Spine
In the realm of spinal fusion surgery, the quest for faster, safer, and more reliable bone formation has led to…
Spine surgeons can operate on patients today who might not have been considered surgical candidates years ago. The harder question is determining which of them should be. As patients live longer with diabetes, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease and other chronic conditions,…
A mental health intervention that began before surgery reduced postsurgery anxiety and depression among older adults, according to a clinical trial led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The Sept. 9 study, published in JAMA…
Physicians have long ranked prior authorization among the most maddening parts of practicing medicine, and UnitedHealthcare recently pledged to cut its prior authorization requirements by 30%. But one spine surgeon said the cut leaves the most significant bottleneck completely untouched. …
The hardest spine operations can require extensive planning, hours in the operating room and significant resources before and after surgery. But the systems that pay for that care do not always recognize what makes one case substantially more complex than…
For Emeka Nwodim, MD, the future of independent medicine may hinge on a seeming contradiction: Physicians may have to get bigger to remain independent. The economics that once allowed an orthopedic practice to thrive largely by seeing patients and performing…
For most spine surgery patients, preoperative workup follows a familiar script: bloodwork, imaging of the area to be operated on, maybe a cardiac clearance if there’s a history of heart disease. Bone health rarely makes the list. Every fusion patient…
Reoperation is the single biggest driver of lost cost-effectiveness in spine surgery, and one University of California San Francisco surgeon-researcher is building a dataset aimed at proving that shorter follow-up windows can still predict long-term success. Praveen Mummaneni, MD, professor…
Spine surgeons spend years learning when and how to operate. Recent Becker’s conversations suggest another skill becomes increasingly important with experience: knowing when not to. For some patients, that means surgery is unlikely to improve the symptoms driving the visit.…
Malpractice disputes in spine surgery can involve decisions made before, during and after an operation. Recent Becker’s coverage of lawsuits, verdicts and surgeon perspectives has included questions around the decision to operate, informed consent, postoperative monitoring and emerging liability concerns…
UnitedHealthcare recently announced it’s cutting prior authorization requirements by 30%, including for some outpatient surgeries, by the end of 2026. Four surgeons connected with Becker’s to share their reaction to the announcement and how prior authorization has shaped their practices.…