Jan. 27, 2025

Orthopedic Institute will begin seeing patients in February at its new building in Tea.

The independent physician group will open a two-story, almost 80,000-square-foot medical building in the Bakker Landing development in Tea, south of 85th Street and west of Interstate 29 – near where the interchange is planned to begin construction this year.

That means a move from its longtime home on the Avera McKennan campus.

Staff and their families got a first look at the new space two months ago during a lighting ceremony for the signs, and “the reception from staff was more than I could have ever wished for or asked for,” CEO Lynda Barrie said.

“They were so excited, and their eyes got really big because it’s a much larger facility.”

It’s also designed for greater patient convenience, from the interstate access to the layout of the space, Barrie said.

All patient-facing space is on the first floor, including clinical space, advanced image and procedure capabilities and outpatient physical and occupational therapy and rehabilitation.

“We’ve got a walk-in clinic and made that purposely toward the front of the building, so at nights and on weekends, they (patients) don’t have to go too deep in the building,” Barrie said.

“We wanted to make it easy for the patient and also for our staff, so there’s the main waiting area — one main atrium … and off that there are five entries into clinical areas. So there’s not as much travel throughout the building that the patient has to do, or our staff, and I think it will work really well.”

OI is moving its Performance Center out of the GreatLIFE facility it shares at 69th Street and Southeastern Avenue. The fitness center is open to employees and also used to help with rehabilitation for athletes.

OI sees a significant number of young athletes and collegiate athletes, Barrie said.

“When you go through an injury from a sports standpoint, you go through physical therapy, but that’s not the end-all, be-all to be competitive from a sports standpoint. So we do the return-to-play program because we have a turf area for running, exercise and pivoting, so they can get used to doing it safely before they get into competitive sports.”

While OI’s 22 physicians will still perform surgeries at other hospitals, some minor procedures will be done in the new building such as treating carpel tunnel syndrome or doing trigger finger releases.

“It’s faster for the patient … and from a cost perspective, it’s a lot cheaper for the patient to do it in that type of setting versus a hospital setting,” Barrie said.

Administrative space will be on the second floor.

The first patients are scheduled to be seen Feb. 10.

Barrie estimates up to 280 members of OI’s 330-person team will use the new building regularly, along with its 14 satellite locations in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. OI treats patients for relief of joint, bone or muscle pain or injury without requiring a doctor’s referral. Its physicians specialize in complex total joint preservation, reconstruction or replacement procedures, nonsurgical and surgical spine care needs and pain management with non-opioid solutions.

OI has been located on the Avera McKennan campus for 25 years. The health system purchased the building a few years ago and became OI’s landlord.

Avera McKennan has some of its administrative team working out of the building. Some clinics might be moving in, but Avera hasn’t determined which ones, according to a spokesman.

“They’ve been nothing but wonderful landlords during the transition,” Barrie said. “I couldn’t have asked for more.”

A grand opening for OI is planned for early spring and likely won’t be the last of the building activity in the area. OI owns enough land to expand the new building on both floors.

“I think it’s going to be extremely busy,” Barrie said. “We can add another clinical area and still fit the current flow so it doesn’t seem disruptive or like an add-on. While I’d like a little bit of a breather, I don’t think it’s too long before we’ll need to take advantage of that.”

In addition, Sioux Falls Specialty Hospital owns land contiguous to the new medical building — and close enough to connect to it — but hasn’t announced plans for the property.