Summit Orthopedics wants to help keep everyone safe this summer by offering 6 tips for summer safety, and is giving away a Summer Safety Gift Pack to one Twin Cities Frugal Mom reader! Read on to learn how to keep your family safe this summer, enter to win a gift pack, AND save money on orthopedic care!
Summit Orthopedics offers 14 locations in the Twin Cities to provide comprehensive orthopedic care from basic injury treatment to surgery and physical therapy.
I had the pleasure of touring Summit Orthopedics in Vadnais Heights with my kids recently and meeting several of their friendly staff members – Jill, General Manager; Cassandra, Director of Marketing; and Anne, PA-C who treats patients who visit Summit’s solution to urgent orthopedic care: OrthoQUICK.
Summit Orthopedics in Vadnais Heights is home to OrthoQUICK– the walk-in clinic that specializes in bone and joint injury, ran by experts specifically trained in orthopedics. (OrthoQUICK is also available at Summit’s Woodbury, Blaine and Eagan locations.) OrthoQUICK is open 7 days a week, 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Their check-in and reception area are spacious, comfortable and inviting.
If you or your child has ever had a bone or joint injury – which is common in athletics but can happen to anyone – you may have brought him/or her to the ER or to your local clinic’s urgent care. That’s what happened to me a few years ago when I tore my ACL in my right knee, the result of falling on a wet kitchen floor while pregnant.
I went to Urgent Care the next day and was simply told to use ice for the swelling, but it wasn’t until I returned for a regular doctor visit a few months later that I discovered I had torn my ACL. With OrthoQUICK I would have surely found out right away what had happened and probably gotten on a treatment plan much sooner!
Here’s a typical OrthoQUICK patient exam room:
Summit Orthopedics offers everything for bone and joint care. The physical therapy room I toured was big, bright and state of the art with everything you could need from machines to exercise balls and more.
The Secure Tracks system is really cool – it’s a ceiling mounted monorail system for accelerated therapy. The patient is secured in this system so they can’t possibly fall and they go further little by little as they progress. It goes along a track with markers for “basecamp” all the way to “summit” (get it, reach the summit at Summit? 
).
Heidi and Thor liked the way the doors opened – you just wave your hand and they open! Had to take some pictures as Thor tried this out.
I also got to tour the patient rooms and they are beautiful and calming. I was so impressed I am actually looking into surgery for myself at Summit to correct my torn ACL.
The biggest thing that impressed me about Summit is how much more affordable care is here than if you were to go to a general clinic or hospital. Because they do ONLY orthopedic care, you’re not having to pay for all the overhead of staff and equipment for other health conditions, and you don’t have to worry about all the germs that go with them.
How You Can Save Money on Care at Summit Orthopedics
Check out this breakdown of costs that Summit provided me and how patients can save money:
ER visits versus OrthoQUICK visits:
· Copays in OrthoQUICK average $15 to $30/visit, in the Emergency Department/ER they average $100 to $150/visit.
· OrthoQUICK billing is the same as a regular clinic visit, so there is one bill that includes the PA and radiology and any other services, whereas in the ED there is a physician bill that often has a coinsurance associated with it as well as a facility bill. See breakdown below.
· For patients with high deductible plans, the out of pocket amount in OQ would be about 30% – 50% of the Emergency Department amount.
Types of Services
|
Service |
OrthoQuick |
Emergency Department |
|
Physician/Physician Assistant |
Office Copay |
Professional Coinsurance |
|
Facility Fee |
No Facility Fee |
ED Copay |
|
Xray/MRI |
Clinic Charge – included in copay/coinsurance |
Hospital Outpatient Coinsurance |
|
Bracing/Orthotics/Cast Application |
Clinic Charge – included in copay/coinsurance |
Hospital Outpatient Coinsurance |
Average Cost of Services
|
Service |
OrthoQuick |
Emergency Department |
|
Physician/Physician Assistant |
$25 |
$60 (average of $300 allowed with 20% coinsurance) |
|
Facility Fee |
$0 |
$125 |
|
Xray/MRI |
$12 (average of $60 allowed with 20% coinsurance) |
$18 (average of $90 allowed with 20% coinsurance) |
|
Total Out of Pocket Cost |
$37 |
$203 |
How cool is that! Summit locations are in Apple Valley, Blaine, Eagan, Forest Lake, Hastings, St. Paul, Vadnais Heights and Woodbury. If you or a family member needs ANY orthopedic care, check with Summit first!
6 Summer Safety Tips from Summit Orthopedics
· When you are biking, wear a helmet! This is an obvious but important one. A helmet can reduce a the risk of head injury by 85 percent. Demonstrate the importance of a helmet to your kids by dropping an egg into a box of bubble wrap, then drop it on the driveway, with no protection and watch the egg splat. To ensure snug fit and correct helmet position, use the “two finger rule”: no more than two fingers should fit in the space between the eyebrows and the front of the helmet and no more than two fingers should fit between the chin strap and chin.
· No iPods on bikes! Again, this may seem obvious to us as parents, but not so obvious to kids.
· Not all playground equipment is created equal. Preschoolers (ages 2-5) and school age children (5-12) are at different developmental stages and require different types of equipment. Also, be sure to check the surface of the playground, and avoid hard surfaces such as concrete, asphalt, grass blacktop.
· Know when to slide in baseball/softball. Wait until a child is 10 before teaching them to slide, and when beginning instruction, use only sliding bases (not even breakaway bases). Collisions from sliding are can be dangerous for both the one runner and the one blocking the base. Both players have responsibilities: the player with possession of the ball should not be obstructing the oncoming runner, and the runner should slide in such a way to avoid collision if at all possible.
· Condition, Condition, Condition!: This may be one of the boring parts of the athlete’s regime, but conditioning before and during the season helps reduce the risk of injury. Everyone wants to get out and active after the winter we’ve had, but doing too much too soon can land you back on the couch.
· Know the signs of a concussion. Parents, coaches and athletes should all learn the signs of concussion. If a concussion is suspected, the player should not return to play until released by a medical professional. Remember, you don’t have to lose consciousness to have a concussion.
GIVEAWAY
Summit is giving away a summer safety gift pack to one Twin Cities Frugal Mom reader! It includes a really nice Coleman Cooler Satchel, a frisbee, sunglasses, a water bottle, a heating pad for injuries and lip balm.
To enter, just fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway ends Thursday, June 26th at 11:00 p.m. Winner will be selected on Friday, June 27th and contacted by email. Winner must respond within 24 hours or a new winner will be chosen. Prize will be mailed directly to winner by Summit. Good luck!
(Disclosure: I received a complimentary Summer Safety Gift Pack from Summit for hosting this giveaway. My opinions are 100% mine.)
Great tips!
Knowing the signs of concussion is so important. I recently went through training on this and it was so helpful with having two kids. I don’t like to take chances!
Great info! Thanks!
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