By Richard Lindstrom, MD
We are pleased to announce that Kansas City Business Journal has listed iOR Partners in the Top 50 Fastest Growing Private Companies in Kansas City! Kansas City is a great city for entreprenuership with a myriad of organizations and programs that support small businesses and startups. Our employees are incredibly passionate about the work we do and we are very proud to be number 16 on the Fast 50 list.
Read more about how iOR Partners became a fastest growing company in Kansas City.
Clear Focus Drives the Vision of iOR
iOR Partners aims to give ophthalmologists more autonomy to operate outside of hospitals and traditional ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) where ophthalmic surgeons are forced to compete for surgical time and are often de-prioritized by other more profitable surgeries such as cardiac and musculoskeletal. This results in inconvenient and insufficient surgical time slots and a growing backlog of patients for the number one procedure performed in the United States – cataract surgery.
Office-based surgery puts the surgeon fully in control of the entire surgical process from beginning to end. iOR Partners is the undisputed leader in office-based surgery and is paving the way for the future of ophthalmic surgery with OBS suites. iOR Suites® integrate clinic and surgery in one location to increase surgeons’ flexibility and improve the patient experience while providing the highest level of safety. Our turnkey solution includes space planning, staff training, OBS billing support, materials management, accreditation, and compliance services.
“These [suites] meet all the criteria that’s necessary for safety and quality, but since it isonly focused on ophthalmology, it doesn’t come with the price tag of a traditionalambulatory surgical center,” CEO James Williams said. “Traditional ambulatory surgerycenters can cost $3 million to $4 million. We can do this for $250,000.”
A Rare Healthcare Model that Unites Patients, Physicians and Payors
Since our inception in 2018, we have been changing the landscape of where ophthalmic surgery is performed. iOR’s value proposition is a rare healthcare offering that unites and aligns all key stakeholders – the Physician, Payor, Patients under a common program that benefits all participants:
- Physicians enjoy complete control of their surgical schedule (24/7/365), increased productivity (no travel or waiting), an enhanced quality of life/work balance and additional revenue opportunities.
- Patients enjoy flexible, convenient scheduling and being treated by familiar staff and surroundings that are less intimidating than an HOPD or ASC.
- Payors benefit from the safety and effectiveness, while the lower cost structure of an OBS drives reimbursement savings.
- And, from a National Healthcare perspective, OBS adds much needed capacity and reduced cost to the supply and demand crisis facing cataract surgery.
Our success is due to our surgeon partners that believe in the office-based surgery movement and have trusted us with their transition. They are the reason why nearly 50,000 safe and effective outcomes have been performed in iOR Suites. 95% of iOR surgeon partners say that office-based surgery has improved patient satisfaction in their practices. Now, more ophthalmic surgeons are choosing to create in-office surgical suites.
The Future
As the only company dedicated to ophthalmic OBS, iOR Partners has developed and managed over 80 iOR Suites® nationwide. There are currently 14 iOR Suites scheduled to open in the first half of 2024.
Although iOR Partners is focused exclusively on eyecare right now, Daniel Durrie, MD, principal and Chairman of the Board, says thebusiness model has the potential to scale to meet the needs of other specialized forms of medical care.
“I think this is just the start of a big, national movement,” Durrie said. “This is somethingthat if we can save money in the health care system, if we can provide better access,especially for rural care, it’s not just going to be limited to ophthalmology.”
