The North American Spine Society is reducing the size of its board of directors, the organization's president, Zoher Ghogawala, MD, said Nov. 3.

While UnitedHealthcare has recently taken steps to remove several orthopedic and spine codes from its list of procedures requiring prior authorization, surgeons are not necessarily seeing positive outcomes from code removals. 

A woman who won a $2.8 million verdict in a case against a spine surgeon will be able to keep the money, according to an Oct. 31 opinion from the Arizona Court of Appeals.

Career mentorship can be a two-way street where both parties learn from each other. Here is what four spine surgeons have learned from younger physicians in the field.

John Braca, III, MD, was named chief of neurosurgery at the UPMC Neurological Institute and hospital services in central and north central Pennsylvania, Tri-State Alert reported Nov. 1.

Dean Chou, MD, is chief of the spine division at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. 

Cincinnati-based Mayfield Brain & Spine and St. Elizabeth Healthcare have partnered to bring advanced stroke care to patients in Northern Kentucky. 

Prone lateral spine positioning has gained attention in recent years and has been touted for its efficiency in the operating room. But its future isn't completely clear yet.

Ian Cote, MD, is chief of spine services at Jackson South Medical Center in Miami.

Here are 21 spine and neurosurgeons who joined new practices or added to their titles in October:

Becker’s published a response from Louis Levitt, MD, to the question “How do you feel about non-healthcare entities dipping their toes into the healthcare space?” In that response, Dr. Levitt spoke about digital healthcare companies focused on MSK issues, and specifically mentioned Sword Health. As a fellow spine surgeon and chief medical officer at Sword, I wanted to correct a few items that he got incorrect in his response, as well as some misconceptions he, and others in the medical field, have with how a platform like ours helps people suffering from pain.

James Hicks, MD, recently joined the Spine Institute team at Baldwin Bone & Joint in Daphne, Ala.

Sheeraz Qureshi, MD, and Andrew Sama, MD, are co-chiefs of spine surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. 

Spine surgery is not something a physician can always do alone. Often spine surgeons will team up with physicians across specialties before, during and after a case.

Donald Corenman, MD, joined Advanced Neurosurgery of Hawaii in Honolulu.

Healthgrades shared its lists for excellence in specialty care, including spine surgery. Here are the hospitals recognized for spine surgery during the last three consecutive years:

New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery has appointed Lan Zhou, MD, as neurologist-in-chief and chair of HSS' department of neurology and Stavros Memtsoudis, MD, as anesthesiologist-in-chief and director of the department of anesthesiology, critical care and pain management. 

Hamid Abbasi, MD, PhD, of Inspired Spine, will train Jose Jimenez-Almonte, MD, an Orlando-based spine surgeon, in the oblique lateral lumbar interbody fusion procedure, according to an Oct. 25 news release.

David Skaggs, MD, and Theodore Goldstein, MD, are co-directors of Cedars-Sinai Spine Center in Los Angeles.

A new report from PHC4, an independent healthcare council in Pennsylvania, shows that certain orthopedic and spine procedures — total hip replacements, total knee replacements and spinal fusions — are increasingly moving to the outpatient setting, according to an Oct. 25 report from Central Penn Business Journal.