John Peloza, MD, is an orthopedic spine surgeon at Midwest Orthopedic and Spine Specialists in St. Louis.
Dr. Peloza specializes in artificial disc replacements, anti-inflammatory injections, minimally invasive spine surgery and motion preservation.
He is a pioneer in minimally invasive spine surgery, endoscopic spine surgery, spinal motion devices including artificial discs and regenerative medicine, has participated in early robotic surgery evaluation trials and pioneered intraoperative image-guided navigation surgery.
He is currently involved in artificial intelligence spinal imaging and augmented reality intraoperative navigation.
Dr. Peloza has also written six published book chapters on spine care, and his writings have appeared in publications including Veritas Health, Spine-health, Orthopedics Today, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
He has spoken with Becker’s about several key topics, including the technologies shaping minimally invasive spine care, overcoming learning curves and acquisition pressures faced by ASCs.
“The trend to move surgical cases to ASCs will only accelerate in spite of the many challenges,” Dr. Peloza told Becker’s. “Because of minimally invasive surgical technologies and techniques, and much better anesthesia and pain management protocols, higher-acuity and complex cases can be done in ASCs rather than hospitals. The cost of care in ASCs is markedly less because hospital overhead is astronomical. The best ASCs are single-specialty focused, resulting in better outcomes with fewer complications.
“The patient experience in an ASC is also much better with more personal attention and convenience. Healthcare systems and hospitals regard ASCs as a significant threat to their business model. The most profitable segment of their revenue stream is moving to the outpatient environment, leaving them with high-cost, low-revenue chronic disease management. Therefore, they are adapting to this reality.”
Dr. Peloza is speaking at Becker’s 22nd Annual Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC + The Future of Spine Conference, set for June 18-21 at the Swissotel Chicago.
