Journey Direct for Employers and Self-Funded Plans
Navigation should not start at surgery.
Journey Direct is a surgeon-led front door for orthopaedic and musculoskeletal care. Transparent pricing, faster answers, and a clear path that keeps surgery as the last option, not the default one.
- From the very first visit, not a coordinator or app
- Surgeon-led
- Transparent, predictable cash pricing agreed up front
- One price
- Care in Fort Mill and South Charlotte, including mobile visits
- Local
Musculoskeletal care is one of your largest spend categories. Most of it is avoidable.
For most self-funded plans, orthopaedic and musculoskeletal claims sit at or near the top of total spend. The reason is rarely the surgery itself. It is the path that leads there. A member with knee or shoulder pain gets routed into imaging, specialist referrals, and procedures before anyone has asked the simplest question: does this person actually need surgery, or do they need the right diagnosis and a plan?
When the first stop is a hospital-owned system, the incentives point toward the most expensive answer. Journey Direct changes the first stop.
The hospital path
- High-cost surgical claims a conservative plan could have prevented
- Avoidable imaging and referral cascades before a real diagnosis
- Members waiting weeks to be seen, getting worse and costing more
- Opaque hospital pricing with surprise bills after the fact
The Journey Direct path
- Conservative-first care that reserves surgery for who truly needs it
- A real diagnosis from the surgeon at the very first visit
- Most members seen in days, in their own community
- One transparent price agreed up front, no surprise bills
A surgeon-led front door that puts the right answer first.
Journey Direct gives your members direct access to a double board-certified orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist, Dr. Justin T. Smith, at the very start of their care. Because the first evaluation comes from the person who would actually perform the surgery, members get an honest answer up front: what is wrong, what the options are, and whether an operation is truly necessary.
Most musculoskeletal complaints resolve without surgery when they are diagnosed correctly and managed well. Journey Direct is built to find those cases early, treat them locally, and reserve the operating room for the patients who genuinely need it.
- Direct access to a fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon, no referral maze
- Honest, conservative-first guidance on whether surgery is needed
- Integrated diagnosis, biologics, shockwave, and physical therapy under one coordinated plan
- Transparent pricing agreed up front, with no surprise bills
- Care delivered locally in Fort Mill and South Charlotte, including mobile visits
If you pay the claims, you should control the path.
Journey Direct is designed for organizations and advisors who feel the full cost of musculoskeletal care and want a smarter route for their members. This list doubles as a quick self-qualification check.
Self-funded employers
Organizations carrying direct musculoskeletal claims risk who want a smarter, more predictable route for their members.
TPAs and benefit advisors
Advisors looking for a transparent orthopaedic partner they can confidently put in front of their clients.
High-deductible plans
Plans where members shop on price and value, and reward direct-care choices that lower total cost.
Out-of-network strategies
Benefit designs that steer members toward transparent direct care instead of opaque hospital pricing.
Health-share communities
Health-share members and communities, for example Zion HealthShare and Sedera, seeking transparent, predictable orthopaedic pricing.
One price, one plan, one surgeon accountable for the outcome.
When surgery is the right call, Journey Direct delivers it as a transparent bundle through our partner surgery center. The procedures most likely to drive your spend, ACL reconstruction, meniscus repair, and rotator cuff repair, can be priced as a single predictable case rate rather than a stack of separate hospital, facility, and professional charges.
The same transparent approach applies across the broader musculoskeletal pathway, including biologics such as PRP, BMAC, and Lipogems for members who are candidates for non-surgical treatment.
- Surgical bundles for ACL, meniscus, and rotator cuff with predictable case pricing
- Biologics (PRP, BMAC, Lipogems) for qualified non-surgical candidates
- Pricing agreed before care, not discovered on a bill afterward
- Often well below typical hospital cash prices, with no facility markup
- A single surgeon accountable from evaluation through recovery
How a surgical bundle is priced
Every surgical case is sold as a written custom quote provided before scheduling. There are no “starting at” teaser prices, just one clear, itemized case rate you can model in advance.
Included in your price
- Surgeon fee
- Facility fee
- Anesthesia
- Post-op visits
Quoted separately, in writing
- Implants or grafts (quoted per case)
- Bracing / DME
Implants and grafts are quoted separately. We provide a written Good Faith Estimate for every case before any decision is made.
From first call to first patient, without the friction.
- 01
Request a conversation
We learn your plan, your population, and your biggest musculoskeletal cost drivers.
- 02
Design the access path
We agree on how members reach Journey Direct and how bundles and pricing are structured for your plan.
- 03
Members get seen fast
Most members are seen in days, not months, in person, by mobile unit, or by virtual visit.
- 04
Surgery only when needed
Conservative care first, with transparent bundles when an operation is genuinely the right answer.
When the surgeon is the front door, the recommendation to avoid unnecessary surgery carries real weight, because it comes from the one person with nothing to gain by overcalling it.
The person evaluating your members is the person qualified to operate.
Most front-door MSK programs route members through a coordinator, an app, or a generalist before they ever reach a surgeon. Journey Direct starts where most programs end. Dr. Justin T. Smith is a double board-certified, fellowship-trained orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist and technology editor for the Journal of Shoulder and Elbow Surgery.
- Double board-certified orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist
- Fellowship-trained, with a national academic and editorial role
- Conservative-first philosophy backed by surgical expertise
- Continuity from first evaluation through procedure and recovery, with integrated physical therapy led by Dr. Christie Smith, PT, DPT
Predictable spend, healthier members, fewer surprises.
Journey Direct is built to lower the total cost of musculoskeletal care while improving the experience for the people you cover.
Avoided surgery
A conservative-first, surgeon-led path keeps members out of the operating room when they do not need to be there.
Predictable pricing
Transparent case rates and visit prices you can model in advance, often well below typical hospital cash prices.
Local, fast access
Members seen in days, in their community, with less time lost and a faster return to work.
No surprise bills
Pricing is agreed before care is delivered, so there is nothing to dispute on a bill afterward.
One accountable partner
A single surgeon-led practice coordinating diagnosis, treatment, surgery, and rehabilitation.
Member stories, collected properly.
Patient stories, coming
This is where our patients will tell you how they got back to what they love. We are collecting those properly, with consent. We would rather leave this space visibly empty than write it ourselves.
Start a conversation about Journey Direct.
Tell us about your plan and your members. We will show you how a surgeon-led front door can lower musculoskeletal spend while improving the experience for the people you cover.
Dr. Justin T. Smith, MD
FAAOS, FAANA · Founder and CEO
Your direct contact
- Call or text 803.220.4207
- Schedule@jo.institute
- 441 Mercantile Place, Suite 101, Fort Mill, SC 29715
Journey Direct is a program of Journey Orthopaedic Institute, an out-of-network Direct Specialty Care practice. Care is paid at the posted or quoted price up front. Members and plans receive an itemized superbill, and we can file out-of-network claims on the member’s behalf where applicable, though reimbursement is not guaranteed.
Predictable musculoskeletal spend
One surgeon, one bundled price, fewer surprises.
Give your people a faster, clearer path to orthopaedic care, and give your plan case rates you can actually forecast.
Let's talk
A smarter front door for your members starts with one conversation.
Talk directly with a double board-certified surgeon about how Journey Direct can lower musculoskeletal spend for your plan.