Fresh off its June 3 opening, Zachary, La.-based Lane NeuroSpine Destination Center has strategically positioned itself in a transitioning healthcare environment as a one-stop shop for conservative, operative and holistic spine care. Lane Regional Medical Center and SpineMark Corp. opened the center under a co-management agreement with Adam Lewis, MD, a neurosurgeon from Jackson, Miss. Dr. Lewis serves as the medical director for the neurospine services.
"A destination center adds a focal point in neurospine care that's advanced, minimally invasive and complex spine focused, under a multidisciplinary team approach combined with a clinical research program," says Marcy Rogers, president and CEO of SpineMark, which serves as the manager for the center. "You become the standard in the community, and you draw patients from local, regional and national areas."
The destination center's mission is simple: eliminate patients' back and neck pain. Dr. Lewis and his colleagues leverage the latest technologies to perform minimally invasive spine surgery, muscle-sparing techniques, endoscopic spine surgery, laser-assisted approaches, fusions and artificial disc replacements, among other procedures.
"We want a comprehensive approach to managing arthritis of the neck and the back, and we look at the patient as someone we're going to follow for many years," Dr. Lewis says. "We can't cure arthritis, but we can certainly manage it."
Following procedures, patients head home with plans in place to keep the pain at bay.
Partnering to elevate spine care
In the tumultuous healthcare environment that is rife with federal demands, independent physicians may benefit from strategic alliances.
Enter companies like SpineMark, which wants to help place control back in the physicians' hands. "In partnership with medical directors, we focus on accountability, outcome reporting and quality metric reporting that leads to better patient satisfaction and care," says Ms. Rogers.
A partnership that aligns clinical, administrative and facility goals is crucial, she emphasizes. "We are embarking on this mission based on the tremendous need of a creation of standard of care for spine. We're looking at this as partners, bringing in more MIS approaches, trying to create safe trends for outpatient surgery and looking for ways that minimize stress for the patient. We're all partners in value-based purchasing of the healthcare system."
Push to outpatient
The healthcare industry is witnessing a surge toward outpatient procedures, as patients demand more convenient care.
"The big push today is that patients want to go home on the same day as their procedure," says Dr. Lewis. "We see that happening with hip and knee, and we're going to see more of the same thing in spine."
Dr. Lewis believes ambulatory surgery centers will continue to gain popularity because physicians want to hold onto their autonomy. Lane NeuroSpine aligns with this shift to outpatient care, offering MIS procedures that limit pain and speed recovery.
Dr. Lewis notes that medical device companies are spurring MIS outpatient procedures with their developed technologies.
Diving into workers' comp
Lane NeuroSpine has also entered the workers' compensation space, developing a different approach to work-related injury and collaboration with employers and payers.
SpineMark and the destination center realized the cost-effectiveness of involving specialists for the continuum of care, from the time of injury to the six weeks post-operation.
"We are presenting a new paradigm," says Ms. Rogers. "That's part of the strategy to educate the constituents in the paradigm of the healthcare matrix."
Closely working with the workers' comp employers and payers fosters a higher level of value, Dr. Lewis adds. "We're always trying to get people back to work and back to a better quality of life as quickly as possible," he says.