One sight that gives hope to people struggling with joint pain: decorated ski champion Lindsey Vonn, at age 40, five years after retiring, finding herself pain-free after a partial knee replacement and returning to the world skiing stage. She hopes to compete in the Olympics in February in Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy.
Vonn’s knee surgery was done by Dr. Martin W. Roche of HSS Florida in West Palm Beach. Vonn’s one-time boyfriend, Tiger Woods, knows HSS Florida too. He had back surgery there in 2024 and in March had surgery there for a ruptured Achilles.
The New York-based Hospital for Special Surgery for decades treated patients coming up from Florida or New Yorkers with second homes here. Thus, it chose Florida for its first foray beyond the tri-state, opening in West Palm Beach in March 2020.
“It’s been going great,” says Tara McCoy, CEO of HSS Florida. “We heard from a lot of our patients they wanted us to be down here.”
HSS Florida now numbers 11 surgeons and three non-operating physicians. Patient volume increased 33% in 2024 compared to 2023 and as of September was up 20% this year over 2024. Revenue generally tracks patient volume and surgeries. “We’re seeing all green lights in Florida,” McCoy says.
HSS has doubled its number of operating rooms to four since opening. It also opened a satellite office in Wellington and expects to open one in Jupiter this quarter.
HSS also has partnered with the NCH hospital system in Naples — HSS at NCH opened in June at NCH’s North Naples campus — and is collaborating with the University of Miami’s UHealth SoLé Mia ambulatory facility in North Miami, the first time HSS is partnering with an academic medical center.
One quirk of the Florida market compared to New York: 53% of the time, HSS tells patients being examined for a second opinion that surgery isn’t necessary and recommends non-surgical interventions. In New York, that happens a third of the time. Also, given Florida’s demographics, HSS’ work here involves a higher share of joint replacements than in New York.
Patients rate their experience highly in independent measures thanks to HSS’ “unrelenting focus on quality,” McCoy says. HSS overall rates No. 1 in orthopedics in U.S. News and World Report’s ranking for 16 years, she adds.
And, though Vonn and Woods have brought HSS attention, McCoy says HSS is also for weekend warriors, high school athletes or just people with decades of wear-and-tear on their bodies: “We’re here for any orthopedic or musculoskeletal need.”
To Golf or Not to Golf?
HSS Florida says patients are returning to golf sooner than expected thanks to a golf simulator at its West Palm Beach building. Dr. Spencer Summers, a hip and knee surgeon, says, “It’s the kind that the pros use, with a huge screen that could make you feel like you’re in Augusta or in Pebble Beach. It’s very impressive.”
Radar-tracking tech gives info on swing mechanics, ball movement and other data points to let physical therapists tailor treatment in a safe, air-conditioned, virtual environment. It helps them decide when it’s safe for golfers to resume the sport. HSS is using the simulator and motion-capture tech in a study of 300 golfers with knee, hip and shoulder arthritis to analyze how their game has responded to surgery.
“When a golfer is scheduled for joint replacement, one of their first questions is when can they go back to the game,” Summers says. “Is their golf game going to be better? Is it going to be worse? What can they expect? To this day, there is little published research on how a major joint replacement surgery affects the golf game.”