Building a GAE Practice in the OBL

In this episode, host Dr. Michael Barraza interviews Dr. David Wood, interventional radiologist and chief medical officer of Advantage IR, about building office based labs (OBLs), the untapped potential of the geniculate artery embolization (GAE) market, and how to build patient referrals for new OBLs.

We begin by discussing why Dr. Wood chose to do geniculate artery embolization (GAE) in his OBLs. He says that GAE makes a great procedure for an office setting because it is relatively easy, only requiring a C arm with digital subtraction angiography (DSA). It is also a quick procedure with little side effects and low rates of complications. He says that patients who get GAE are a unique patient population because they know they have arthritis, and have exhausted conservative measures or declined treatment options that they have been offered, which are often quite invasive.

Dr. Wood says his GAE patients are mostly self-referred. He has marketing liaisons for local clinics, but what he has found most effective is TV commercials in English and Spanish, because this reaches the populations that need the most help. His patient population for GAEs consists mostly of self referred patients, as well as referrals from PCPs and occasionally orthopedic or sports medicine providers.

Regarding how Dr. Wood evaluates which patients to treat, he says that he began by using the point of maximal tenderness as described by Sandeep Bagla and required MRI before patient selection. He now uses primarily X-ray and only treats pain rated at least 5 out of 10. He does not do GAE in patients who have had knee surgery or with a history of significant PAD or calcification seen on preoperative X-ray. He generally tells patients they can expect up to a 70% improvement of pain after geniculate artery embolization.