Spine

Lauren Matteini, MD, now approaches many cervical spine cases by trying to disqualify the operation she would prefer to perform. The operation is cervical disc replacement. “In my practice now, I’m trying to find a reason not to do it,”…

Much of the durable medical equipment routinely prescribed after cervical spine surgery is not well supported by clinical data, according to an analysis published in the Summer 2026 issue of Vertebral Columns by spine surgeon Arash Sayari, MD, and medical…

For a generation, the hardest question in spine surgery was whether a case could be done at all, and then whether it could be done outside a hospital. Surgeons answered it. Fusions and decompressions once confined to inpatient suites now…

Spine surgery has historically operated under two sets of economics: one determined by the care delivered and another by the building in which it is delivered. For 2026, Medicare’s ASC conversion factor is $56.322, compared with $91.415 for hospital outpatient…

Spine surgery is moving out of the hospital faster than any payment system was built to handle, and the ability to prove outcomes is becoming the price of admission. As of Jan. 1, spinal fusion sits inside a mandatory Medicare…

Peter Derman, MD, did not leave Texas Back Institute because he wanted distance from the institution. He is clear about that. After nearly eight years at the Plano-based spine group, where he served as a partner and executive committee member,…

Every spine surgeon eventually encounters an adverse event that stays with them long after the patient has left the hospital, and the profession is beginning to reckon with the psychological toll those moments take, according to an article written by…

Large language models are drawing rapid interest in spine surgery, but their value currently lies in supporting physicians rather than replacing their judgment, according to an article written by Aimen Khan, Maximillian Lee, Noah Pogonitz, Daniel Park, MD, and Kern…

UChicago Medicine has added four neurosurgeons to expand its clinical and research capabilities. The health system hired Youssef Comair, MD, as section chief of neuro-oncology; Timothy Witham, MD, as section chief of spine surgery; P.B. Raksin, MD, a specialist in…

John Peloza, MD, has been a fellowship-trained spine surgeon for more than 30 years, long enough to have watched the specialty transform since the early 1990s. For most of his career, he has practiced with Midwest Orthopedic Spine Specialists in…