Kern Singh, MD, co-director of the Minimally Invasive Spine Institute at Rush in Chicago, discusses his big areas of focus for 2020.
Question: If 2020 is a successful year for you, what will it look like?
Dr. Kern Singh: A successful year is always defined by the ability to help people overcome their spine pain. With that being said, I hope that my practice continues to transition to the outpatient environment. Currently, over 70 percent of my practice is outpatient, and in 2020 I hope that number grows to 85 percent to 90 percent.
Q: Where will you focus most of your time and energy next year?
KS: My focus continues to be on my family. My children are growing up quickly (now 5 and 7 years old) and I hope to spend as much time with them as possible. Fortunately, with the ability to transition my practice to a more efficient outpatient environment I have been able to increase my free time to spend with my kids and family. Currently, my energy is focused on reading about unicorns (with my daughter) and killer whales (with my son).
Q: What do you consider the biggest potential threat to your spine practice?
KS: The biggest threat to all spine practices is market consolidation both in the hospital and insurance markets. As payers, consolidate it becomes more difficult for small orthopedic groups to sustain fiscal solvency with contested insurance claims, denials of payments for pre-authorized surgeries, and access to patients with closed healthcare systems. Fortunately, patients seek high quality physicians preferably over hospitals and insurers. As such, whatever we do as spine surgeons we need to make sure the patient is first and their care is improved.
Q: What do you plan to start doing next year, and what will you stop?
KS: Live in the moment. Too many times in life we get stuck in the monotony of the daily grind. Next thing you know, life has thrown you a curve ball. I will continue to take time off work and research to focus on family, friends and smelling the roses.