Coordinated Health
By Carole Gorney
As the future of health care continues to be debated on Capitol Hill, the president of Coordinated Health in the Lehigh Valley says he thinks his company has exactly what “the doctor ordered” when it comes to caring for the needs of patients.
David Weikel, who heads up the multi-million-dollar corporation, says, “Times have changed and medicine has to change as well.” In particular, Weikel notes that patients are taking more responsibility for their own health care and are becoming more demanding. “We are trying to respond to this by becoming more accessible and cost effective.”
If statistics prove anything, Coordinated Health must be doing something right. It serves more than 100,000 patients a year, with an annual payroll in excess of $7 million. Numbered among its 600-plus employees are 49 physicians and 40 therapists. This year alone, Coordinated Health expects to perform 10,000 surgeries and 12,000 MRIs and CT scans.
Coordinated Health was founded in 1988 by Dr. Emil DiIorio, a specialist in sports medicine who is still actively involved in the system as owner, medical practitioner and administrator. From Dr. DiIorio’s original facility on Schoenersville Road in Bethlehem, the system has expanded to six other locations, including the state’s first licensed surgical specialty hospital. In 2006, the hospital went from providing strictly ambulatory out-patient surgery to offering in-patient care as well.
From the beginning, Coordinated Health’s focus was and has continued to be on muscular and skeletal medicine. In fact, whether it’s the back, neck, spine, knee, foot, wrist, hand or ankle, there’s hardly a part of the human skeleton that Coordinated Health doesn’t treat.
Today, its services range from diagnostic imaging to orthopedic and joint replacement surgery, to chiropractic and acupuncture, to physical and occupational therapy. This integration of services from diagnosis through treatment and rehabilitation is one of the secrets of Coordinated Health’s success, according to Weikel, who has been with the system since 1997. “We never lose track of the patient. He is never left adrift in the system,” he explains.
Speed, convenience and flexibility are also points of pride for Weikel. “We can do an MRI on a patient on the same day he comes in to see a doctor. We can have him in surgery or therapy within three days.” Once patients are ready for therapy, there are no long delays there, either as therapists see patients three days a week. This compression of diagnosis and treatment time is particularly attractive to workers and their employers who use the system’s WorkCares program, according to Weikel. “In this economy people can’t afford to be off work for long periods of time.”
As for convenience and flexibility, patients can schedule MRIs and other tests at night or even on Sundays-whatever is needed to fit their busy schedules.
Increased accessibility is a major goal of Coordinated Health as well, Weikel says. “The plan is to continue adding full-service care facilities so that we are only 15 minutes from someone’s home.” Part of that plan already is being realized with a new hospital currently under construction in Allentown and a new facility that opened recently in Wind Gap.
It’s all about meeting the changing needs of patients, Weikel explains. “Times have changed and medicine has to change. We have to step up and be more accessible and more affordable.” Weikel concludes that while Washington focuses on how to improve health care delivery, Coordinated Health already is doing precisely what is needed.
Coordinated Health
2775 Schoenersville Road, Bethlehem
2300 Highland Avenue, Bethlehem
1503 North Cedar Crest Boulevard, Allentown
400 South Greenwood Avenue, Easton
505 Independence Road, East Stroudsburg
Rt. 115 & Switzgable Road, Brodheadsville
877-247-8080
www.coordinatedhealth.com
The Surgical Specialty Center at Coordinated Health
2310 Highland Avenue, Bethlehem
877-247-8080
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