CRYSTAL LAKE – With offices in Crystal Lake and Huntley, the surgeons at McHenry County Orthopaedics now belong to Centegra Health System, marking the largest acquisition ever to the Centegra Physician Care network, both parties announced Wednesday.
Starting Oct. 1, the bone and joint specialists at McHenry County Orthopaedics will operate under the moniker, Centegra Physician Care – McHenry County Orthopaedics.
The acquisition allows McHenry County Orthopaedics, which employs 80 people, to coordinate care with Centegra and the more than 200 area providers who are part of the Centegra Physician Care network, said Jason Sciarro, president and chief operating officer at Centegra.
“We are proud to enhance the services we provide by welcoming these exceptional surgeons and their team to our employed practice,” he said.
Centegra also is partnering with orthopaedic surgeons for the first time. Once the deal takes effect, the surgeons at McHenry County Orthopaedics will help craft Centegra’s system on orthopaedic care, Sciarro said.
Orthopedic surgeons Dr. William Cox Jr., Warren Jablonsky, Robert Nixon Jr., Mathew Samuelson, Timothy Havenhill, Harpreet Basran, Justin Gent, Priyesh Patel and other staffers at the practice will continue to serve their existing patients at their existing locations. The move also affords the practice better access to clinical resources and electronic record information on patients across the Centegra Physician Care network.
“Our practice has provided advanced orthopaedics and rehabilitative care to patients in this area for more than 20 years,” Dr. Cox said in a statement.
“Throughout this time, we’ve worked with Centegra to address the needs of our community and improve patient care. We are proud to announce this partnership and look forward to being a part of Centegra Health System’s tremendous growth in the years to come.”
Throughout the past few years, numerous private practices across the country have decided to join larger hospital networks, as regulatory and care standards continue to change in the health care industry.
A 2014 survey from the American Medical Association found that 29 percent of physicians either worked for a practice partially owned by a hospital or worked directly for a hospital.
Nearly 60 percent of family doctors and pediatricians, 50 percent of surgeons and 25 percent of surgical subspecialists were employees of a medical system rather than an independent practice, the survey found.