Spine

The reputation of spine surgery was built in another era. Patients still imagine a long incision down the back, muscles stripped from the spine and months spent recovering in a brace. For decades, that fear was not irrational. Some fusion…

Washington lawmakers advanced the most significant Medicare Advantage prior authorization reform in years this week. But as Congress moves to curb delays and denials for beneficiaries enrolled in private Medicare plans, CMS is simultaneously expanding prior authorization in traditional Medicare…

Josephine Coury Whalley, MD, is beginning her spine surgery career with more technological guidance than any previous generation received. Software can help plan an operation before the incision. Navigation can track instruments in three dimensions. Robotics can guide implants along…

UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco has opened an eight-bed Children’s Neuroscience Specialty Unit, expanding its inpatient capacity for children with neurologic and neurosurgical conditions. The unit is the hospital’s first inpatient expansion since it opened in 2015. It provides…

A patient sees a primary care physician for back pain, then a physical therapist, then a pain specialist, perhaps a chiropractor, perhaps another pain specialist. There may be injections, an ablation, new imaging and weeks between appointments. Eventually, the patient…

Legal pressure on orthopedic and spine providers came from multiple directions in the second quarter, spanning payer fraud suits, a kickback guilty plea and a device liability claim.  Here are five orthopedic lawsuits to know from second-quarter 2026:

Incomplete decompression, recurrent disc herniation and retained disc fragment are among the most common causes of failed lumbar spine surgery, according to a July 20 study published in Cureus. Here are 10 notes on the study:

Chapel Hill, N.C.-based UNC School of Medicine has named Daniel Prevedello, MD, chair of its department of neurosurgery. He will begin the role in October. Dr. Prevedello joins UNC from The Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus, where he…

CMS has proposed cutting payment for some of the most common spine procedures performed in ASCs. Four spine surgeons discuss how the cuts, if finalized, would reshape their site-of-service decisions. Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed…

A group of physician lawmakers has introduced the Patients First Act, which revamps the Medicare physician fee schedule, expands access to care and improves incentives for independent practices.  Here are eight notes on the new legislation, according to a July…