The Latest

Stavropoula Tjoumakaris, MD, has been appointed chair of the neurosurgery department at Jefferson Neurosurgery, part of Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health, according to a March 31 LinkedIn post.  Dr. Tjoumakaris previously served as interim chair and holds multiple leadership roles, including director…

Michael Kelly, MD, has joined the spine division in Stanford (Calif.) Medicine’s department of orthopedic surgery, according to a March 31 LinkedIn post.  Dr. Kelly has held leadership roles at San Diego-based Rady Children’s Hospital and St. Louis-based Washington University,…

Jonathan Schaffer, MD, an orthopedic surgeon and digital health leader at Cleveland Clinic, has died, according to a March 27 Linkedin post.  Dr. Schaffer spent more than 20 years at Cleveland Clinic, where he served as managing director of information…

Three lawsuits were filed March 23 alleging Nevro’s spinal cord stimulators are defectively designed and made patient’s chronic pain worse, AboutLawsuits reported March 30. All three lawsuits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California,…

In a healthcare landscape squeezed by reimbursement pressures and economic challenges, complex spine and revision surgery are becoming harder to deliver sustainably. Two spine surgeons discuss why these changes are happening. Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed…

UnitedHealthcare has expanded coverage to include medical device manufacturer Highridge Medical’s Tether, a vertebral body tethering system, effective April 1. The payer now considers vertebral body tethering “medically necessary” when performed with the Tether system. UnitedHealthcare’s decision is expected to…

An orthopedic practice in Collierville, Tenn., appears to have abruptly shut down, leaving patients with no answers, according to a March 31 report from WHBQ-TV Fox 13.  When patients arrived at Delta Orthopaedics, the doors were locked and there were…