Tri-State Orthopaedics now has two in-state partner companies, forming one of the 10 largest independent orthopedic practices in the U.S. A mid-2025 merger of the 75-year- old Evansville-based physician group, OrthoIndy in Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne Orthopedics will create OrthoIndiana. It will operate across 39 locations statewide, with 160 physicians and more than 1,800 staff members.
“When you have something of this magnitude, it helps us do things well and be better,” says Dr. Paul Perry, president of Tri-State Orthopaedics.
The three practices will keep their branding, and all will retain their respective boards while also participating in a new, shared board of directors.
Physicians at the three locations will work jointly on technology infrastructure, including AI, and other strategies to improve patient care and control costs.
Perry says one priority the three practices share is an emphasis on outpatient care and sparing as many patients as possible the high cost of hospital stays.
The Evansville practice was formed in 1949 by Drs. John H. Sterne and Henry Leibundguth. OrthoIndy, Perry explains, approached Tri-State Orthopaedics two years ago to ask what a collaboration would look like, and the Fort Wayne group became involved later.
“We stopped at the three groups to not complicate the conversation or make it more difficult,” Perry says. “ … Physicians are fiercely independent, and we want to be physician-led. At the end of the day, this needs to be something the surgeons run and lead.”
