Spine
In the realm of spinal fusion surgery, the quest for faster, safer, and more reliable bone formation has led to…
Spine and orthopedic care has long been paid under fee-for-service arrangement, which reimburses physicians and facilities for each visit, test and procedure. Payers, employers and CMS are increasingly pushing toward value-based payment models, which tie reimbursement to patient outcomes and…
A spine surgeon who performs more procedures generates more relative value units. But what about one who prevents an unnecessary operation, reduces complications or gets patients to the right treatment faster? Those contributions can create significant value without necessarily generating…
As more patients taking GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic seek spine surgery, surgeons need to look beyond weight loss to consider how changes in muscle and bone quality could affect surgical outcomes, Jonathan Rasouli, MD, told Becker’s. Dr. Rasouli, a…
Hospitals and ASCs have spent years competing for surgical volume. Now, some are discovering that the economics of spine and orthopedic care increasingly favor working together. As more complex procedures move out of hospitals, health systems are seeking outpatient capacity,…
Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare is building a systemwide “spine dashboard” to track how its surgical and nonsurgical spine patients fare over the long term, as spine surgery faces fresh questions about its value. On Sept. 24, The Economist published an editorial…
One spine surgeon estimates he generated $20 million in annual revenue for a trauma center. But as more spine procedures become candidates for outpatient surgery, that figure illustrates a growing tension between surgeons seeking greater flexibility and hospitals with financial…
Patients who underwent robotic-assisted minimally invasive lumbar fusion surgery used 16% less opioid medication during hospitalization than those who underwent navigation-guided procedures, according to research presented by New York City-based Hospital for Special Surgery. The study included 804 patients who…
The North American Spine Society named Christopher Kauffman, MD, president during its 41st Annual Meeting in San Antonio. Dr. Kauffman is an orthopedic surgeon in private practice in the Nashville, Tenn., area and owns Kauffman Spine Surgery, according to an…
Selective thoracic fusion preserved more lumbar motion than nonselective fusion in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis patients with Lenke C-type lumbar curves, but it left larger residual curves and lower self-image gains at 10 years, according to a Sept. 14 Harm Study…
San Antonio-based South Texas Spinal Clinic has sued Brentwood, Tenn.-based Surgery Partners, alleging the company used acquisition talks to obtain confidential data and then recruit the clinic’s top-producing physicians, according to court documents reviewed by Becker’s. The lawsuit, filed Oct.…