Growing without adding more people | Ross Rigdon, COO, Raleigh Orthopaedic | Ep. 5

Wake County adds 52 net new residents every single day. For a regional orthopedic practice, that's both a tailwind and a pressure test. More patients means more workflow to absorb, more payer rules to navigate, and less margin for operational error as the organization scales.ㅤJoe Zboch sits down with Ross Rigdon, Chief Operations Officer at Raleigh Orthopaedic, to talk through what operational growth actually looks like inside one of North Carolina's largest and oldest independent orthopedic practices. Ross and Joe cover payer compliance, staffing strategy, real-time data visibility, and the implementation philosophy Ross applies to both technology and people. Hatch sponsors this episode.ㅤ👤 Guest BioRoss Rigdon is the Chief Operations Officer at Raleigh Orthopaedic, the oldest orthopedic practice in eastern and central North Carolina. He's been with the organization for over seven years, moving from Lead DME Clinician and Administrative Fellow to Director of Operations and now COO. He holds an EMT Basic certification and a BS in Exercise Science from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, and is an active member of the American Alliance of Orthopaedic Executives (AAOE).ㅤ📌 What We CoverHow UnitedHealthcare's separate documentation requirement for imaging interpretation created an immediate workflow problem for orthopedic practices, and why the answer had to come from operations, not compliance alone.Why Ross frames reactive compliance and proactive technology investment as the same job, not two competing priorities.The natural-language AI dashboard Ross is building with his managed IT vendor: what it queries, what it monitors, and why the point isn't AI novelty but faster access to signals already buried in the practice's own data.Why Ross pushes back on the vendor promise of 30-50% staff reductions, and what he thinks the better goal actually is for growing organizations.How Raleigh Orthopaedic approaches staffing retention in a market where patient demand keeps growing and replacing good people is expensive.The implementation philosophy Ross applies equally to technology rollouts and people: start with something small and consistent, get a reliable baseline, then build from it.What Ross tells early-career healthcare administrators about learning every department before trying to lead any of them.ㅤVisit Hatch to learn more about scaling referral operations for specialty practices.