Spine surgeon Sohrab Gollogly, MD, wants to dedicate the rest of his career to endoscopic spine surgery.
However, there are obstacles that are holding back its potential, he told Becker’s.
Note: This conversation was lightly edited for clarity.
Question: Where do you see endoscopic spine in five years from now?
Dr. Sohrab Gollogly: It’s the most exciting thing that’s happening in spine surgery, and it’s clearly what patients want. If it weren’t for the structural problems of coding and reimbursement, CPT-based and RVU-based reimbursement schemes, it would be the dominant forms just like shoulder arthroscopy.
Q: What changes do you want to see from CMS in this realm?
SG: It needs to be covered. Right now, I still see this labeled as experimental. There’s a code from Medicare, but it doesn’t have RVUs associated with it. Almost all insurance companies deny it. So it needs to be actually recognized. And then it needs to be compensated more fairly. One of the big problems that we see at hospitals is the RVUs associated with endoscopic spine surgery in general, are about 1/5 of the RVUs for an equivalent procedure when you’re fusing somebody’s spine. If you’re trying to make a career in which you’re held to certain targets for RVU compensation to meet the criteria for full time employment, it can actually be pretty difficult.
