Scaling Specialty Growth

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.

Operations teams in specialty healthcare know what growth feels like from the inside: more clinics, more providers, more volume, and a back-office that's always running behind. This episode looks at how a COO with a fresh-eyed perspective manages that pressure without letting the organization come apart.ㅤJoe Zboch sits down with Amy Seehafer, COO of Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Specialists (OSMS), a physician-owned practice with 40+ providers, 9 locations, and $100M+ in annual revenue across northeast Wisconsin. Amy came from 20 years in HR and shared services operations outside of healthcare. This is her first year and a half in the industry, and she uses that perspective to ask questions her peers stopped asking long ago.ㅤ👤 Guest BioAmy Seehafer is the COO of OSMS, where she oversees enterprise operations, people strategy, and financial performance across 9 clinical locations and $100M+ in annual revenue. She holds an MBA and dual senior HR certifications (SPHR and SHRM-SCP). Before joining OSMS in September 2024, she spent 20+ years leading shared services operations, organizational design, change management, and HR strategy across complex multi-site environments. Healthcare was new. The ops discipline wasn't.ㅤ📌 What We CoverWhy Amy's three-part framework — people, process, technology — runs in that exact order, and what happens when practices skip the first two stepsHow OSMS implemented patient self-scheduling across 9 locations and the "stabilize before you optimize" rule that kept it from derailingThe stop/start/continue method OSMS uses to audit processes without the baggage of how things have always been doneWhat Amy and her team discovered by shadowing departments they don't normally work in, and what gets noticed that insiders missThe Goldilocks problem of labor optimization during growth: always slightly over or under, never quite rightHow formal project management and change management made a new clinic opening feel, in Amy's words, easyAdvice for directors moving toward COO-level roles: learn the inputs and outputs of the business before pulling any leversㅤ🔗 Resources MentionedOrthopedic & Sports Medicine Specialists (OSMS)Hatch — mentioned in the episode outro

Running five clinic locations, 30 physicians, and 50+ PAs and therapists while opening a sixth site takes more than a good plan. It takes someone who knows exactly which dials to turn and when to leave them alone.ㅤIn this episode, Joe Zboch sits down with Kelli Anderson, COO at DMOS Orthopaedic Centers in Des Moines, Iowa, to talk about what operational growth actually looks like inside a large, independent orthopedic group.ㅤThe conversation covers how DMOS decided to grow their workers' comp service line, the technology gap they found, and the referral portal they built to close it, their process for surfacing ideas from staff, and how Kelli thinks about AI in a way that's grounded in actual operations rather than hype. If you're scaling a specialty group and trying to keep the clinical machine running while also building what's next, this one's for you.ㅤ👤 Guest BioKelli Anderson is the Chief Operating Officer at DMOS Orthopaedic Centers, where she's been for over seven years, first as Director of Revenue Cycle, now running operations across all five locations. Before DMOS, she held VP and Director-level roles at Ciox Health, a national health information management company, with deep expertise in ICD-10 coding, clinical documentation, and revenue cycle optimization.ㅤ📌 What We CoverHow Kelli thinks about keeping daily operations stable while pushing major organizational growth initiatives, and why "keeping the temperature" is the actual jobThe quarterly employee focus group model DMOS uses to surface frontline ideas, and why one of those conversations changed their social media strategyHow DMOS used peer benchmarking through The OrthoForum to identify workers' comp as a growth opportunity worth investing in across people, process, and technologyThe honest assessment process DMOS ran on their workers' comp service line, feedback gathering, gap analysis, and ultimately landed on a communication portal as the fixWhy workers' comp referrals function more like B2B relationships than standard provider referrals, and what that means for how you build your technology stackHow Kelli approaches moments when a project hits a wall, fix-it mode vs. step-back mode, and how to tell which one the situation calls forThe framework DMOS used to choose Norwalk, Iowa, for their sixth location, zip code heat maps, housing growth data, and a little bit of luckHow DMOS is already deploying AI in their call center and urgent injury clinics, and Kelli's filter for deciding which AI to adopt and which to watch from a distanceㅤ🔗 Resources MentionedDMOS Orthopaedic Centers, a Des Moines-based independent orthopedic group, has five locations (sixth opening in Norwalk, Iowa)The OrthoForum, a national organization of privately-owned orthopedic practices; DMOS has been a member for several yearsHatch, a referral operations platform for specialty healthcare

Referral management is the front door of specialty care. Most front doors are broken. This episode of Scaling Specialty Growth gets into why: fragmented workflows, no real data, and a process that hasn't been digitized despite decades of EHR adoption everywhere else. Joe Zboch sits down with Chris Poole, CEO of Hatch, to pull apart why specialty practices are still muscling referrals through with bodies, and what it actually costs them.ㅤChris brings a rare combination of venture capital experience, early-stage healthcare startup operations, and a front-row seat to the referral data problem through Hatch's work with leading specialty groups. This conversation covers the gap between what executives think they know about their referral pipeline and what the data, if they had it, would actually show.ㅤ👤 Guest BioChris Poole is CEO of Hatch, the referral management platform built for specialty care. Before Hatch, he served as Managing Director at 25m Health, a LifePoint Health-backed venture studio, and as CFO of MetaPhy Health, a virtual care company serving gastroenterology practices. He also spent years as a Principal at Solidus Company, LP, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on healthcare. He holds an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.ㅤ📌 What We CoverWhy specialty practice CEOs consistently overestimate the quality and completeness of their referral data, and what they're actually working withThe "muscling referrals through with bodies" problem: how front offices absorb broken infrastructure with manual laborWhy the EHR has never been the right tool for referral management, and what it actually costs per referral to work around that ($30 on average, more for workers' comp)How slow patient outreach, days or weeks after the referral is made, kills referral-to-appointment conversion before the team even gets to the phone callWhat referral leakage looks like in practice: groups reaching out twice and stopping, leaving pools of unconverted patients untouchedThe case for a referral-first architecture: why referral management has to be the core product, not a feature bolted onto an EHR or patient engagement toolHatch's current results: 30% reduction in administrative time per referral today, with a target of 50%+ by the end of the year, and full automation of a subset of referrals in developmentHow private digital access doors and co-branded referral portals create VIP access lanes for employers and high-value referring partnersㅤ🔗 Resources MentionedHatch, the referral management platform discussed throughoutJoe Zboch on LinkedInChris Poole on LinkedIn

Rising costs and shrinking reimbursements are creating severe margin compression for specialty healthcare practices. To survive and expand, organizations must focus on sustainability. Joe Zboch sits down with Chris Poole to discuss the macro forces impacting operations and access leaders today.ㅤThey outline how practices are balancing top-line volume with minimizing operational expenses to improve patient yield. Chris explains why relying on manual paperwork and throwing bodies at administrative problems is no longer a viable path. The conversation points directly at the top of the funnel: the highly fragmented referral process.ㅤOperations leaders will hear exactly why up to half of all referrals never convert to appointments. Fixing this leakage removes administrative bloat and builds stronger relationships with referring physicians. The discussion provides clear focus areas for teams working to bring down operational costs while driving patient volume.ㅤ👤 Guest BioChris Poole is the CEO of Hatch and a three-time healthcare CEO. He is an industry veteran with experience in venture capital and health system innovation. Chris started his career as an accountant before moving into healthcare investing and operations. A decade ago, he founded a virtual care company where he learned firsthand the importance of removing administrative bloat to improve both the practice bottom line and the patient experience.ㅤ📌 What We CoverOvercoming margin compression by balancing top-line volume with the complexity of patient yield.Moving away from throwing bodies at manual tasks to create sustainable front-office models.Treating the patient referral process as a strategic business function to capture critical consumer insights.Identifying where patient leakage happens to prevent up to half of all referrals from falling through the net.Differentiating your specialty practice through evidence-based site selection and improved patient convenience.Strengthening relationships with referring physicians by modernizing the top of the funnel.ㅤ🔗 Resources MentionedHatchStarbucks: location selection case study

Welcome to Scaling Specialty GrowthIn specialty healthcare, growth is not optional. Scaling an organization while maintaining operational excellence and a world-class experience is the hard part. Welcome to Scaling Specialty Growth, the podcast dedicated to navigating those exact challenges.Host Joe Zboch, Director of Marketing at Hatch, goes deep with the leaders who are actively doing the work. The show bridges the gap between high-level planning and daily execution.‎ㅤWhat to ExpectEvery week, Joe explores the practical realities of scaling specialty clinics. The conversations cover the entire spectrum of healthcare operations to give you actionable takeaways.• Designing efficient front office workflows.• Developing high-level boardroom strategies.• Turning ambitious growth goals into a daily operational reality.ㅤ‎Who Should ListenIf you are responsible for leading growth and making sure those targets translate into actual operational results, this show is for you. Joe brings you the insights needed to keep your practice moving forward without sacrificing the patient experience.