ATLANTA (Dec. 5, 2017) – Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta announced today that the pediatric orthopedic and sports medicine physicians of Children’s Orthopaedics of Atlanta (COA) are joining the not-for-profit healthcare system as part of Children’s Physician Group. In an effort to support the growing needs of Georgia’s pediatric population, 16 orthopedic and sports medicine physicians have joined Children’s from COA to form a new pediatric practice called Children’s Physician Group–Orthopaedics.
Children’s Physician Group is one of the largest pediatric multispecialty practices in the Southeast. The group’s pediatric-trained doctors and surgeons represent more than 30 pediatric specialties in more than 30 locations across metro Atlanta and in surrounding communities. With the addition of this new practice, Children’s Physician Group now employs more than 500 physicians.
COA is the largest pediatric orthopedic practice in the Southeast. Many of their physicians have been instrumental in building comprehensive orthopedic programs throughout the years at Children’s. COA physicians are currently involved in more than 35 ongoing clinical research projects in areas, including sports medicine, spine, hip, trauma and infection.
“We are excited to expand our long-standing, mutually beneficial relationship with the COA physicians,” said Patrick Frias, MD, Chief Operating Officer at Children’s. “We look forward to working together to build on the Children’s Orthopaedics Program, which has roots in our 100-year history.”
The physicians and surgeons who joined Children’s Physician Group–Orthopaedics include:
Orthopedic surgeons
- Jed Axelrod, MD
- Michael Busch, MD
- Melissa Christino, MD
- Dennis Devito, MD
- Jorge Fabregas, MD
- Jill Flanagan, MD
- Joshua Murphy, MD
- Dana Olszewski, MD, MPH
- Michael Schmitz, MD
- Tim Schrader, MD
- S. Clifton Willimon, MD
Sports medicine physicians
- John Alsobrook, MD
- John Buchanan, DO
- J. Stephen Kroll Jr., MD
- David Marshall, MD
- Armand Scurfield, MD
Orthopedist
“The physicians and staff at Children’s Orthopaedics of Atlanta have worked closely with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta for years to care for Georgia’s pediatric orthopedic patients,” said Michael Schmitz, MD, Chief of Orthopedics at Children's. “Joining together to form Children’s Physician Group–Orthopaedics will allow us to provide our patients and families with seamless, unified care. This collaborative approach to patient care will include integration with Children’s services, such as imaging, rehabilitation, anesthesia and other important services associated with orthopedic medicine.”
As one of the leading pediatric orthopedic programs in the country, Children’s treats more pediatric patients with broken bones than any other hospital in Georgia, and has the only hospital-based pediatric orthotics and prosthetics practice in the state. In 2016, Children’s treated more than 5,500 orthopedic patients, provided 6,150 prosthetic and orthotic devices, and performed more posterior spinal fusions than any other pediatric hospital in the United States—more than four times the national average*.
*Pediatric Health Information System (PHIS), 2016.