PHILADELPHIA--Penn Orthopaedics and Princeton Orthopedic Associates have announced a new strategic alliance in an effort to enhance and continue to improve orthopaedic care to patients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As part of the Penn Medicine Orthopaedic Specialty Network, physicians and surgeons at each entity will work collaboratively across state lines to expand patients' access to highly specialized orthopaedic care, while improving care team communication and processes, and collecting data to help physicians advance clinical research and care.
"One of the main goals of the Penn Orthopaedics team, is to provide the best orthopaedic care, whether a joint replacement, a hand transplant, or a cartilage repair, to the greatest number patients," said L. Scott Levin, MD, FACS, chair of Orthopaedic Surgery and a professor of Plastic Surgery at Penn Medicine. "The partnership with Princeton Orthopedic Associates, the leading community group in central New Jersey, was a natural fit, as our missions are built on the same ideals: taking the best possible care of our patients and, forging strong relationships with them and their families, and advancing practice through clinical innovation."
Penn Orthopaedics is currently home for 48 physicians across 14 practice locations in Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey. As part of this alliance, Princeton Orthopedic Associates' 25 physicians and five practice locations will further expand the footprint of the Penn Orthopaedics network of affiliated physicians and hospitals--which also includes Cape Regional Medical Center in New Jersey and Bayhealth in Delaware--to reach to those in central New Jersey.
This partnership comes just days after the Princeton Healthcare System (PHCS) officially joined the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS).
In addition to expanding the reach of the region's leading orthopaedic care providers, this partnership will also allow physicians at each institution to develop quality protocols in order to provide even better, cost-efficient care, while bringing the latest in innovative orthopaedic treatments and procedures to an even more diverse group of patients. Physicians will be able to collect and benchmark patient outcomes data from Penn Orthopaedics and Princeton Orthopedic Associates--which, together, perform over 18,000 cases per year--in order to inform research, enhance practice methods and develop even more advanced treatment methods.
"When looking for a partner in the tri-state area, we focused on finding an institution which shared our commitment to providing the highest quality care, to creating an environment where our patients and their families would feel most comfortable and cared for, and to aligning with a group that would be unwavering during the changing healthcare climate," said Stuart Levine, MD, president of Princeton Orthopedic Associates. "In Penn Medicine Orthopaedics, we found the level of dedication and personalized patient care that we had been looking for in a regional partner."
Princeton Orthopedic Associates is already one of the largest orthopaedic practices in New Jersey, serving primarily those in Mercer County and by proximity to Pennsylvania, those in northern Bucks County. By formalizing this partnership, access to the preeminent orthopaedic care delivered by Penn Medicine physicians and Penn-affiliated physicians will be available to the more than seven million residents of Philadelphia, Delaware, Montgomery, Chester and Lancaster counties in Pennsylvania, Kent and Sussex counties in Delaware, and Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Atlantic, Cape May, and now, Mercer, Middlesex and Somerset counties in New Jersey.
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Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $7.8 billion enterprise.
The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top five medical schools in the United States for the past 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $405 million awarded in the 2017 fiscal year.
The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, a leading provider of highly skilled and compassionate behavioral healthcare.
Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2017, Penn Medicine provided more than $500 million to benefit our community