For people living with pain, long waits for specialty care can make an already difficult situation harder to manage. Pain doesn’t stop while you wait for an appointment, and for many patients, delays mean continuing to live with discomfort, limited mobility, and unanswered questions.
In the earlier days of Southwest Spine and Pain Center, providers began noticing how often patients were running into those delays. Pain management was often the first place people turned for help, but it wasn’t always the whole solution.
“We were seeing patients whose pain clearly involved nerve issues or inflammatory conditions,” said Dr. Jon Obray. “Many patients were waiting months to be seen by specialists. During that time, their pain didn’t stop, and their quality of life often continued to decline. That gap in care is what led us to bring specialties like neurology and rheumatology together under one system as part of Vista Healthcare, so patients can get answers sooner and move forward with care. Our ultimate goal is to help them get back to living their lives without unnecessary delays.”
The High Cost of Waiting for Answers
Southwest Spine and Pain Center providers began seeing an increasing number of patients whose pain was caused by more than one issue and couldn’t be addressed by pain management alone. Often, patients needed to see additional specialists to fully understand what was driving their pain, but getting those appointments meant long waits or traveling outside Southern Utah. While they waited, pain continued, daily activities became harder, and recovery felt further out of reach.
As this became more common, the question was simple: How could patients get the specialty care they needed without long waits or having to travel far from home?
Coordinating Care: Bringing Specialties Together
Instead of sending patients to multiple specialists across different locations, Southwest Spine and Pain began focusing on a more coordinated approach to care.
That shift led to the creation of Vista Healthcare, expanding specialty care alongside Southwest Spine and Pain to better support patients with more complex needs and reduce delays in treatment.
“When pain involves more than one issue, waiting months between appointments only makes things harder,” Dr. Derek Frieden said. “By integrating neurology, rheumatology, physical therapy, and chiropractic care with pain management, we can evaluate patients sooner and keep treatment moving forward instead of putting care on hold.”
For patients, this often means fewer appointments, less travel, and a clearer path toward understanding and managing their pain.
Accessing Specialty Care Across Southern Utah
Today, Vista Healthcare helps patients in both St. George and Cedar City access pain management, neurology, and rheumatology care close to home, with pain management offered in Hurricane and nearby Mesquite, Nevada.
St. George, patients have access to the Sports Spine and Injury Center, which focuses on helping people recover from injuries, improve movement, and get back to daily activities. In April 2026, the Sports Spine and Injury Center will open in Cedar City, expanding local options for injury recovery and spine care.
Keeping Patients at the Center of Care
Vista Healthcare’s growth has been guided by a simple goal: making it easier for patients to get the care they need when they need it. By focusing on shorter wait times, better communication between specialists, and care closer to home, the goal remains to help patients manage pain, maintain mobility, and get back to living their lives.
To learn more or schedule an appointment, visit vista-hc.com or call (435) 215-0257.
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