Last week, Yosi Health’s Vice President of Business Development Matt Order joined fellow administrators and industry experts at the American Alliance of Orthopaedic Executives (AAOE) Annual Conference in Atlanta. As a conference sponsor, we were excited to dive deep into the challenges—and opportunities—facing today’s orthopaedic practices.

Here are Matt’s top insights:

1. Administrative Overhead Remains a Top Concern

From prior authorizations and referrals to patient intake and clinical documentation, reducing administrative burden dominated every conversation. Practices are losing front-desk employees to higher-paying corporate roles, creating high turnover and inconsistent patient experiences. When check-in staff—or even surgeons—spend hours on paperwork instead of patient care, operational costs climb and patient satisfaction suffers.

2. Vendor Consolidation Is Accelerating

Attendees described a clear shift toward “vendor consolidation” strategies—choosing fewer, battle-tested partners over a patchwork of niche “shiny” solutions. Single-vendor relationships promise streamlined contracts, predictable pricing, and one throat to choke when issues arise. Administrators want assurance that chosen platforms have survived real-world practice pressures, not just flashy conference demos.

3. EMR Transitions and Integration Remain Critical

Many practices are reevaluating legacy and “ortho-specific” EMRs that fall short on true interoperability. The consensus? Open APIs and discrete-data integration are now more important than ever. Whether migrating to a new system or optimizing an existing one, orthopaedic groups need platforms that:

• Support specialty workflows (e.g., implant tracking, post-op follow-ups)
• Share patient data in real time across scheduling, documentation, and billing
• Enable comprehensive analytics for value-based care, patient acquisition, and retention

4. Financial Engagement Is Evolving

With skyrocketing deductibles and growing out-of-pocket costs for patients—especially for elective surgeries—collecting payments efficiently has become a mission-critical task. Pre-visit payment options and transparent estimate tools emerged as must-have features to avoid surprise bills and improve collections.

5. Independence vs. Hospital Systems

Independent orthopaedic practices continue to wrestle with consolidation pressures from hospital networks. Staying independent means delivering both high-quality care and a superior patient experience—all while managing costs. Practices shared how leveraging digital front-door technologies can level the playing field by:

• Automating patient intake and insurance eligibility checks
• Enabling online self-scheduling and pre-visit check-in
• Offering two-way text communication and digital forms

What Does This Mean for Orthopaedic Practices?

 The clear message from AAOE 2025: software integration, reliability, and efficiency are non-negotiable. Practices want trusted partners that reduce the admin load, consolidate vendor relationships, and seamlessly integrate with their EMR ecosystems. Most importantly, they need solutions that enhance the patient journey—from initial booking through post-operative follow-up—while protecting revenue and reducing overhead.

At Yosi Health, we’re proud to support orthopaedic teams with a fully integrated Digital Front Door that tackles these exact challenges. By automating scheduling, intake, insurance verification, and payments—while bi-directionally integrating with major EMRs—we help practices focus on what matters most: delivering exceptional patient care. Our Digital Front Door is an AAOE Peer Reviewed product; you might be interested to know that AAOE’s Peer Review Program evaluates vendors of orthopedic products, services, and solutions. Approved vendors demonstrate a strong reputation for advancing orthopedic practice objectives. In the survey conducted through the Peer Review process, 92 percent strongly agreed or agreed that they would recommend Yosi Health’s Digital Front Door Automation Platform to colleagues. One hundred percent also agreed or strongly agreed that the platform enhanced productivity.

If you missed us in Atlanta or want to learn how a unified, battle-tested front-office solution can transform your practice, let’s connect. Your staff—and your patients—will thank you.

For more information, visit Yosi Health at www.yosi.health