Does OEC = OCA = Orthosynetics = The Devil?

[aguyinortho]

This may be an old topic, but it is one that is close to my heart/wallet. Is Orthosynetics just the beast that evolved from the OCA/OEC bankrupcy? Did opening a coulple of residency programs really kill/oversaturate the ortho market?

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[OG1]

You're correct, Orthosynetics is the newest incarnation that has emerged from OCA/OEC.

From what I understand, they've morphed into a practice management company, doing all of your practice and employee management while you do the ortho. Somewhat akin to Sun Orthodontix but in a different format. The difference is that they don't have their fingers in any residency programs like they did when they were the OEC, so the potential for the ruination of the profession isn't (currently) there.

 

[gryffindor]

You're correct, Orthosynetics is the newest incarnation that has emerged from OCA/OEC.

From what I understand, they've morphed into a practice management company, doing all of your practice and employee management while you do the ortho. Somewhat akin to Sun Orthodontix but in a different format. The difference is that they don't have their fingers in any residency programs like they did when they were the OEC, so the potential for the ruination of the profession isn't (currently) there.

I thought this was what OCA started as - a practice management type of company.

OEC started 3 programs with about 15 spots per program, an influx of 45 new grads per year right there. One of the programs scaled back after OEC abandoned them to 4 spots I think so that is a net of 34 new grads per year that weren't there before OEC. On top of the programs OEC opened, a number of other non-OEC ortho programs were started around the same time (Arizona, South Carolina, Maimonides and USN come to mind, there may be more) and existing programs have been slowly adding spots too. So overall the number of new grads has probably increased by over 50 per year since 2004. This combined with the fact that the current orthodontists out there pretty much never retire until they keel over has the market saturated.

 

[amalgamator42]

also seton hill, vanderbilt is starting back up I heard...

 

[aguyinortho]

So OCA is still out there. With maybe 50 more residents a year and high debt it makes me think a lot of residents are going to have to consider large chains/franchises kind of like pharmacy. It makes me wish I had a list of all the big ortho companies and what they offer.