Here are 10 top-read news stories about spine surgeons and spine practices since Jan. 1:
1. Some fee-for-service spine procedures in traditional Medicare will have prior authorizations added, according to CMS’ new Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction model.
2. Forbes’ annual World’s Billionaires list was released April 1, and a retired spine surgeon was included among several healthcare leaders. Gary Michelson, MD, was ranked 1,947 of all 3,028 billionaires on the list. His net worth remained the same as in 2024 at $1.8 billion.
3. President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which includes Medicaid cuts, rural healthcare system investments and a temporary 2.5% Medicare Physician Fee Schedule boost for some cases, was signed July 4. Spine surgeons discussed how they foresee the bill’s effect on their work.
4. U.S. News & World Report released its “Best Hospitals for Neurology and Neurosurgery” 2025-26 list on July 29, with New York City-based NYU Langone Hospitals ranking No. 1.
5. Multiple professional multispecialty groups have endorsed or affirmed the benefit of guidelines for addressing sacroiliac joint complex pain. Development for the multispecialty guidelines were approved by the Boards of Directors for the American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) and American Society of Regional Anesthesia & Pain Medicine in 2023. Twenty-five organizations, along with the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs agreed to participate in development. Twenty-one questions spanning diagnostic criteria, interventional and nonintervertional treatments, parameters to optimize results and guidelines on what constitutes positive outcomes were developed.
6. Over three years unnecessary back surgeries have cost Medicare an estimated $1.9 billion, according to an analysis from the Lown Institute.
7. James Doty, MD, a neurosurgeon with Stanford (Calif.) Medicine, died at age 69. He built a neurosurgery practice in Orange County, Calif. in the 1990s, and before that he served nine years in the U.S. Army.
8. Spine surgeons discussed why they want CPT 62380 to be retired.
9. Some Aetna members who had lumbar disc replacement coverage denied could be entitled to up to $55,000 after the insurer reached a settlement in a yearslong class-action case, according to court documents filed Oct. 8.
10. Elevance Health shared plans to potentially penalize facilities that use care providers who aren’t in network with Anthem, a move that worries spine surgeons.
