Spine
In the realm of spinal fusion surgery, the quest for faster, safer, and more reliable bone formation has led to…
Spine surgeons have more ways than ever to avoid a fusion. Farah Musharbash, MD, also sees what happens when they try too hard. In his revision practice, Dr. Musharbash encounters patients whose earlier operations were designed to preserve motion or…
For generations, the path to becoming a spine surgeon began with a choice: orthopedics or neurosurgery. Jeffrey Mullin, MD, a neurosurgeon at Williamsville, N.Y.-based University at Buffalo Neurosurgery, sees a future in which that choice matters considerably less. Across operating…
CMS has released the final participant list for its Ambulatory Specialty Model, a mandatory payment model that will tie physicians’ Medicare Part B pay to their performance on low back pain care, starting Jan. 1, 2027. The low back pain…
The University of California San Diego in La Jolla received $5 million from an anonymous donor to support research and treatment for spinal cord and neurological injuries. The funding supported the launch of the Spinal Therapeutics, Engineering, Limb and Life…
Baptist Health Miami Neuroscience Institute named Harel Deutsch, MD, director of spine surgery. Dr. Deutsch specializes in minimally invasive spine surgery, motion preservation surgery and the treatment of failed back surgery syndrome, according to an Aug. 24 news release from…
New spine procedures and technologies are increasingly crossing specialty lines, and the question of who is trained to perform them safely has followed. The North American Spine Society took that question on directly, releasing a patient safety position statement on…
Robotics and navigation have given spine surgeons new levels of precision and reproducibility in the operating room. Colin Rhoads, DO, sees significant value in those advances, when surgeons understand both what the technology can do and where their own judgment…
Spine surgery has been operating under significant pressure for decades, and in today’s environment, those forces continue to accelerate. Rising administrative demands, expanding prior authorization hurdles, increasing operating costs, and persistent reimbursement decline have created a landscape where surgeons are…
Walter Eckman, MD, a neurosurgeon who developed minimally invasive spine surgery technology and secured 20 patents related to spinal surgery products, died Sept. 24 at 82. Dr. Eckman established a private neurosurgical practice in Sioux City, Iowa, in 1976. While…
UF Health Pain Medicine appointed Sanjeev Kumar, MD, chief of its Gainesville operations. Dr. Kumar is a professor of anesthesiology and director of the Endoscopic Spine Surgery Fellowship, according to a Sept. 18 news release from the UF Department of…