Orthopedic specialists Hospital for Special Surgery opens outpatient office in town of Southampton

The Hospital for Special Surgery has announced the opening of its second Long Island facility, marking its first expansion into Suffolk County.

The Manhattan-based medical center, which specializes in orthopedic surgery, announced last week that it has opened an outpatient location at 56 Flying Point Rd. in Water Mill, a hamlet in the town of Southampton. 

Justin Oppenheimer, executive vice president for the hospital, said the decision to open an East End location was based on the number of patients HSS serves on the Island already.

“Every year HSS doctors treat tens of thousands of patients from Long Island,” Oppenheimer said. “So, we owe it to the community to continue to be able to serve them as best as we can.”

While surgeries will not be performed at the Southampton facility, physicians there will triage patients and X-ray for sports-related injuries, provide pain management, offer spinal care and help treat orthopedic trauma, Oppenheimer said.

"The Southampton location is really an access point when people either need an initial diagnosis or a follow-up," Oppenheimer said.

Surgeries will primarily be done at HSS’ Manhattan hospital, he said.

Oppenheimer said surgeons at HSS, which has just over 20 locations mostly in the New York metro area and south Florida, perform roughly 1% of all knee and hip replacements in the United States.

The opening of the new location comes a little more than a year after HSS completed a major renovation and expansion of its longtime Uniondale offices.

Last April, the city-based hospital said it had expanded the footprint of those offices — first opened in 2000 — by 18,000 square feet, adding physical suites, exam rooms, a second MRI suite and a physical therapy center.

“We are pleased to make better quality care more convenient for the Long Island community,” Dr. Mark Drakos, medical director of HSS Long Island said in a statement. “HSS Southampton responds to a steady increase in demand for our highly specialized orthopedic care from eastern Long Island.”

HSS orthopedic specialists work as team doctors for the New York Mets, New York Giants, New York Liberty, New York Knicks, Long Island Nets and other professional sports teams.