Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Building a Stronger Spine Practice Through Leadership and Long Term Growth with Dr. Robert Norton

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Building a Stronger Spine Practice Through Leadership and Long Term Growth with Dr. Robert Norton · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - The playbook for running a successful ASC in
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  - 2026
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  - looks almost nothing like it did a few
• 0:07
  - years ago.
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  - And the one for 2029
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  - probably won't look like this one either.
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  - Case complexity is increasing. Payer models are shifting.
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  - Technology is creating new possibilities
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  - and new cost pressures at the same time.
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  - The spine and orthopedic leaders who are staying
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  - ahead aren't just keeping up with the changes.
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  - They are in rooms where the changes get
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  - talked about honestly. Becker's twenty third annual Spine
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  - Orthopedic and Pain
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  - honestly. Becker's twenty third annual Spine Orthopedic and
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  - Pain Management Driven ASC Conference is such a
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  - space.
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  - More than 1,000 attendees,
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  - 275
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  - plus physician and ASC speakers, three days of
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  - programming across the clinical,
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  - operational, and strategic
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  - with CME credits available.
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  - Join us June eleventh through the thirteenth. For
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  - the agenda and event details, visit Becker's Hospital
• 0:55
  - Review and click on the events tab in
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  - the upper right.
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  - This is Gracelyn Keller with the Buckers Healthcare
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  - Podcast, and we are recording live at the
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  - twenty third annual Spine Orthopedic and Pain Management
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  - Driven ASC Conference.
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  - I'm currently joined by doctor Robert Norton, who
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  - is a founding partner and spine surgeon at
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  - Florida Spine Associates.
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  - So doctor Norton, thanks for being here. I'd
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  - love to have you start by briefly introducing
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  - yourself and telling us more about your role
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  - and the scope of your organization,
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  - as well as what's currently commanding most of
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  - your time and attention as a leader.
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  - Sure. Of course. My name's Robert Norton. I'm
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  - a orthopedic spine surgeon.
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  - I was a founding partner of Florida Spine
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  - Associates.
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  - We opened our doors about twelve years ago.
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  - We have a comprehensive
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  - spine care center where we have six different
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  - facilities all throughout Palm Beach County and Broward
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  - County in Florida.
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  - And each one of our centers, we have
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  - orthopedic spine surgeons as well as interventional pain
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  - management physicians
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  - and, ancillary providers like physical therapy and,
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  - our PA. So we we we've created a
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  - holistic approach to
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  - taking care of our patients with spine disorders.
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  - So if it's a one stop shop, you
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  - can come into one of our facilities,
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  - and you can have everything from nonoperative care,
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  - injection therapy,
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  - bracing,
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  - pharmacy dispensing,
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  - physical therapy, all the way, of course, ultimately
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  - into surgery if you need to. So aside
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  - from the general operations of the business,
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  - what is commanding most of my attention as
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  - a leader is how we position ourselves to
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  - have stable and robust growth
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  - in the future.
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  - And what I've determined to be the absolute
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  - most important factor is onboarding of key personnel
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  - in leadership positions.
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  - So I think it's critically important that your
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  - organization has a mission statement.
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  - You identify what the core value are as
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  - the core excuse me, core values of the
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  - company are. You wanna create incentivization
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  - plans,
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  - team metrics goals, and KPI so everybody's aligned
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  - to row in the same direction
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  - for the success of the company.
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  - I would say that identifying top talent in
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  - orthopedic surgeons who are both excellent providers
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  - and hungry and motivated to grow the business
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  - is probably the most challenging,
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  - aspect of
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  - of building,
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  - the business.
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  - But one piece of advice that I,
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  - heard years ago that I've always stayed true
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  - to is never never be afraid or feel
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  - threatened to hire someone who's better than you.
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  - Absolutely.
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  - So in a year marked by rapid change,
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  - what recent decision or pivot required the most
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  - leadership conviction from you, particularly when it came
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  - to aligning people resources or capabilities?
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  - Yeah. I would say over the past few
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  - years, especially, I mean, it's been marked by
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  - inflation. And, really, since since COVID, it's been
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  - marked with inflation, increased cost of goods.
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  - Employee expectations have changed.
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  - It's really been a dwindling pool of the
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  - workforce,
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  - specifically in key areas
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  - of medicine, such as physical therapists
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  - and,
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  - X-ray technicians.
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  - And and really now, the the most recent
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  - issue is this scare that
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  - employees have. Are are they gonna have a
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  - job with the with automation and AI taken
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  - over?
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  - So all these have really forced us to
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  - sit down
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  - and, me personally, ask myself, what am I
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  - looking for in a practice and what are
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  - our goals? So I would say it's a
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  - hard time to test one's convictions. So either
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  - throw in the towel or you're gonna fight
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  - harder to get what you want.
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  - Absolutely.
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  - And kind of going off of that, how
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  - did this type of situation change your assumption,
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  - or challenge your assumptions? And what did it
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  - change about how you approach decision making talent
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  - or organizational readiness?
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  - Yeah. I think the days of being a
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  - solo
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  - surgeon or provider in a practice,
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  - caring for your patients and simultaneously being the
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  - boss of everyone and running the organization are
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  - are pretty much over. It's very difficult to
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  - do that nowadays.
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  - I think there's only so many hours in
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  - the day, and, of course, family takes first
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  - priority. So to try and balance your work
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  - life,
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  - environment,
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  - and with limit hours a day, you really
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  - need to develop
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  - a team approach to running a business. So
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  - understanding this, I put all my energy into
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  - finding the key management personnel
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  - to run the company with oversight from my
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  - partners and I, of course.
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  - And this has really allowed
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  - the key personnel to flourish, building their confidence,
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  - being able to execute
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  - while doing what they do particularly best.
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  - And shifting gears slightly, when you think about
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  - the forces reshaping health care currently, where do
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  - you believe leaders need to be more decisive,
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  - especially while balancing speed risk and having the
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  - right teams?
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  - There's a saying paralysis by analysis, and and
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  - I think that's very true with clinicians, and
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  - they can get stuck,
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  - and not be able to make changes or
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  - make moves
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  - to their own detriment. But I will say
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  - private practices have luxury of being nimble compared
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  - to these massive health care systems.
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  - Right? There's less layers of bureaucracy.
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  - You're able to execute on decisions quickly. So
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  - I think it's paramount that practices have a
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  - plan,
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  - not only just a day to day operations
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  - plan and how you're running the business, but
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  - you really wanna have goals with one, five,
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  - and ten year horizon outlooks.
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  - I also think you can't grow a medical
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  - practice without having the appropriate team and personnel
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  - in place,
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  - so it's important to get your house in
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  - order, so to speak, before you extend yourself
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  - by growing too fast.
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  - And wrapping up our conversation,
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  - as uncertainty has become the norm, what leadership
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  - habit or mindset has been most critical in
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  - keeping your organization
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  - and people moving forward?
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  - Yeah. I would say the only constant is
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  - change. Embrace it and stay ahead of it.
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  - You gotta know what's going on with your
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  - practice.
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  - Talk to not only the management of each
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  - department,
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  - within your practice, but but also the staff,
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  - individual staff to understand what are their concerns
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  - or frustrations.
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  - You don't just wanna hear them. You actually
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  - wanna listen to them and act on on
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  - their their concerns.
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  - And, lastly, I would say you wanna stay
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  - involved in your community, your hospital system, and
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  - even politics, both locally and nationally.
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  - If you don't have a seat at the
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  - table, you're the menu.
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  - If you know what changes are coming down
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  - the pipeline from regulatory issues or legislative changes,
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  - you'll be better prepared to act and react
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  - in a way that's supportive to your organization's
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  - well-being and growth.
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  - Wonderful. Well, doctor Norton, thanks so much for
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  - being here today and joining me on the
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  - Becker's Healthcare podcast. Again, we are recording live
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  - at the twenty third annual Spine Orthopedic and
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  - Pain Management Driven ASC Conference.
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  - Thank you for having me. It's been a
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  - pleasure.