Two local orthopedics centers join forces

FORT COLLINS and LONGMONT —  The Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies and Front Range Orthopedics & Spine have entered into a strategic partnership to share resources, space, staff and technology.

The partnership, which went into effect Nov. 15, creates a shared leadership team, with OCR chief Mike Bergerson at the helm as CEO. OCR’s Lisa Augustine will serve as chief financial officer, according to a news release.

David Demchuk, who has served as FROC’s CEO and CFO for two decades, will retire at the end of this year.

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Both OCR and FRCO will continue operating their respective clinics under their existing names, Bergerson said.

“The groups are staying independent,” he said. “This isn’t a merger, this is just a foray into working together strategically.”

The new partnership will include areas of clinical integration, sharing of best practices in operations, sharing of best practices in clinical pathways and outcomes, and clinical research, the release said.

“Anything we work on together is going to be a win-win for the organizations and the communities we serve,” Bergerson said.

The organizations operate a combined seven orthopedic offices around Northern Colorado and the Boulder Valley. Those offices are in Fort Collins, Longmont, Loveland, Greeley, Lafayette, Westminster and Frederick.

Founded in Longmont in 1970, FROC has grown from a practice with four orthopedic surgeons to an operation with 10 physicians and eight physician assistants.

In 2017 the organization opened a new 32,000-square-foot, two-story orthopedic-care center at 1610 Dry Creek Drive in southwest Longmont. The facility features an outpatient surgery center, a physical-therapy center, and digital X-ray and high-resolution MRI services.

Originally called Fort Collins Orthopedic Associates, OCR was formed 1969 with the merger of two orthopedic practices.

A Loveland clinic opened in 1985, and the practice was renamed in 1990 when it moved to its current location on East Prospect Road in Fort Collins.

In 2016, OCR expanded into Greeley with the opening of a center at the Greeley Medical Clinic building at 1900 16th St.