April 20, 2025 • 16 mins
In this episode, Dr. Alexander K. Meininger, Managing Partner at Steamboat Orthopaedic & Spine Institute, joins Scott Becker to discuss the unique challenges and opportunities of running an independent orthopedic practice in a resort town, trends in outpatient procedures, bioinductive implants, and advice for emerging physician leaders.
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(00:00):
Exciting things are happening at Becker's Healthcare. Stay
ahead of industry trends with the new Becker's
CFO plus Revenue Cycle podcast,
your go to source for insights from top
healthcare finance leaders. Tune in wherever you get
your podcasts.
And don't miss the tenth annual health IT
plus digital health plus RCM conference, happening September
(00:22):
30 to 10/03/2025
in Chicago.
Join thousands of
executives, engage with industry leaders, and explore the
future of health care innovation.
Learn more about our upcoming events at beckershospitalreview.com.
See you there.
This is Scott Becker with the Beckers Health
Care Podcast,
(00:42):
and I'm thrilled today to be joined by
a brilliant physician leader. We're joined today by
doctor Alex Meininger. And doctor Meininger, addition to
being a brilliant orthopedic surgeon,
is also the managing partner of the Steamboat
Orthopedic and Spine Institute.
If anybody that's not been to Steamboat Springs,
this is one of the most beautiful places
(01:03):
in the world. Doctor Meininger, take a moment
and introduce yourself and also tell us how
you ended up in Steamboat Springs.
Thanks, Scott. Yeah. It's a pleasure to be
here, and, I'm excited to be involved. So
I'm a Colorado native myself, and, I spent
ten years in Chicago to do my medical
training. So my undergraduate classmates in Boulder
(01:23):
laughed when I moved east and said nobody
moves East of Boulder, and, made my way
back. So I was grateful for the opportunity,
great institutions, and great mentors from, Rush University
to, North Shore University and the University of
Chicago.
But I couldn't have been more excited to
get an invitation to come home and live
a dream come true with an opportunity to
practice orthopedics in a ski resort.
(01:45):
And and let me ask you a question.
Rush
with doctor Phillips, doctor Cole, those types of
people that were at Rush at that point?
Or who's who are some of the people
that you were at with Rush?
Indeed. I was,
I obtained my medical degree from Rush Medical
College. And while I was there, I was
able to work with doctor Cole and doctor
Romeo,
some clinical research, some, bench science research.
(02:07):
And during my residency at the University of
Illinois, doctor Cole hosted me for our, research
internship.
So I was able to work in his
genetics and cellular engineering laboratory and,
gained some more experience in, the basic science
of sports medicine. So they were great mentors,
clinically and academically across the board.
In in Steamboat. So I was just out
(02:29):
skiing, and, of course, one of the people
I skied with
skied at a ridiculous speed,
got hurt. We weren't in Steamboat. We were
in Park City, but ended up spending time
in the Park City Medical Center,
with him. And he's fine. A concussion
and
banged up, but fine. But you see a
ton of ski injuries. Is that getting worse
(02:50):
or better? Are people smarter skiers than they
used to be unlike my colleague? Or are
they are they not as smart skiers? What
do you see out there? Yeah. Yeah. It's
interesting. A couple of, of trends. Right?
I think, one, there's seasonality and, conditions based
injuries. So,
early season or, with warm freeze thaw cycles
(03:10):
and lack of fresh snow, we might see
harder surfaces, greater impacts, and maybe more,
upper extremity fractures, ironically. So fall on the
outstretched hand, shoulders, clavicles,
wrist and forearm injuries are commonplace as are
head injuries like your friend might have suffered,
it sounds. And then
with the deeper snow or, powder conditions, lower
extremity, twisting injuries, or ligamentous damage to the
(03:33):
knee, long bone fractures like the boot top
tibia fractures become more common.
And powder conditions might, encourage some more
reckless skiing. So,
femur fractures, hip dislocations occur if those people
start to jump off cliffs in soft conditions.
So there is a component of
weather conditions that predict it.
(03:54):
I think technology and ski and binding
improvements have maybe reduced some of the incidence
of injury that they're a little bit more
reliable or the ability to ski safely with
a a curved or
a modern ski dimensions help people to ski
safely and within their control with a slow
an easier learning curve.
(04:14):
And then,
there's a unique component, I guess, that was
pandemic related that
the
change or transition from remote work from home
led to just an influx of persons moving
to resort towns. Park City is similar, I
imagine, and I've heard the same that
people living and working here, our population has
grown tremendously since 2020, and that also increases
(04:36):
the burden of elective surgery in persons living
here, retiring here, occupying their second homes, etcetera.
So
all in all, it's a it's a blessing.
We're lucky to be here and have a
thriving practice and so
No. Fantastic.
Fantastic. And and talk a little bit about
trench orthopedic practice. Is Steamboat remains an independent
practice? What does that look like going forward?
(04:57):
And what do you hear a bunch of
your orthopedic colleagues about the ability to stay
independent or become part of a health system?
What do you see over the next few
years, and what are you what are you
seeing?
Yeah. No. This is a common conversation. And,
Steamboat Orthopedic and Spine is a % physician
owned private practice. We have a fifty fifty
joint venture with our hospital partner in the
surgery setting surgery center setting.
(05:20):
We're grateful to work with UCHealth and the
Amped Valley Medical Center in that regard, but
our practice is entirely private, and we're multispecialty
with
spine and, nonoperative,
physical medicine, rehab, hand, foot, and ankle, shoulder,
sports medicine. So we've got a broad nine
person group here and including total joints, I
should say, as well. And,
private practitioners are facing constant steady headwinds. I
(05:43):
I hear from our partners,
friends, colleagues across the country. There are downward
pressures from third party insurance companies, from human
resources,
from, real estate or construction costs. So we're
no different than that,
and a resort town provides some unique perspectives,
like
staffing human resources is a challenge to find
persons who, wanna live in a small town
(06:05):
or are qualified or even recruiting professionals and,
allied health providers and physicians alike.
And and what do you what do you
what are the big trends you watch in
orthopedics currently, and what are you most excited
about currently?
You know, that a lot of the trends
focus on private equity and ancillary development. So,
the out migration of, total joint replacements and
(06:26):
spine surgery to the surgery center setting, I
think we, we're lucky to catch that wave,
and we're riding it as strong as we
can that we have, fortunately, a healthy population
and a lot of eligible candidates for
outpatient spine surgery and multilevel disc replacements. Outpatient,
direct interior hip replacements are are commonplace, etcetera.
So moving those cases from the hospital to
the surgery center, I think was
(06:49):
a driving force in the last several years.
The
financial or,
equity support in the private practitioners group is
another common topic. So the influx of private
equity in medicine and orthopedics, it's it's a
big topic, and there's opportunity for capital infusion.
We've looked at options, and we're we're grateful
to, to remain,
(07:09):
private and physician owned at this stage.
We've been successful to
buoy ourselves with insurance
negotiations with,
real estate,
prospects and, the ancillary developments to help keep
those in place. But, it's a constant reassessment
going forward and making sure we're we're staying
(07:29):
ahead of the eight ball there.
Fantastic. When you look at this year, I
I take it the year is going well
enough. And what are you most excited about
this year?
The last
year and into 2025, it's it's been tremendous.
Both my partner, doctor Salatiki, and I, wrapped
up clinical trials in 2024.
(07:50):
The three spine lumbar total joint replacement project
ended on the spine side, and that should
reach,
the market in the calendar year 2026.
I was involved,
along with other cartilage surgeons across the country
with the, Ace Galap NovoCART three d clinical
trial, and it was a cartilage transplant,
FDA study.
(08:10):
That,
study is going to publication
and the
technology hopefully coming to market. So,
I think it also helps to bring the
Steamboat, Spig, and Spine Institute's recognition nationwide
up to visibility and increase our notoriety as
a as a center both
offering clinical excellence and some research participation. So
(08:31):
being involved in those things has been exciting,
and in the last year,
we've also been asked to join two other
cartilage repair trials, looking at allogeneic stem cells,
another looking at a inorganic
implant for a cartilage transplant from international vendors.
So further participation in research is exciting and
and then getting an opportunity on the world
stage.
(08:52):
Being an invited moderator and speaker at the
Ortho Summit in '24 was, was pretty thrilling
as well.
And and where was the Ortho Summit? Where's
that?
Doctor, Plancher and now doctor, Joe Abood from
Philadelphia.
It's in Las Vegas,
now I think more consistently. It had had
bounced around, but, 2024 and '25, I think,
are both held in Las Vegas.
(09:14):
Multi specialty brings in,
spine, total joint sports medicine,
across the board in the realm of orthopedics,
but
a relatively unique meeting compared to some of
the larger, more academic, like academy of orthopedic
style meetings.
That's fantastic.
And when you look at recruiting to Steamboat,
staff can staff find housing?
(09:36):
Is it hard or easy to find doctors?
Because, obviously, Steamboat's a destination,
one of the most beautiful places to be
in the country in a great environment, a
great culture, a great environment,
hard or easy to recruit physicians to come
to Steamboat?
It is a challenge. Yes. And we might
have met all the marks of,
eligibility for a person to join our group.
(09:56):
And then if they come to look at
housing or they,
look at relocating, by the time it comes
to the family decision, they they don't feel
it's tenable.
Market pressures, real estate costs are, are overwhelming,
so
it has been a challenge to, recruit.
We're grateful to get
a a family born and raised in Steamboat
(10:17):
to come back and join us in, January
25 and husband, wife, couple. She was born
and raised here in Steamboat Springs, and her
parents still reside. She's a practicing anesthesiologist
and mother of two, so she's part time
with the hospital group. And her husband, doctor
Thompson, is our latest recruit in the sports
medicine department with a,
added exposure and hip preservation and arthroscopic hip
(10:39):
surgery. So he's gonna bring that to our
group and help expand our breath there.
And, thankfully,
this problem was less of a deal for
them than for others because of their attachment
and previous connections. But
even for our mid level providers, we're good
getting physician assistants, nurse practitioners,
even nurses. It it's a challenge. And
to meet those cost of living wages is
(11:00):
a challenge for the group.
Well, yeah, absolutely. And what about reimbursement
challenges?
You still got a good commercial environment out
there to go with Medicare, Medicaid.
How challenging is the reimbursement environment,
currently?
It is a it's a steady challenge. We're
we're lucky to be in the Mountain West.
(11:21):
So we have
a a nice, third party insurance coverage exposure.
Our government payer mix is around 12 to
17%,
so, something to keep an eye on, of
course. And,
Colorado is one of the states to have
expanded Medicaid. So for those,
ski bum lifestyleers, there is still some,
(11:42):
subsidy insurance out there or help for those.
So we're not, doing not necessarily pro bono
work in those cases. But,
our insurance negotiations, thankfully, we can leverage our,
our surgery center facility fees as owner operators.
It does help us to have broader conversations
or realize the give and take with both
sides of the table.
(12:03):
Fantastic.
And and and if you had a look
at
how you see orthopedics will go in the
next few years,
Any thoughts on where orthopedics is going? I
mean, it seems
like orthopedics is one of the specialties we're
not as short as some other specialties.
What's your perspective on that? And and what
do you see in the next five, ten
years? And where do you see AI in
(12:25):
orthopedics?
Oh, yeah. Great question, Scott.
One of the things I think has been
exciting
has been, the introduction of bioinductive implants and
harnessing the body's own ability to heal.
I was an early adopter of the bare
implant for the bridge enhanced ACL restoration procedure.
So
where previously,
ACL grafts were were commonplace and have a
(12:47):
track record of success, ACL repair did not
necessarily so much with just stitches.
A bioinductive implant means a,
protein sponge that encourages your body to heal
or bridge the tear. It's
inserted surgically, and it allows your body to
heal the ACL tear and avoid the invasiveness
of graft harvest or other things. And the
(13:07):
technology is broadened to other applications. If it's
adding patches and protein supplements to rotator cuff
repair
or collagen reinforced
sutures or absorbable implants to help with insufficiency
fractures, I think these technologies are are pretty
amazing
and evolving the realm of sports medicine, and
I think the feature's only gonna grow in
(13:28):
terms of these bioinductive
implant categories.
Thank you very, very much. And you've had
a great clinical career and a great leadership
career.
What advice would you give to
emerging
leaders,
surgeons,
so forth, on having an impactful and great
leadership career?
Well, I think,
(13:50):
one, it's, stay true to yourself. There's no,
sport, social media or marketing campaign that's gonna
build your practice. I think,
the beauty of orthopedics is we still touch
our patients, interact, face to face, and I
think the advice I received as a younger
surgeon of, just do good work and your
work will speak for you, resonates, and speaks
true. Now twelve years into practice, kind of
(14:11):
graduated another plateau in my practice and personal
growth, and I can look back or recognize
those self referrals or patients coming back because
of successful
operations or encounters with me previously.
But, also, as you harness your your practice
skills, then, using those skills to mentor others.
My involvement has been rewarding particularly with the
arthroscopy association or educating younger sports medicine surgeons.
(14:34):
And then professionally in the business environment. Obviously,
we don't have the business
background and, have not, yet carved out the
time to achieve an MBA. But,
on the job training, learning, business management,
personnel management, human resources, and keeping staff.
It's important just to, keep an open mind,
have a collective,
(14:57):
and be open to criticism.
Working with your team, your partner, recognizing
what works, what support they need, and, how
you can be an asset to them. And
I think how can I help you today
is kind of the motto?
I I think that's a fantastic perspective.
Daika Meininger, I wanna thank you so much
for joining us today. What What an amazing
career and what a great place to live.
(15:19):
And and still you ski yourself, and if
so, how much skiing do you get in
a year?
It's it's kind of our busy season. So,
now that I'm sitting in a more senior
partner position, I I can break away. But
skiing is what brought me to Steamboat. I've
I've been skiing since I was four years
old, and,
my wife was actually
a competitive,
freestyle skier competing for a US team position
(15:39):
before she went to medical school. So it's
our passion, our family love, and, we try
to travel and get out, and, I'm just
happy to get on the slopes even if
it's for a couple hours.
And I guess the next question is
snowboarding or skiing or some of both?
Personally, I'm a dedicated,
two stick skier. I, have not embarked on
(16:00):
the around with learning to snowboard, and I
might be too late to start.
I hear you a %.
I I I wanna thank you, doctor Meininger.
I am the same. I wanna thank you
so much for for joining us today, on
on the Becker's Health Care podcast. What a
great pleasure to visit with you. What a
remarkable career. Thank you so much for joining
us. Thanks, Scott. For the invitation. It's been
(16:20):
a pleasure. Thank you.
Exciting things are happening at Becker's Healthcare. Stay
ahead of industry trends with the new Becker's
CFO plus Revenue Cycle podcast,
your go to source for insights from top
healthcare finance leaders. Tune in wherever you get
your podcasts.
And don't miss the tenth annual health IT
plus digital health plus RCM conference, happening September
(00:22):
30 to 10/03/2025
in Chicago.
Join thousands of
executives, engage with industry leaders, and explore the
future of health care innovation.
Learn more about our upcoming events at beckershospitalreview.com.
See you there.
This is Scott Becker with the Beckers Health
Care Podcast,
(00:42):
and I'm thrilled today to be joined by
a brilliant physician leader. We're joined today by
doctor Alex Meininger. And doctor Meininger, addition to
being a brilliant orthopedic surgeon,
is also the managing partner of the Steamboat
Orthopedic and Spine Institute.
If anybody that's not been to Steamboat Springs,
this is one of the most beautiful places
(01:03):
in the world. Doctor Meininger, take a moment
and introduce yourself and also tell us how
you ended up in Steamboat Springs.
Thanks, Scott. Yeah. It's a pleasure to be
here, and, I'm excited to be involved. So
I'm a Colorado native myself, and, I spent
ten years in Chicago to do my medical
training. So my undergraduate classmates in Boulder
(01:23):
laughed when I moved east and said nobody
moves East of Boulder, and, made my way
back. So I was grateful for the opportunity,
great institutions, and great mentors from, Rush University
to, North Shore University and the University of
Chicago.
But I couldn't have been more excited to
get an invitation to come home and live
a dream come true with an opportunity to
practice orthopedics in a ski resort.
(01:45):
And and let me ask you a question.
Rush
with doctor Phillips, doctor Cole, those types of
people that were at Rush at that point?
Or who's who are some of the people
that you were at with Rush?
Indeed. I was,
I obtained my medical degree from Rush Medical
College. And while I was there, I was
able to work with doctor Cole and doctor
Romeo,
some clinical research, some, bench science research.
(02:07):
And during my residency at the University of
Illinois, doctor Cole hosted me for our, research
internship.
So I was able to work in his
genetics and cellular engineering laboratory and,
gained some more experience in, the basic science
of sports medicine. So they were great mentors,
clinically and academically across the board.
In in Steamboat. So I was just out
(02:29):
skiing, and, of course, one of the people
I skied with
skied at a ridiculous speed,
got hurt. We weren't in Steamboat. We were
in Park City, but ended up spending time
in the Park City Medical Center,
with him. And he's fine. A concussion
and
banged up, but fine. But you see a
ton of ski injuries. Is that getting worse
(02:50):
or better? Are people smarter skiers than they
used to be unlike my colleague? Or are
they are they not as smart skiers? What
do you see out there? Yeah. Yeah. It's
interesting. A couple of, of trends. Right?
I think, one, there's seasonality and, conditions based
injuries. So,
early season or, with warm freeze thaw cycles
(03:10):
and lack of fresh snow, we might see
harder surfaces, greater impacts, and maybe more,
upper extremity fractures, ironically. So fall on the
outstretched hand, shoulders, clavicles,
wrist and forearm injuries are commonplace as are
head injuries like your friend might have suffered,
it sounds. And then
with the deeper snow or, powder conditions, lower
extremity, twisting injuries, or ligamentous damage to the
(03:33):
knee, long bone fractures like the boot top
tibia fractures become more common.
And powder conditions might, encourage some more
reckless skiing. So,
femur fractures, hip dislocations occur if those people
start to jump off cliffs in soft conditions.
So there is a component of
weather conditions that predict it.
(03:54):
I think technology and ski and binding
improvements have maybe reduced some of the incidence
of injury that they're a little bit more
reliable or the ability to ski safely with
a a curved or
a modern ski dimensions help people to ski
safely and within their control with a slow
an easier learning curve.
(04:14):
And then,
there's a unique component, I guess, that was
pandemic related that
the
change or transition from remote work from home
led to just an influx of persons moving
to resort towns. Park City is similar, I
imagine, and I've heard the same that
people living and working here, our population has
grown tremendously since 2020, and that also increases
(04:36):
the burden of elective surgery in persons living
here, retiring here, occupying their second homes, etcetera.
So
all in all, it's a it's a blessing.
We're lucky to be here and have a
thriving practice and so
No. Fantastic.
Fantastic. And and talk a little bit about
trench orthopedic practice. Is Steamboat remains an independent
practice? What does that look like going forward?
(04:57):
And what do you hear a bunch of
your orthopedic colleagues about the ability to stay
independent or become part of a health system?
What do you see over the next few
years, and what are you what are you
seeing?
Yeah. No. This is a common conversation. And,
Steamboat Orthopedic and Spine is a % physician
owned private practice. We have a fifty fifty
joint venture with our hospital partner in the
surgery setting surgery center setting.
(05:20):
We're grateful to work with UCHealth and the
Amped Valley Medical Center in that regard, but
our practice is entirely private, and we're multispecialty
with
spine and, nonoperative,
physical medicine, rehab, hand, foot, and ankle, shoulder,
sports medicine. So we've got a broad nine
person group here and including total joints, I
should say, as well. And,
private practitioners are facing constant steady headwinds. I
(05:43):
I hear from our partners,
friends, colleagues across the country. There are downward
pressures from third party insurance companies, from human
resources,
from, real estate or construction costs. So we're
no different than that,
and a resort town provides some unique perspectives,
like
staffing human resources is a challenge to find
persons who, wanna live in a small town
(06:05):
or are qualified or even recruiting professionals and,
allied health providers and physicians alike.
And and what do you what do you
what are the big trends you watch in
orthopedics currently, and what are you most excited
about currently?
You know, that a lot of the trends
focus on private equity and ancillary development. So,
the out migration of, total joint replacements and
(06:26):
spine surgery to the surgery center setting, I
think we, we're lucky to catch that wave,
and we're riding it as strong as we
can that we have, fortunately, a healthy population
and a lot of eligible candidates for
outpatient spine surgery and multilevel disc replacements. Outpatient,
direct interior hip replacements are are commonplace, etcetera.
So moving those cases from the hospital to
the surgery center, I think was
(06:49):
a driving force in the last several years.
The
financial or,
equity support in the private practitioners group is
another common topic. So the influx of private
equity in medicine and orthopedics, it's it's a
big topic, and there's opportunity for capital infusion.
We've looked at options, and we're we're grateful
to, to remain,
(07:09):
private and physician owned at this stage.
We've been successful to
buoy ourselves with insurance
negotiations with,
real estate,
prospects and, the ancillary developments to help keep
those in place. But, it's a constant reassessment
going forward and making sure we're we're staying
(07:29):
ahead of the eight ball there.
Fantastic. When you look at this year, I
I take it the year is going well
enough. And what are you most excited about
this year?
The last
year and into 2025, it's it's been tremendous.
Both my partner, doctor Salatiki, and I, wrapped
up clinical trials in 2024.
(07:50):
The three spine lumbar total joint replacement project
ended on the spine side, and that should
reach,
the market in the calendar year 2026.
I was involved,
along with other cartilage surgeons across the country
with the, Ace Galap NovoCART three d clinical
trial, and it was a cartilage transplant,
FDA study.
(08:10):
That,
study is going to publication
and the
technology hopefully coming to market. So,
I think it also helps to bring the
Steamboat, Spig, and Spine Institute's recognition nationwide
up to visibility and increase our notoriety as
a as a center both
offering clinical excellence and some research participation. So
(08:31):
being involved in those things has been exciting,
and in the last year,
we've also been asked to join two other
cartilage repair trials, looking at allogeneic stem cells,
another looking at a inorganic
implant for a cartilage transplant from international vendors.
So further participation in research is exciting and
and then getting an opportunity on the world
stage.
(08:52):
Being an invited moderator and speaker at the
Ortho Summit in '24 was, was pretty thrilling
as well.
And and where was the Ortho Summit? Where's
that?
Doctor, Plancher and now doctor, Joe Abood from
Philadelphia.
It's in Las Vegas,
now I think more consistently. It had had
bounced around, but, 2024 and '25, I think,
are both held in Las Vegas.
(09:14):
Multi specialty brings in,
spine, total joint sports medicine,
across the board in the realm of orthopedics,
but
a relatively unique meeting compared to some of
the larger, more academic, like academy of orthopedic
style meetings.
That's fantastic.
And when you look at recruiting to Steamboat,
staff can staff find housing?
(09:36):
Is it hard or easy to find doctors?
Because, obviously, Steamboat's a destination,
one of the most beautiful places to be
in the country in a great environment, a
great culture, a great environment,
hard or easy to recruit physicians to come
to Steamboat?
It is a challenge. Yes. And we might
have met all the marks of,
eligibility for a person to join our group.
(09:56):
And then if they come to look at
housing or they,
look at relocating, by the time it comes
to the family decision, they they don't feel
it's tenable.
Market pressures, real estate costs are, are overwhelming,
so
it has been a challenge to, recruit.
We're grateful to get
a a family born and raised in Steamboat
(10:17):
to come back and join us in, January
25 and husband, wife, couple. She was born
and raised here in Steamboat Springs, and her
parents still reside. She's a practicing anesthesiologist
and mother of two, so she's part time
with the hospital group. And her husband, doctor
Thompson, is our latest recruit in the sports
medicine department with a,
added exposure and hip preservation and arthroscopic hip
(10:39):
surgery. So he's gonna bring that to our
group and help expand our breath there.
And, thankfully,
this problem was less of a deal for
them than for others because of their attachment
and previous connections. But
even for our mid level providers, we're good
getting physician assistants, nurse practitioners,
even nurses. It it's a challenge. And
to meet those cost of living wages is
(11:00):
a challenge for the group.
Well, yeah, absolutely. And what about reimbursement
challenges?
You still got a good commercial environment out
there to go with Medicare, Medicaid.
How challenging is the reimbursement environment,
currently?
It is a it's a steady challenge. We're
we're lucky to be in the Mountain West.
(11:21):
So we have
a a nice, third party insurance coverage exposure.
Our government payer mix is around 12 to
17%,
so, something to keep an eye on, of
course. And,
Colorado is one of the states to have
expanded Medicaid. So for those,
ski bum lifestyleers, there is still some,
(11:42):
subsidy insurance out there or help for those.
So we're not, doing not necessarily pro bono
work in those cases. But,
our insurance negotiations, thankfully, we can leverage our,
our surgery center facility fees as owner operators.
It does help us to have broader conversations
or realize the give and take with both
sides of the table.
(12:03):
Fantastic.
And and and if you had a look
at
how you see orthopedics will go in the
next few years,
Any thoughts on where orthopedics is going? I
mean, it seems
like orthopedics is one of the specialties we're
not as short as some other specialties.
What's your perspective on that? And and what
do you see in the next five, ten
years? And where do you see AI in
(12:25):
orthopedics?
Oh, yeah. Great question, Scott.
One of the things I think has been
exciting
has been, the introduction of bioinductive implants and
harnessing the body's own ability to heal.
I was an early adopter of the bare
implant for the bridge enhanced ACL restoration procedure.
So
where previously,
ACL grafts were were commonplace and have a
(12:47):
track record of success, ACL repair did not
necessarily so much with just stitches.
A bioinductive implant means a,
protein sponge that encourages your body to heal
or bridge the tear. It's
inserted surgically, and it allows your body to
heal the ACL tear and avoid the invasiveness
of graft harvest or other things. And the
(13:07):
technology is broadened to other applications. If it's
adding patches and protein supplements to rotator cuff
repair
or collagen reinforced
sutures or absorbable implants to help with insufficiency
fractures, I think these technologies are are pretty
amazing
and evolving the realm of sports medicine, and
I think the feature's only gonna grow in
(13:28):
terms of these bioinductive
implant categories.
Thank you very, very much. And you've had
a great clinical career and a great leadership
career.
What advice would you give to
emerging
leaders,
surgeons,
so forth, on having an impactful and great
leadership career?
Well, I think,
(13:50):
one, it's, stay true to yourself. There's no,
sport, social media or marketing campaign that's gonna
build your practice. I think,
the beauty of orthopedics is we still touch
our patients, interact, face to face, and I
think the advice I received as a younger
surgeon of, just do good work and your
work will speak for you, resonates, and speaks
true. Now twelve years into practice, kind of
(14:11):
graduated another plateau in my practice and personal
growth, and I can look back or recognize
those self referrals or patients coming back because
of successful
operations or encounters with me previously.
But, also, as you harness your your practice
skills, then, using those skills to mentor others.
My involvement has been rewarding particularly with the
arthroscopy association or educating younger sports medicine surgeons.
(14:34):
And then professionally in the business environment. Obviously,
we don't have the business
background and, have not, yet carved out the
time to achieve an MBA. But,
on the job training, learning, business management,
personnel management, human resources, and keeping staff.
It's important just to, keep an open mind,
have a collective,
(14:57):
and be open to criticism.
Working with your team, your partner, recognizing
what works, what support they need, and, how
you can be an asset to them. And
I think how can I help you today
is kind of the motto?
I I think that's a fantastic perspective.
Daika Meininger, I wanna thank you so much
for joining us today. What What an amazing
career and what a great place to live.
(15:19):
And and still you ski yourself, and if
so, how much skiing do you get in
a year?
It's it's kind of our busy season. So,
now that I'm sitting in a more senior
partner position, I I can break away. But
skiing is what brought me to Steamboat. I've
I've been skiing since I was four years
old, and,
my wife was actually
a competitive,
freestyle skier competing for a US team position
(15:39):
before she went to medical school. So it's
our passion, our family love, and, we try
to travel and get out, and, I'm just
happy to get on the slopes even if
it's for a couple hours.
And I guess the next question is
snowboarding or skiing or some of both?
Personally, I'm a dedicated,
two stick skier. I, have not embarked on
(16:00):
the around with learning to snowboard, and I
might be too late to start.
I hear you a %.
I I I wanna thank you, doctor Meininger.
I am the same. I wanna thank you
so much for for joining us today, on
on the Becker's Health Care podcast. What a
great pleasure to visit with you. What a
remarkable career. Thank you so much for joining
us. Thanks, Scott. For the invitation. It's been
(16:20):
a pleasure. Thank you.
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