Orthopedics practice announces closing

GILFORD — The area’s oldest orthopedic practice will be closing at the end of March, an apparent casualty of the pending takeover of LRGHealthcare by Concord Hospital.

Advanced Orthopaedic Specialists’s four partners, Drs. Jeffrey Clingman, Alex Hennig, Jeremy Hogan, and Glenn Lieberman announced Wednesday the decision to disband the practice effective March 31 “upon learning that the new hospital entity, formed by Concord Hospital acquiring Lakes Region General Hospital (LRGH), chose not to renew the provider service agreement that has been in place since 2004.”

Hogan explained that Concord Hospital does not enter into provider service agreements with physician groups and urged the local practice to try to reach an agreement with Concord Orthopaedics, a private practice based in Concord. But Hogan said he and his fellow partners were unable to reach an acceptable arrangement with Concord Orthopaedics.

“No pathway was given to us,” Hogan said. “Concord did not offer a path forward.”

“Rumors that the surgeons of AOS ‘want to leave’ could not be further from the truth,” said Hogan, an orthopaedic joint surgeon who has been with AOS for 10 years. “Our practice has amassed thousands of loyal patients in the Lakes Region, and our steadfast goal is to provide them with outstanding care. It deeply saddens us to close AOS, and say goodbye to our committed staff. We will all find a path forward with new organizations, providing the quality care our neighbors have come to expect.”

In a statement, LRGHeathcare said the development came down to a matter of economics.

“The current professional services agreement (PSA) with AOS will not meet system requirements to maintain a financially viable system moving forward,” the health-care provider said in an email it sent Friday. “As Concord Hospital acquires our assets through bankruptcy, they need to assume contracts that are supportable in the long term and reject those which are not.”

Arrangements on how orthopedic care will be provided in Laconia in the future still needs to be worked out.

“Once Concord Hospital and LRGHealthcare receive approval from the required regulatory agencies, we look forward to sharing more information on how orthopedics will be provided locally,” the LRGHealthcare statement said.

Hogan said that two physicians and two physician assistants in the AOS practice are in discussions with Huggins Hospital in Wolfeboro. The other providers are pursuing opportunities independently, he said.

AOS was created eight years ago, an outgrowth of another practice called Orthopaedic Professional Association. OPA was started in 1970 by Drs. Walter Garger, Howard Halfmann, and Donald Ettelson, and was the first medical professional corporation in the state, according to AOS.

“It has been an honor serving this community and working with our team,” Dr. Glenn Lieberman, an orthopaedic surgeon and president of the board at AOS, and chief of orthopaedics at LRGH, said. “Our commitment to providing excellent care to our extraordinary patients in the Lakes Region is what has kept this business thriving for half a century.”

AOS said it will assist the practice’s patients in connecting with other providers for orthopedic services.

In addition to the four owners of the practice, six other providers within the practice will be relocating: Dr. John Grobman, and Dr. Joel Huleatt, both orthopaedic surgeons; Dr. Matthew Jensen, a chiropractor; Dr. Michael Robinson, a podiatrist; and Cody Rideout, Kyle Przekaza, and Tatyana Hoyt, all physician assistants.

AOS, whose offices are located at Hillside Medical Park in Gilford, has provided back, spine and neurosurgery, total joint care of hips and knees, hand and wrist, foot and ankle, trauma and fractures, sports medicine, general orthopaedic care and chiropractic medicine, according to information posted on its website.