Here are seven things for spine surgeons to know for Thursday, May 23, 2013.

New research has found that the use of bone morphogenic proteins in anterior and posterior lumbar fusions was linked with shorter hospital stays, lower infection rates and greater in-hospital costs, according to Healio.

If the United States tinkered with Medicare more, reformed tax policies, prioritized healthcare quality and incentivized states to improve care, the healthcare system could save roughly $560 billion over the next decade, according to a report from the Bipartisan Policy Center Health Care Cost Containment Initiative.

The University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa will receive a $1.27 million award from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute to study different psychosocial treatments for chronic pain management, according to a report by The Crimson White.

A study, published in the Clinical Journal of Pain, found that people suffering from chronic and acute pain experience mental defeat, and targeting this sense of mental defeat can prevent anxiety and depression among the patients, according to a Health Canal report.

The National Institute of Arthritis Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has granted $1,640,000 to Ernesto Canalis, MD, director of research at Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center in Hartford, Conn., according to a press release.

A new study shows female-specific knee implants may not improve outcomes in female total knee replacement patients, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

A study, published in the Clinical Journal of Pain, has found that patients suffering from chronic pain may experience improvement if they receive care from primary care teams who are trained in multiple aspects of pain management, including emotional consequences, according to a News-Medical report.

A Kaiser Permanente study, published in The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, has found that patients with diabetes who undergo total knee replacement surgery do not have an increased risk of surgical complications as compared to patients without diabetes.  

A new study, published in the March issue of Health Affairs, found that the average physician will lose $43,743 over five years after adopting electronic health record systems.