UNOVA Hip & Knee Center shares insights on life-changing outcomes that help patients pick up the pace.
No Patient Left Behind, Removing Obstacles to Minimally Invasive Outpatient Total Hip and Knee Replacements
When you are in pain, nothing else seems to matter. When it is your hip or knee that brings the pain, everything from walking to getting up out of a chair can seem brutal. For many adults, surgery may be the only option for relieving that pain.
Determining if a patient can or should be eligible for pain-relieving surgery is a decision that should be made by a patient only after consultation with his/her doctor.
While patients with complicated health concerns have been overlooked in the past, two local orthopedic surgeons are working hard to change that reality. The forward-thinking physicians at UNOVA Hip & Knee Center have developed a comprehensive Patient Partnership Program to ensure every patient has an equal opportunity at hip or knee replacement.
Reforming Patient Care Through Choice
As the aging population of Americans grows, adjustments must be made to the way healthcare services are managed and provided. One of those major changes rolled out last year when Medicare allowed total knee replacement surgery to be eligible for payment in the Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) setting as of January 1, 2020. On January 1, 2021, Medicare added total hip replacements to its approved outpatient ASC list.
Thomas McCoy, M.D. and Jeffrey Mandume Kerina, M.D., orthopedic surgeons leading the UNOVA Hip & Knee Center in Lady Lake, Florida, are optimistic about these changes and what they mean for total joint replacement candidates. Drs. Kerina and McCoy have been performing outpatient joint replacement surgery since 2008, longer than most orthopedic surgeons in the country.
The majority of patients who require joint replacement surgery are covered by Medicare, however until recently they were not permitted to have their surgeries performed in outpatient centers. Drs. Kerina and McCoy’s extensive experience allowed them to immediately begin offering this service to their Medicare patients when this changed for total knee in 2000 and total hip in 2001. Now, 90% of UNOVA Hip & Knee Center’s Medicare total joint replacement candidates are done in a freestanding outpatient surgery center.
The Practice
UNOVA Hip & Knee Center located in Lady Lake, Florida, specializes exclusively in the treatment of hip and knee disorders. The team strives to minimize pain, increase mobility and improve performance through both nonsurgical and surgical modalities.
The Center delivers remarkable outcomes using a personalized care strategy.
“We believe each patient is unique. Our processes and procedures are modifiable giving every patient the opportunity to access outpatient arthroplasty, even those with other health conditions.,” states Dr. Kerina.
By combining a comprehensive Patient Partnership Program, technologically advanced outpatient surgical techniques and implants, and access to a team of hand-picked orthopedic leaders, UNOVA empowers patients to continue participating in an active and healthy lifestyle.
Patients work with staff members who have been chosen for their positive attitude, motivational skills, and desire to provide outstanding service. At UNOVA Hip & Knee, services include but are not limited to surgery, imaging, therapy, pre- and post-operative care, including home care coordination. Personalized patient care is comprehensive and often involves working with both patients and their families spanning the pre-, peri- and post-operative periods.
The Providers
UNOVA Hip & Knee Center is led by two world-class orthopedic surgeons, Dr. Thomas McCoy and Dr. Jeffrey Mandume Kerina, both known for their contribution to surgical advancements in their field. Together the board-certified orthopedic surgeons bring a combined 63+ years of hip and knee replacement specialization, completing more than 35,000 hip and knee replacement surgeries.
Desire to Put Patient Care First
Drs. McCoy and Kerina bonded over their strong desire to deliver individualized care for the local population and have a passion for continually improving “the process.” As Dr. Kerina likes to point out, “having surgery is a process, not a procedure. It is our job to make sure patients are:
in their best physical, functional, and mental state before surgery,
provided a one-of-a-kind, patient-tailored, surgical approach to maximize outcomes, minimize complications and foster long-term success, and
have access to a team of orthopedic leaders offering exceptional, continuous care that leads to increased mobility, strength and longevity.”
Dr. Thomas Hatton McCoy
Dr. Thomas Hatton McCoy, orthopedic surgeon, has performed more than 24,000 hip and knee replacements throughout his career, Dr. McCoy is arguably one of the most experienced practicing orthopedic surgeons in the country. He is well known and respected amongst his peers, having been one of the founders of the largest private orthopedic practice in the country, OrthoCarolina, and trained more than forty hip and knee surgery fellows, many of whom have gone on to establish themselves as leaders in the field of orthopedics.
He has championed the kinematically aligned total knee replacement and is the first surgeon to introduce this tissue-sparing total knee technique to Lake, Sumter, and Marion counties.
Dr. McCoy, in partnership with some of the world’s largest medical device manufacturers, designs and develops new orthopedic surgical techniques, instruments, and implants. He played a pivotal role in developing the Quadra-P total hip stem with his European colleagues at Medacta International and was the first surgeon in the United States to implant the hip stem, and the first surgeon in the world to implant the Quadra-P cemented stem.
Dr. J. Mandume Kerina
Dr. J. Mandume Kerina has been an orthopedic surgeon in private practice in Lake County, Florida since 1993, spending his full practice life in the community. Serving what started out as a rural farming community and watching it grow into a vital community of vibrant seniors. He is the founder of the UNOVA Hip & Knee Center.
“We are entrusted to take care of a very special segment of the population here in Central Florida, our seniors over the age of sixty-five. It is imperative that we do all we can to ensure our patients’ safety, while delivering the best possible outcomes to maintain both their health and quality of life,” stated Dr. Kerina.
Using an individualized, patient-centered, research-based approach, Dr. Kerina focuses on improving both the outcomes and quality of life of his patients. He also works to reduce waste in the delivery of care—lowering both the cost of care and preserving resources.
Advanced Surgical Techniques for Hip and Knee Replacements
Hip Replacements
Hip replacements performed at UNOVA Hip & Knee utilize an anterior intermuscular pathway. This technique is minimally invasive and tissue sparing, allowing for minimalized pain and scarring, as well as faster recovery times.
Knee Replacements
Kinematic Alignment Knee Replacement Surgery resurfaces arthritic or damaged knees through a technique that allows surgeons to replicate the knee’s natural pre-disease alignment and orientation.
The Hip and Knee Center team is experienced at performing the most advanced techniques and procedures for joint replacement surgeries including:
Outpatient Total Hip/Total Knee Replacement
Opioid/Narcotic-Free Anesthesia & Recovery
Direct Anterior Approach for Total Hip Replacement
Kinematic Alignment for Total Knee Replacement
High-Performance Partial Knee Replacement
High-Performance Partial Knee/Unicompartmental Knee Replacement
The minimally invasive high performance partial knee replacement is designed for patients who have bone on bone arthritis in one compartment of the knee without relief from standard non-surgical treatments. Partial knee replacement uses a smaller incision than a total knee replacement because only the damaged bone and cartilage are removed. All the normal cartilage, bone, ligaments, and tendons are left in place.
