Here are five important updates from professional spine societies in the last month:
1. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons, Congress of Neurosurgeons and AANS/CNS Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves, released their comments on the Washington State Healthcare Authority Health Technology Assessment program, which is reviewing its coverage policy for lumbar spinal fusion.
AANS and CNS don't believe new literature warrants a policy revision from the last review, conducted in November 2007. The organizations asked that neurosurgeons be included in the development of key research questions and the opportunity to review clinical evidence included in technical assessments prepared for the issue. They also offered to help the program identify neurosurgeon spine experts in Washington to contribute to coverage policy efforts.
2. The North American Spine Society's Spine on the Hill blog highlighted four key legislative updates for spine surgeons to know. Some of the updates to note include the Office of the Inspector General report to Congress estimating it would recover $3.1 billion in improper payments and fraudulent activity over the first six months of 2014 as well as The President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology report finding fee-for-service is a barrier to healthcare outcome improvements while driving Medicare costs.
3. The American Medical Association awarded the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery a seat at the table of its House of Delegates. ISASS President Gunnar Andersson, MD, PhD, will vote on the organization's behalf. This milestone allows ISASS members and their patients the ability to engage in and improve CPT Category I and Category III criteria.
4. The Scoliosis Research Society awarded eight spine surgeons from the United States the OrthoPediatric North American Resident/Fellow Meeting Scholarships. Some of the award recipients include Faiz Ahmad, MD, University of Miami; David B. Bumpass, MD, Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis; Alan H. Daniels, MD, Brown University in Providence, R.I.; and Doniel Drazin, MD, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
5. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves presented the Ronald Apfelbaum Research Award to Roger Härtl, MD, and his spine team, in collaboration with Larry Bonassar, PhD, and his biomedical engineering team.
Dr. Härtl, Dr. Bonassar and their teams won the award for their work on the creation of a novel collagen gel to repair herniated discs. The award carries $15,000 in funding for spine research and is sponsored by medical equipment developer Aesculap.
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