OSF Healthcare takes over Great Plains Orthopaedics

OSF Healthcare officially takes ownership of Great Plains Orthopaedics on Sunday, July 17, the organization announced Friday.

Great Plains ends nearly 50 years of physician ownership, since the formation of Orthopedics Association of Peoria in 1967, a practice that eventually became Great Plains Orthopaedics and was one of the state’s top sports medicine facilities.

Great Plains will now be called OSF Orthopedics. Its locations, physicians, staff and service providers will remain the same at 303 N. William Kumpf Boulevard and 7800 N. Sommer Street in Peoria, as well as OSF Medical Group Kewanee and OSF Galesburg Clinic. All phone numbers remain the same.

“Our commitment to provide excellent patient care remains unchanged,” said Jeffrey Garst, MD, president of Great Plains Orthopaedics.“Our decision to join with OSF HealthCare was made after carefully considering many factors, most importantly, the impact on our existing patients and to the Peoria area. We believe that integrating fully with OSF HealthCare will increase our opportunities in continuing to serve patients with the highest level of competence and compassion long into the future.”

“This affiliation will allow us to expand our regional system of orthopedic services and create greater access for patients,” said Mark Nafziger, CEO of Ambulatory Care for OSF HealthCare. “It will build on our current relationship with Great Plains to ensure clinical excellence and adoption of new techniques that enhance patient care.”

By aligning with OSF HealthCare, Great Plains Orthopaedics will be able to offer additional services, including OSF myChart, through which patients will be able to access portions of their medical records online or through their mobile devices. Additionally, all patient orthopedic medical records will now be part of the OSF electronic medical records systemand the necessary information about a patient’s health condition is available to physicians at all points of care within OSF.

OSF Healthcare System employs more than 735 physicians and more than 300 mid-level providers operating in more than 100 office sites. OSF HealthCare operates an extensive network of home health services known as OSF Home Care Services; owns OSF Saint Francis, Inc., comprised of healthcare-related businesses; and OSF Healthcare Foundation, the philanthropic arm for the organization.

About the Author

Paul Gordon is the editor of The Peorian after spending 29 years of indentured servitude at the Peoria Journal Star. He’s an award-winning writer, raconteur and song-and-dance man. He also went to a high school whose team name is the Alices (that’s Vincennes Lincoln High School in Indiana; you can look it up).