Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies (OCR) and Front Range Orthopedics & Spine (FROC) Have Entered into a Definitive Merger Agreement

Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies (OCR) and Front Range Orthopedics & Spine (FROC) are happy to announce they have entered into a definitive merger agreement to merge FROC under the OCR umbrella effective January 1, 2020! This new partnership forms the largest privately owned fully vertically integrated orthopedic and spine medical group in Colorado, and one of the largest in the U.S.

FROC and OCR physicians have held high admiration for each other’s reputations, training, skills, and patient outcomes for many years. Due to national, state, and regional trends in health care, the vertically integrated orthopedic & spine medical groups are partnering to share invaluable resources of people, space, and technology. The new merger will include full business and clinical integration, sharing best practices in operations, clinical pathways and outcomes, and clinical research. OCR and FROC will have a strengthened collective, collaborative, and unified regional voice with strategic partners, including health systems and payers, on numerous marketplace topics.

As a merged entity, OCR will have approximately 600 employees in 7 orthopedic/spine locations:

  • Fort Collins, CO
  • Loveland, CO
  • Greeley, CO
  • Longmont, CO
  • Lafayette, CO
  • Westminster, CO (new location coming Summer 2021)
  • Frederick, CO

The merger will benefit these communities and the entire Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska region. We will accomplish this through a shared group mission, a common vision, and corporate values of continuing to lower health care costs by providing the highest quality of care and greatest patient outcomes in the lowest cost settings. The full integration of both organizations will occur over the next few years.

Post-merger, OCR will continue to grow as a vertically integrated orthopedic model of care through:

  • 43 total physicians and surgeons practicing in virtually all orthopedic and spine sub specialties
  • 34 Physician Assistants & Nurse Practitioners
  • 7 medical clinic locations along the front range
  • 4 therapy locations providing PT and OT services
    • 18 Physical Therapists
    • 7 Occupational Therapists
  • 3 Ambulatory Surgery Centers and 2 Recovery Center locations
  • 3 MRI locations
  • Sports Medicine Outreach / Regional Concussion Program partnerships with Colorado State University, Colorado Eagles, 24 regional high schools, Mountain View Fire, 9+ regional sports club teams, and coverage at over 40 regional rodeos and sporting events per year.
  • OCR/FROC currently provides Orthopedic Trauma Coverage at 7 regional Medical Centers: Poudre Valley Hospital (Fort Collins), Medical Center of the Rockies (Loveland), UCHealth Greeley (Greeley), Longmont United Hospital (Longmont), Longs Peak Hospital (Longmont), St Anthony’s North (Westminster), and Good Samaritan Medical Center (Lafayette).

Questions can be directed to:

Carli Taylor-Drake
Director of Marketing & Practice Development ctaylordrake@orthohealth.com
970-419-7140

 

Front Range Orthopedics & Spine (FROC) History

In 1970, the founding partners started what is now called Front Range Orthopedics & Spine. The practice started through a merger of 4 orthopedic surgeons and has grown to 11 physicians and 9 physician assistants. In 2001, FROC opened a surgery center called Front Range Orthopedic Surgery Center.

FROC’s four offices are located in Longmont, Lafayette, Westminster and Frederick.

Built in 2017, FROC’s new orthopedic medical office building in Longmont is home to an orthopedic medical clinic, Front Range Orthopedic Surgery Center, digital x-ray rooms, physical and occupational therapy, MRI, and a new after-hours Walk-In Clinic.

FROC has been the longtime sports medicine provider of St. Vrain Valley School District. FROC currently provides Athletic Trainers to 9 area high schools. FROC ATs also staff a “Bumps and Bruises Clinic,” which is a free service to high school athletes Monday and Thursday mornings from 7-8am during the school year.

FROC physicians perform surgical cases at Longmont United Hospital, Longs Peak Hospital, SCL Health, St. Anthony’s North, and the Front Range Orthopedic Surgery Center.

Front Range Orthopedics & Spine is honored to be the anchor of orthopedics in the Longmont and the surrounding areas.

 

Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies (OCR) History

In the early 1960s, two separate orthopedic practices were founded in Fort Collins. In 1961, Dr Doug Murray opened his private practice and in 1962, Dr Chuck Collopy opened his own private practice. Dr Bob Johnson joined Dr Murray in 1967 and Dr Ben Magsamen joined Dr Collopy in 1969. In 1969, 51 years ago, OCR, as it is named today, was formed as “Fort Collins Orthopedic Associates” when the two Fort Collins orthopedic groups merged. The groups merged in1969 to share in the valuable resources of people, space, and technology to better serve Fort Collins.

The four doctors were among the first orthopaedic specialists in the region, and helped pioneer the development of the orthopedic specialty in Colorado. In the 1970s, the physicians pioneered and
supported such advances as open-operative and internal-fixative devices for trauma and fracture surgery, clean-air operating rooms with laminar-flow equipment for joint replacement operations at Poudre Valley Hospital, and arthroscopic surgery, using a surgical scope and small incisions to operate on damaged joints, such as the knee and shoulder.

Fort Collins Orthopedic Associates was renamed the “Orthopaedic Center of the Rockies” in 1990, when the practice moved to its current location on East Prospect Road in Fort Collins. The building included a Therapy Department with pools, imaging suites, and MRI center, and a surgery center. The surgery center was expanded in 1999 with the addition of a third operating room and a 10-bed recovery center.

OCR opened their Loveland office in 1985 and later expanded to a new, larger building on Ginnala Drive in 1997. OCR built and opened the current Loveland campus at 3470 East 15th Street in December 2009. In 2019, OCR opened the new OCR Loveland Surgery & Recovery Center, which includes 6 ORs, with 2 additional shelled ORs, and 10 Recovery rooms, with 11 more shelled. This is the largest orthopaedic and spine surgery and recovery center in the U.S. An MRI unit was also added to this campus in 2019.

In November 2009 OCR updated the company to “Orthopaedic & Spine Center of the Rockies,” to emphasize the practice’s services for patients with back and neck conditions and injuries.

OCR opened a clinic in Greeley in May 2016 to help serve the growing Northern Colorado region.

As the region’s population and the demand for orthopaedic services have grown since the early 1960s, the number of OCR physicians has increased from the 4 founders to the 34 sub specialized physicians currently on OCR’s medical staff.

In addition to the four founding surgeons, physicians who have built and retired from OCR are: Drs. Jack Harvey, Dale Kaiser, Lee Grant, Roger Sobel, Ken Duncan, Mike Houghton, and Mark Durbin. Of special note is Jim Horstman, MD, a partner who passed away in 2007 from cancer.

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