Home › Blog › The Explosion of the Regenexx Network and Corporate Program

I have stated many times that one of my career goals was to make interventional orthobiologics the standard of care for orthopedic injuries and problems. That’s a big boulder to push uphill that for me began in 2005. Two things that need to happen to make that goal real are to get people trained at a high level so they can target specific structures and then get widespread insurance coverage. Today let’s unpack the progress we have made at Regenexx in making that all real.

The 2024 Regenexx Network Conference and IOF

I just came back from Scottsdale where we had our 2024 Regenexx Network conference. That’s where most of the approximately 100 Regenexx sites worldwide get together once a year to all get on the same page administratively and clinically. Above is a picture of the large crowd that attended that event.

The next day, the Interventional Orthobiologics Foundation (IOF), a group that I founded way back when had its annual conference. That group has since become an independent organization with a mission to educate physicians worldwide on the best practices in interventional orthobiologics. In the image above, around 220 physicians from all over the world attended that meeting, including about half of the physicians who also attended our Regenexx Network conference. It’s great to see IOF charting its own course!

I have to say that I felt a bit like the old man in the room at both conferences! However, I loved the energy and being recognized as someone who gained a few grey hairs founding this field (OK maybe more than a few judging by the selfie above). I also loved seeing that one part of my goal was being fulfilled-hundreds of physicians learning how to help patients without surgery by precisely placing cells into the damaged parts of the musculoskeletal system using imaging guidance. Also, the hardcore science that supports Interventional Orthobiologics (IO) was being presented and peer-reviewed.

So where are we in 2024 toward the other part of that big goal of mine? Getting everyone covered so that both a secretary and a CEO can get these procedures?

Getting Insurance Coverage

The Regenexx Corporate program began way back in 2014 with our Iowa affiliate who has secured a few contracts from local self-insured businesses to pay for Interventional Orthobiologics under their plans. That program has shown steady growth with more than 2000 companies signing up as of Jan 1, 2024. That includes many large Fortune 500 companies. It’s possible that by the end of this year, we could double that number of clients.

How does all of that translate into patients walking into our Regenexx network sites with an insurance card that covers IO procedures? As you can see above, as a national organization, we referred almost 5,000 patients with self-funded insurance coverage for orthobiologics to our network sites. These are hard-working cops, firefighters, factory workers, secretaries, teachers, and managers. In other words, that second part of my goal is also fast becoming reality!

The upshot? This old guy is slowly but surely seeing his career goals get realized. That’s thanks to the hard work of countless people at Regenexx and IOF, who are educating more physicians on how to perform these procedures. Also, with the tireless work of an entire team of people at Regenexx Corporate, more and more Americans have coverage for Interventional Orthobiologics. What’s next? More places to get high-quality treatment and more people walking in with an insurance card who can access these game-changing procedures!

Chris Centeno, MD is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics. Centeno pioneered orthopedic stem cell procedures in 2005 and is responsible for a large amount of the published research on stem cell use for orthopedic applications. View Profile