During the month of June, spine and orthopedic experts spoke with Becker's about topics from outpatient spine care to private practice management.
Here are three key insights:
"One significant factor holding back outpatient spine migration is the concern over patient safety and postoperative care. Complex spine surgeries often require extended monitoring and management of potential complications, such as bleeding, infection, or neurological issues, which are more easily managed in an inpatient setting where immediate medical intervention is available if needed." — Arya Shamie, MD, of UCLA Health in Los Angeles, on what's holding back outpatient spine growth.
"In hindsight, what would I tell myself seven years ago before I went into private practice? Not everyone who says they can help you are good at what they're doing or have your best interest at heart. Be very skeptical. Check out the bonafides. You want to hire slowly and fire quickly if an employee isn't not working out. Make sure you have all your ducks in order before you open your doors. Make sure if you're going to be in Medicare, that your Medicare application is completely set up before you start. That's the advice I would have. Make sure you can have all your ducks in order. Make sure you have a mentor. Make sure you have somebody who doesn't feel threatened by you, but would want to help you. Definitely make sure that you have the stomach for it because it is a lot of work." — Arthur Jenkins, III, MD, on tips for opening a solo spine practice.
"The industry will have to get creative. It's like anything else in the world, people will profit as long as they have the opportunity to profit. I think the industry will figure it out, and once they do we'll use it because there's a demand for it. People are paying for it. I'm saying to [the hospital] every day, I could use a robot, I could use augmented reality, I could use virtual reality and I could use navigation. I said, 'Make it affordable for me and I'll use it.'" — Alex Vaccaro, MD, PhD, of Philadelphia-based Rothman Orthopaedic Institute on growing adoption of spine navigation in ASCs.