Small Business Awards: They’re building regional centers

MANATEE — Coastal Orthopedics & Pain Management has been around for 30 years and provides physical examinations, surgeries, X-rays and other medical services.

The business also provides 24-hour, year-round on-call service to its patients.

Coastal Orthopedics & Pain Management has three offices in Manatee County and 155 full-time employees.

The company’s offices are located at 6015 Pointe West Blvd., Suite 202 and 5101 4th Ave. Circle E., Suite 500 in Bradenton and 8340 Lakewood Ranch Blvd., Suite 340 in Lakewood Ranch.

The business was founded in 1971 and has averaged a 15 percent increase in sales each year during the last three years. Still, the economy has posed its challenges.

“It most definitely is affecting us,” says company Chief Executive Officer James Needham. “You can see that in our lack of revenue growth from 2007 to 2008. We saw and treated more patients than ever in 2008, but so many of them had no means to pay because they didn’t have insurance nor did they have the personal means.”

But Needham says Coastal Orthopedics & Pain Management is required by law to treat emergencies. He says the business expects to see a 15 percent increase in non-paying customers before this year is out.

Despite those challenges, the company with 11 partners and graduates from Harvard, Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic, plans to expand within the next three to five years.

“We continue to build unique services,” Needham says. “We are building regional centers of excellence either on an outpatient basis where we can control and guarantee better medical outcomes or in coordination with local hospitals where their expertise is needed.”

Coastal Orthopedics & Pain Management also provides orthopedic care for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the United States Soccer Team, the professional and amateur athletes at IMG Academies and the Manatee Community College Athletics Department.