Concierge care direction means one orthopedic surgeon stays accountable for your care — including when the operation you need is not one he performs.
Don Buford, M.D. is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon, sports medicine fellowship-trained, with more than twenty-five years operating in Dallas. He performs shoulder and knee sports medicine surgery and orthobiologic injections. He does not perform joint replacement. This page is about what happens when joint replacement, or anything else outside that scope, is what you actually need.
The problem this exists to solve
Nearly every practice offers a treatment. Almost none accept responsibility for the outcome when the right answer lies outside what they sell — because the ordinary incentive runs the other way. If the only thing you do is inject, an injection looks like the answer. If the only thing you do is operate, an operation does.
The result, for the patient, is a handoff into nothing. You are told this is not what they treat, handed a name or a phone number, and you start again from the beginning with someone who has never seen your imaging.
That is the gap. It is not a clinical gap; it is a responsibility gap.
What is committed to
I don't do joint replacement. If a hip or a knee replacement is what you actually need, I'll tell you plainly — and then I'll stay in it.
Specifically, three things:
- Finding the right surgeon for your specific problem. Not a name off a list. A surgeon chosen for what your imaging and your examination actually show.
- Handing off your imaging and workup personally. Surgeon to surgeon, so the person taking over starts from what is already known rather than from scratch.
- Remaining your point of contact through recovery. You keep one orthopedic surgeon who knows the whole history, for the duration.
One orthopedic surgeon accountable for the whole thing, whoever holds the scalpel.
When this applies
- Joint replacement. Hip or knee replacement is not performed here. If that is what your joint needs, the referral is made and managed rather than suggested.
- Spine surgery. Also not performed here. Spinal presentations are referred.
- Anything outside shoulder and knee sports medicine. The scope of this practice is specific, and pretending otherwise would not serve you.
- A problem that turns out not to be orthopedic at all. It happens, and the direction is the same: to the right person, with your information already in their hands.
It also applies in the other direction. If you arrive expecting an operation and a biologic is the better option, or arrive expecting a biologic and an operation is, both are available here and the recommendation is not shaped by which one is.
Where this usually starts
Most patients reach this through a surgical second opinion — they have been told they need an operation, they want it reviewed, and the review concludes that the right procedure is one this practice does not perform. That is not a dead end. It is the point at which the direction begins.
Request an appointment or call (877) 777-8883.
Why it matters that both are on the table
Most practices in this market do one thing. An injection clinic cannot operate, so an injection is the only recommendation available to it. A surgical practice frequently does not offer well-prepared orthobiologics, so that conversation never really happens.
Dr. Buford does both. He performs the operations on this page, and he performs platelet-rich plasma and bone marrow concentrate injections himself, under ultrasound guidance, in the office. That means the question at the consultation can be the right one — what does this joint actually need — rather than a question shaped by what the practice is equipped to sell.
Sometimes the answer is an operation. Sometimes it is a biologic. Sometimes it is neither, and you will be told that too.
Request an appointment or call (877) 777-8883.
Common questions
What is concierge orthopedic care direction?
It means one orthopedic surgeon stays accountable for your care even when the procedure you need is outside his own scope. Don Buford, M.D. performs shoulder and knee sports medicine surgery and orthobiologic injections. When what you need is something else, he identifies the right surgeon for your specific problem, hands off your imaging and workup personally, and remains your point of contact through recovery.
Do you perform joint replacement?
No. Joint replacement is not performed at this practice. If a hip or knee replacement is what you actually need, you will be told that plainly, and then helped to the right surgeon for it - with your imaging and workup handed over personally rather than left for you to arrange.
Do you perform spine surgery?
No. Spine surgery is not performed here, and spinal presentations that need it are referred. Orthobiologic injections for structures around the spine that ultrasound can reach are a separate matter and are described on the low back page.
What happens if my problem is outside what you treat?
The same three things: the right surgeon for your specific problem is identified, your imaging and workup are handed off personally surgeon to surgeon, and Dr. Buford remains your point of contact through recovery. You are not handed a phone number and left to start again.
How do most patients start this?
Usually through a surgical second opinion. They have been told they need an operation, they want it reviewed, and the review concludes the right procedure is one this practice does not perform. That is where the direction begins rather than where it ends.
