Frank Frassica, MD, a former director of the department of orthopedic surgery at Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University, died July 25 at age 73. Dr. Frassica left the Navy in 1992 and joined Johns Hopkins, where he rose to professor of…
Sophie Eydis
When Charlottesville, Va.-based UVA Health opened its comprehensive orthopedic center, A. Bobby Chhabra, MD, chair of orthopedic surgery at UVA, had already spent nearly a decade helping bring the project to life. The building gave the department room to grow.…
For years, some of the biggest advances in spine surgery have happened inside the operating room: better implants, navigation, robotics, minimally invasive techniques. Rachel Bratescu, MD, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Washington, D.C.-based George Washington University Hospital’s Spine and Pain…
Nima Salari, MD, is not opposed to spinal fusion. He is opposed to making it the starting point. Before immobilizing a segment of the spine, the spine surgeon at Phoenix-based Desert Institute for Spine Care considers whether the same problem…
Los Angeles-based Luskin Orthopaedic Institute for Children broke ground on a $24 million project to expand pediatric orthopedic care and add an Advanced Imaging Center. The center will feature a 3T Siemens MRI system and is expected to reduce MRI…
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An Alabama woman sued Boston Scientific and Boston Scientific Neuromodulation, alleging one of the companies’ spinal cord stimulator systems caused injuries after it was implanted to treat chronic pain. The complaint was filed July 30 in the U.S. District Court…
The call can come while Adetokunbo Oyelese, MD, PhD, is seeing a patient. At other times, it interrupts an operation. Dr. Oyelese has stepped out of examination rooms and scrubbed out of surgical procedures to join peer-to-peer reviews with insurers.…
New robots, navigation platforms and AI tools continue to enter the market. But as reimbursement falls behind the cost of care, spine leaders are raising the bar for what is worth the investment. Spine’s technology pipeline is not slowing. A…
Fort Myers, Fla.-based Lee Health has acquired fellow Fort Myers provider Gardner Orthopedics, expanding its orthopedic and musculoskeletal care services across the region. All 75 Gardner Orthopedics employees, including five physicians, nurses, physical therapists, medical assistants and administrative staff, joined…
Medicare improperly paid an estimated $15.2 million for sacroiliac joint injection sessions that did not meet Medicare requirements between Oct. 1, 2023, and Sept. 30, 2024, according to an Aug. 5 report from HHS’ Office of Inspector General. The OIG…