Spine

Three spine surgeons discuss how they deal with rising deductibles and increased patient financial responsibility.

Scott Boden, MD, director of Atlanta-based Emory Orthopaedics & Spine Center and chair of the department of orthopedic surgery at Emory University School of Medicine spent years on the forefront of spine care and innovation.

Alok Sharan, MD, co-director of Yonkers, N.Y.-based Westmed Spine Center has been successful in building a spine practice and performing awake spinal fusions.

Many primary lumbar fusion patients that visit the emergency department within 30 days postoperatively do not require hospitalization, according to a study in Clinical Spine Surgery.

Bradenton, Fla.-based Coastal Orthopedics' Douglas Constant, MD, is performing minimally invasive indirect decompression surgery on spinal stenosis patients.

While some hospitals and physicians have adopted stances of limiting prescription opioids in light of the opioid epidemic, these actions have worsened the epidemic, according to a guest column spine surgeon David Hanscom, MD, wrote in Pain News Network.

Orthopedic spine surgeon Brandon P. Hirsch, MD, joined the CORE Institute in Phoenix in 2018.

Four spine surgeons discuss current trends in spine surgery reimbursement and insurance coverage.

Patients with low back or lower extremity pain had the highest risk of long-term opiate use if they were initially diagnosed by a pain management specialist or anesthesia provider, according to a study in Spine.

Male sex, pseudarthrosis and non-fusion cases predicted positive cultures in revision spinal surgery, according to a study in Spine.