Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Specialists expands into Ripon

Rachel Kroeger

Staff

March 10, 2025

RIPON – Orthopedic & Sports Medicine Specialists (OSMS) officially established its seventh location across the Northeast region with the expansion of services to Ripon.

Amy Seehafer – COO of OSMS – said the expansion is a result of “significant growth” the physician-owned orthopedic and rheumatology practice has experienced “over the past five years.”

“It’s really our goal at OSMS to increase access to, and options for, quality care within smaller communities like Ripon,” she said. “Our goal really is to bring high-quality care to those communities to save them travel time for their orthopedic needs.”

Seehafer said Dr. Peter Eggert is now seeing patients bi-weekly on Mondays at the practice’s newest satellite office located at 402 Eureka St. in Ripon.

“He’s a board-certified and sports medicine fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon,” she said.

Prior to joining the OSMS team, Eggert said he would occasionally practice in Ripon, and after moving to OSMS, he expressed interest in returning to that community.

“I wanted to get back down to Ripon,” he said. “The Neenah location (is) my primary location, then I go to Oshkosh as well on Mondays, and then every other Monday I just continue to drive down to Ripon and see patients.”

Eggert said he “brought up” the idea of OSMS expanding into Ripon so he could continue caring for his former patients.

“I still wanted to go down there because I had patients down there,” he said. “I had patients – since (I joined) OSMS – that were coming either to Oshkosh or were coming to the Neenah location and driving a lot. I just had a following that I still wanted to serve.”

Eggert’s desire to continue serving his patients in the Ripon area, Seehafer said, aligned with OSMS’s goal of increasing access to quality orthopedic and rheumatology health care across the Northeast region.

“We are aware that communities in the southern part of the Northeast Wisconsin region have unmet needs in many spaces, including orthopedics,” she said. “So, we are looking to expand our reach into areas such as Ripon and Fond du Lac. Fond du Lac is actually next on (our) list.”

Available services

Eggert – who attended medical school at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska; was a resident at the Medical College of Wisconsin; and completed his sports medicine fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – said he was drawn to orthopedics because he’s a “problem solver.”

“(In orthopedics), I can see a problem, and we can fix it,” he said. “(You) kind of get this almost instant gratification for the patients.”

According to OSMS’s website (osmsgb.com), Eggert treats a wide range of orthopedic conditions in all ages and specializes in fracture care, total joint replacements, robotic-assisted total knee replacements, knee and shoulder arthroscopic reconstruction, ACL reconstruction, cartilage restoration, rotator cuff repairs and more.

Eggert said one of his favorite parts about practicing orthopedics is helping people either achieve or get back into an active lifestyle.

“It’s not always just athletes,” he said. “It can also be someone (who is) active, and (wants) to get back to kayaking or canoeing or fishing or just playing with grandkids – getting back to the active lifestyle.”

An important aspect of returning to an active lifestyle after injury, Eggert said, is physical therapy – something that Seehafer said is offered at OSMS’s new satellite office in Ripon.

“We work very closely with Advanced Physical Therapy, which is also located within that facility at the same address,” she said.

Increasing access to physical therapy services, Seehafer said, was also an intention of OSMS’s expansion in the Ripon area.

“It can become cumbersome and time-consuming, because if people need to go to therapy a couple of times a week – say they need to drive to Oshkosh or (somewhere) like that – that’s a really long drive,” she said. “So, we want to make sure that we set up that system for our patients to be able to have more of their needs met within the Ripon community.”

Eggert said as part of his previous practice, he has also worked closely with Advanced Physical Therapy.

“I’ve worked with (that provider) previously, and that’s a big part of my practice,” he said. “I think that’s a key part of a patient’s recovery, whether it’s surgical or non-surgical.”

Though the Ripon satellite location does not offer surgical care, Seehafer said OSMS’s Neenah and Green Bay locations do.

“The good news is, if (a patient) would like to stay within the confines of the Ripon community (after surgery), there would be physical therapy available (at our Ripon location),” she said.

Seehafer said OSMS accepts most insurance plans, offering patients the ability to utilize their policies with an independent care provider.

“We accept the vast majority of insurances, just like with any other health care,” she said. “One of the things that we like to bring to market (is) more cost-effective (care) for people who are on high-deductible health plans or other non-traditional health plans, because we don’t charge some of the facility fees and other things that the larger health systems do.”

Working in tandem with larger health systems is something Seehafer said is important to OSMS – as the goal is always to help the patient seek the best possible treatment.

“Even if (a patient’s) primary care doctor or referring physician is from another large health system, we still would love to see them,” she said.

Independent care

As previously mentioned, Seehafer said OSMS is “an independent, orthopedic, physician-owned” practice.

“With that, it means we’re not tied to any one health system,” she said. “It provides us a lot more flexibility. Our goal is to provide better access and affordably priced opportunities.”

Seehafer said being physician-owned also leads to better care outcomes for OSMS’s patients.

“Obviously, our physician owners have a vested interest in quality outcomes and quality experiences for our patients, because they own it,” she said. “We just find that it increases the depth of their desire to care for the patients and our team.”

Eggert – who has only worked for independent providers following his medical training – said he appreciates the mindset of such practices.

“I think you can better control how patients are cared for as a whole,” he said. “It’s a team approach here. We all care for patients and I think we all have the same goal in mind of caring for patients.”

Eggert also said he feels establishing satellite locations – like the one in Ripon – is easier for an independent practice.

“I feel like if we see a need, we have the control to say, ‘Hey, we’re going to go and establish care for these patients in their community,’” he said. “We just have the ability and the control to do that as physicians – (to go) where we feel that there’s (a) need.”

Another advantage to being an independent care provider, Seehafer said, is that businesses and municipalities can partner with practices like OSMS to provide their employees with quality health care – something she said is taken into consideration when expanding services. 

“Given the fact that we’re not tied to (a larger) health system, we try to work directly with municipalities and with larger employers,” she said. “So as we expand (our reach) out into these other communities, that’s what really drives us to choose certain locations.”

For more information on OSMS and its new satellite location in Ripon, visit osmsgb.com.