices more quickly and easily for everyone involved. Patient satisfaction has increased, and the clinic has benefited through cost savings and by tapping new revenue streams.
The Challenge
Previously, when a patient needed a customized brace, the process required multiple clinic visits with two different providers and could take as long as six weeks. Having to make multiple visits with multiple providers was not only burdensome for the patient, the fragmented care could feel impersonal and eroded patient trust. The costly, time-consuming and outdated method of obtaining bracing delayed treatment and compromised outcomes, such as by increasing risk of preventative disability or need for surgery.
At one point, OGA hired a clinician who would be onsite on select days to take patient measurements for custom bracing. The process proved to be inefficient, however, as the technician was often either not available when needed or was available when there were no patients needing to be seen. In addition, the technician used a handheld scanner to obtain measurements and there wasn’t always suitable space available for the measurements to be taken.
“We were always borrowing space from our doctor’s pod, begging and borrowing to have someplace to scan patients. It was definitely not ideal,” says Daniel Darden, Director of DME Services at OrthoGeorgia.
Darden said an OGA surgeon was familiar with mign, a Charlotte, N.C.-based company that used 3D printing to translate complex data into a mign medical wearable that expertly addresses a patient’s unique physical needs. OGA leadership felt the practice could benefit from the company’s advanced technology and unique approach to creating customized wearables.
The companies began working together in the beginning of 2020, and by fall of that year, OGA had become the first U.S. orthopaedic practice to integrate mign’s body scanner into its Spine Center to digitally tailor brace designs for OGA patients.
Increased Ease &
Patient Satisfaction
OGA patients who choose custom bracing can now go directly from physician consultation to the body scan. A technician accompanies patients to the scanner, located in a former dressing room in the Spine Center. Scans take about 10 seconds to complete, according to OGA. Measurements are sent to mign technicians based in Charlotte, who design, print and build the wearable. Devices can be shipped to the patient’s home and fit with teleconsult if needed, or they can be fit in the office.
A process that once required six visits with two separate providers and more than a month and a half to complete can now be conducted during two visits with one provider over a two-week timespan.
A mign wearable may not require prior authorization, unlike certain off-the-shelf spinal orthoses, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, reducing administrative work and hassle for the clinic and patient.
“The process works a lot better than it used to,” Darden says. “We are hands off. Other than having to fit the brace and having an office visit, we don’t have to do any of the leg work. What mign has done for us is wonderful. From a clinical side, it’s a win-win. That’s what makes it so appealing.”
Patients are also more responsive to the idea of customized versus off-the-shelf bracing, he says, adding, “It’s a much easier conversation to have with the patient.”
Since the implementation of the mign scanner within the clinic, patients have reported high satisfaction with mign’s wearable, which features an open weave design and lightweight and breathable construction. Patients also have reported an appreciation for the personalization available and significant pain relief from the wearable.
In April 2022, a survey was conducted by mign of 50 adult OGA patients. Each patient had been previously prescribed by his/her physician and fitted with a mign custom Lumbar Sacral Orthosis (LSO) for either conservative management or post-operative management of their spinal condition. All patients prescribed a custom device had indications that clinically eliminated standard off-the-shelf bracing options. Of those surveyed, 84 percent reported significant pain relief. Patients also reported an average satisfaction rating of 9.1 out of 10, with 10 being the highest.
“The process works a lot better than it used to. We are hands off. Other than having to fit the brace and having an office visit, we don’t have to do any of the leg work. What mign has done for us is wonderful. From a clinical side, it’s a win-win. That’s what makes it so appealing.”
Daniel Darden, Director of DME Services, OGA
New Revenue Streams & Added Professional Prestige
Darden says the clinic is reaping multiple benefits since partnering with mign, including new revenue brought in from billing for customized bracing.
Being able to offer a mign custom orthosis has proven to be a valuable differentiator from other clinics, he said.
“It’s a great selling point for the practices,” Darden says. “There’s nobody else that has that technology here. We have something unique to the community that we can promote. It’s always nice to differentiate yourself from the competition.”
Other OGA physicians have expressed interest in the technology, and the practice is working with mign to adapt the technology to make wearables for other specialties, such as for hands and wrists.
“There are just endless options from an orthopaedic standpoint for what you can do with mign,” he says. “Now that we’ve embraced this, we’ve never looked back.”
A survey of 50 adult OGA patients finds high satisfaction and
significant pain relief with mign custom Lumbar Sacral Orthosis
84% of respondents reported the brace provided significant pain relief, scoring relief as a 5 or greater, with 10 being the most relief possible.
Patients rated the customer experience an average of 9.1 out of 10, with 10 being the best experience.
mign surveyed 50 patients who had been prescribed by his/her physician and fitted with a mign custom Lumbar Sacral Orthosis (LSO) for either conservative management or post-operative management of their spinal condition.
Patients reported the most benefit from wearing the brace for the following activities:
• General support • Home chores • Standing
• Walking • Sitting • Yard work