Pushing spine technology forward is one of the highlights of the year for Michael Venezia, DO.
Dr. Venezia, of Orthopedic Specialties of Tampa Bay in Clearwater, Fla., shared his proudest moments this year and what he's looking forward to in 2024.
Note: Responses were lightly edited for clarity.
Question: What are you most proud of from the last year?
Dr. Michael Venezia: I am most proud of working hard to build a practice with emerging technology in a hospital that contains many surgeons that don't care to adopt it, making it quite the barrier from an administrative standpoint! I came out wanting to build a practice with the latest technology to help my patients, especially an elderly population that needs thoughtful and personalized care. I went into spine surgery because there is so much advancement going on in our field, and we are only getting better by the year. At the same time, there is such a barrier to advancing technology between older surgeons not wanting to change their workflow and administration not wanting to spend money. I look forward to continuing to advance spine care for the patients in my community in 2024!
Q: What are the biggest trends you're following in healthcare right now?
MV: I think one of the biggest that everyone is following is private equity in medicine. There is no question that private equity has entered our world and is here to stay. I think it remains to be seen on the benefits or issues this will cause in healthcare as a whole, and we as physicians need to stay involved to continue to have an active role in our future as independent physicians. The other area I am really excited about, especially in spine surgery, is artificial intelligence. We already have some thought leaders like Chris Ames, MD, that have taken the reigns on our field, but it is exciting to see how we will continue to synthesize and utilize data to help drive patient care and better outcomes.
Q: What are you excited about for 2024?
MV: I am most excited about us catching up with other areas such as total joints in moving care to a more ambulatory setting, safely and with all our technology that we have started utilizing. I think it is exciting to see the advances we have made in spine surgery using more ultra-minimally invasive techniques such as endoscopy to help advance this movement, and I think it is only going to grow over the next year.