EP294: Building a Center of Excellence: A Playbook for Physician Entrepreneurs, With Steve Schutzer, MD, Physician Executive for the Orthopedic Service Line at Trinity Health of New England and Medical Director of the Connecticut Joint Replacement Institu

In Episode 294, Stacey Richter talks with Steve Schutzer, MD, physician executive for the orthopedic service line at Trinity Health of New England and medical director of the Connecticut Joint Replacement Institute, about building a Center of Excellence — a playbook for physician entrepreneurs.

WHAT YOU'LL LEARN

✅ Why competitive physician groups sometimes choose to band together despite being rivals

✅ Why even just going through the implementation process of a Center of Excellence (COE) yields unrecognized value

✅ How the savings from a COE actually break down: two-thirds from quality, one-third from price

✅ Why trust between physicians and hospital partners is the single most central issue in whether a COE succeeds

✅ Why actionable data — not just data — is essential, since physicians naturally distrust data

WHY THIS MATTERS

Dr. Steve Schutzer makes the case that physician entrepreneurship, not just digital health disruption, is one of the biggest opportunities in health care right now. Building a Center of Excellence requires an end-to-end care redesign and deep trust between physicians and hospital partners, but the payoff is real: most of the value comes from quality improvements, not just price. As fee-for-service faces an uncertain future, Schutzer argues physicians who organize around a COE model are well positioned for whatever comes next, COVID-driven disruption included.

=== LINKS ===

🔗 Show Notes with all mentioned links: Episode Page

🔗 Healthcare Industry Acronyms and Terms

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00:00 Introduction.

03:22 Why would competitive physician groups gang together?

07:32 "Even if you never … bundle, going through the implementation process … will yield incredible unrecognized value."

08:49 "It demands an end-to-end care redesign process."

10:10 "The value of a COE is really unquestionable."

10:18 "For every dollar saved [in a COE], two-thirds was in the quality side, and one-third was in the price point."

14:05 "I'm talking about business relationships between the physicians … these are the most fundamental [relationships]."

15:23 "It is all about trust."

15:48 What is the most central issue as to why a COE does well or fails?

16:25 "It's not just data. It has to be actionable data because physicians naturally don't trust data."

21:54 "Employers are definitely taking note to patient-reported outcomes."

22:37 What is the seventh element that is necessary for a COE, and what is fundamental to that element?

23:27 Where will fee-for-service doctors be in 2 to 3 years?

24:45 "The only way that we can accrue the value that we deserve is through these types of relationships."

25:11 "The supreme motivator is opportunity."

27:01 How do physicians and providers begin a transformation of the marketplace they're in?

27:36 "What they need from us is product. They need products to disrupt the status quo."

30:26 "The problem is that there are vendors who are working at the margin."