St. Elizabeth Healthcare, St. Elizabeth Physicians and Commonwealth Orthopaedic Centers are collaborating to launch an Orthopaedic Institute that will coordinate care and improve patients’ experiences by bringing together physicians and staff from across the organizations. Doctors at the Institute will focus on sports medicine, inpatient and outpatient orthopaedic surgery, total joint replacement, rehabilitation and physical therapy, as well as
clinical research.

St. Elizabeth and Commonwealth have been working together for more than 20 years; this partnership advances the relationship in a way that will better serve the community.

A priority for the Institute, which is expected to be fully operational this fall, is its relationship with 16 Northern Kentucky schools by providing athletic trainers, team physicians and sports medicine services. In addition to direct clinical care, St. Elizabeth and Commonwealth are co-developing athletic training curriculum at the university level and will provide opportunities to educate both college and high school students in musculoskeletal care, including observation of advanced orthopaedic and sports medicine procedures.

Another key point of collaboration takes place in St. Elizabeth’s Total Joint Center, a comprehensive program offering the most advanced and least invasive surgical solutions for the replacement of the hip, knee, ankle or elbow joint. This integrated program combines advanced surgical services with pre-surgical health and education programs and comprehensive rehabilitation services to restore patients to normal function – or better.

In addition to the expertise of the physicians and other providers within the Institute, physicians will have direct access to electronic consults with subspecialists at the Mayo Clinic for highly complex or unusual cases.