The hospital is a first for the Philadelphia region's largest private orthopedic practice.

The Philadelphia region's largest private orthopedic practice has opened its first private specialty hospital in the building that once housed the state's first breast care hospital.

In September, the Rothman Institute quietly moved into the Bensalem property on Tillman Drive that was formerly occupied by the for-profit Comprehensive Breast Care Institute of DSI. Last month, the facility began performing joint replacements and other major surgeries.

CEO Mike West declined to say how much the doctor-owned practice paid for the 24-bed hospital and accompanying 62,000-square-foot medical office, citing confidentiality agreements.

The hospital is a first for the Rothman group, which is headquartered at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and has 10 satellite offices across the Philadelphia region.

Called the Bucks County Specialty Hospital, it's a joint venture between Rothman and Nueterra Healthcare of Leawood, Kan., a leading developer and manager of doctor-owned U.S. hospitals and surgical centers.

Rothman had long desired to open its own medical center, but proposed congressional health care reforms that would restrict or prohibit the doctor ownership of hospitals fast-tracked those plans.

"We felt it was an opportunity to get into the hospital business prior to the legislation kicking in," West said.

Specialty hospitals focus on a specific medical area, such as orthopedics, plastic surgery, cancer or cardiac care and they typically operated as doctor-owned, for-profit centers. Nationwide, there were 177 specialty hospitals in 2007 and more than 80 others were in development, according to the American Hospital Association, an industry trade group.

Such hospitals have generated concern, much of it involving accusations they cherry-pick profitable procedures and healthier patients from full-service hospitals that rely on higher reimbursements from those procedures and patients to underwrite less profitable services and unpaid care.

Some also argue that doctor-owned hospitals drive up health care costs by forcing larger hospitals to raise charges to recoup the lost revenue. There are also concerns about potential conflicts of interest, health business experts say.

But West argues that doctor-owned hospitals have more control over patient quality of care, operate more efficiently and have some of the nation's highest patient satisfaction and quality ratings.

"We think, for instance, with specialty hospitals that competition is good," he added. "It's been proven to drive up quality. Also when you take a look at the growth demographics, we feel there is plenty of business for everybody."

The Bensalem location was seen as ideal because of its accessibility to major highways and the Philadelphia border, West said.

"We will be able to draw from a large portion of Bucks County, as well as pull over from the Princeton and Trenton areas," he added. "We thought it was a good strategic position."

The hospital officially opened Sept. 30, performing mostly outpatient procedures, rehab and minor inpatient surgeries involving shoulders, elbows or sport-related injuries, West said. Joint replacements and simple spinal procedures started late last month.

The Bensalem hospital is seeing about 200 to 250 patients a month in the combined in- and out-patient facility. West said he anticipates the numbers will double next year.

There are no immediate plans to relocate the headquarters of the practice in Philadelphia, but renovations are under way to create additional office space to accommodate 15 to 20 doctors, West said. Rothman has 65 doctors in its system; most are surgeons.

The hospital property is a significant local tax revenue generator, bringing in more than $200,000 in combined school and township taxes and $31,000 in county taxes, Bensalem Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo said.

Local officials worried after the DSI breast care hospital closed in February, less than two years after it opened, citing insufficient patient volumes and financing issues.

"But we knew it was a high-profile building," DiGirolamo added. "For Rothman to come in, it's a great opportunity for us."