Shovels Turn on $7M Ambulatory Surgery Center

BOARDMAN, Ohio – The procedures themselves at the Orthopaedic Surgery Center’s ambulatory surgery center won’t be too different from what’s done at hospitals across the country. What will be different, though, is the downtime afterward.

“One of the biggest trends in health care right now is outpatient surgical care,” said Taylor Cera, the center’s administrator. “Patients want it; they enjoy the experience. The physicians enjoy it because it’s an efficient, low-cost, high-quality way to deliver care.”

Leaders of the physician-owned center gathered Wednesday for a groundbreaking. The $7 million project is expected to open in December.

“We’re in a time in health care when low-cost, high-quality care is what’s driving the force,” said Dr. Michael Engle, president of Orthopaedic Surgery Center. “We’re creating an environment where a procedure that may be three, four, five times as expensive in a traditional hospital setting can be done at our facility for a fraction of the cost.”

Currently, the center specializes in musculoskeletal procedures, such as reconstructive treatment, fracture treatment and foot surgery. All operations are outpatient. The new center, 8551 Crossroads Drive, will expand available procedures to include those typically associated with inpatient treatment, Engle said.

“What people normally think of as inpatient surgeries, like knee replacements or hip replacements, we can do those as outpatient through proper pain management techniques and planned rehabilitation when they go home,” said Engle, who is part of the center’s pain management team.

Development of the ambulatory center started about 4 1/2 years ago, according to Cera, with strategic goals that led to Wednesday’s groundbreaking. It started in 2014 with the institution of package pricing – grouping anesthesia, physicians and facility fees together – followed by the launch of outpatient joint replacements the next year.

“It’s been a lot of hard work for us as a physician group. Everybody’s worked hard on this 4 1/2-year development. There have been some low lows and high highs. There’s nothing easy about it. It’s about hard work,” Cera said.

In the time since, he continued, the center has reached capacity at its current site at the Beeghly Medical Park. The new building will be 13,000 square feet and include new infection-control technologies, large horizontal windows and widespread use of electronic health records. Designing the ambulatory surgery center is Trinity Planning Design Architecture, Columbus, which specializes in health-care buildings.

The move south to a site just off Western Reserve Road, Engle said, was driven by access to Interstates 680 and 76. While other sites were considered, remaining in Boardman was a large factor.

“All our physicians are from the Valley and their offices are all localized around this area. We took a lot of time looking at sites and found the location by the freeway for easy access and the availability of services that Boardman provides all came into play,” the president said. “At the end of the day, it’s a space we’re comfortable with and it’s one we know our patients will be comfortable coming to.”

Such developments should also prove beneficial for the township itself, said Boardman Trustee Tom Costello, pointing to Mercy Health’s emphasis on St. Elizabeth Boardman Hospital.

“They’ve brought their main hospital here, which has brought the doctors and doctors’ offices and all the ancillary jobs with it. These are great for our community,” he said. “Medical facilities in Boardman seem to be growing substantially. The doctors are here. The hospitals are here. This surgical facility will round out our ability to provide for the community.”

Pictured: Breaking ground on The Orthopaedic Surgery Center’s ambulatory center are Dr. Joe Stefko, Dr. Mike Miladore, Dr. Leslie Schwendeman, Dr. Michael Engle, Taylor Cera and Dr. Thomas Joseph.

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