The New Year 2015 is upon us, and there a number of opportunities and challenges that spine surgeons will face in the year ahead.
Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. We invite all spine surgeon and specialist responses. Next week's question: What are some of the biggest opportunities for spine surgeons in 2015?
Please send responses to Anuja Vaidya at avaidya@beckershealthcare.com by Wednesday, Jan. 21, at 5 p.m. CST.
Question: What are some of the biggest challenges facing spine surgeons in 2015?
Brian R. Gantwerker, MD, The Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles: In 2015, spine surgeons will be faced with a wider range of challenges than 2014. Some of us will join big practices, some will leave their areas and start fresh, and some of us will keep up the fight.
Instead of challenges, I think we should look at 2015 as an opportunity to show the medical field that spine surgery has a rightful place in the treatment paradigm of patients, and that the narrative of spine surgery being costly, overdone and otherwise unnecessary is a figment. I would say it's our job to change that narrative, with good and great outcomes, and to push back against insurance company denials and pressure from payers to not operate.
Kern Singh, MD, Co-Director, Minimally Invasive Spine Institute, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago: What isn't a challenge in 2015? Increasing costs of electronic medical records, hospital acquisitions of physician practices, market contraction and increasing paperwork — ICD-10 — are all enormous obstacles for spine surgeons. None of this takes into account that spine surgeons are working harder and being reimbursed less with an increasing litigious population. Some days I wonder what it was like in the "golden days" just to be a doctor and take care of patients, as opposed to dictating, coding, etc.
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