Leo Spector, MD, a spine surgeon at the OrthoCarolina Spine Center in Charlotte, N.C., discusses bundled payments programs.
Ask Spine Surgeons is a weekly series of questions posed to spine surgeons around the country about clinical, business and policy issues affecting spine care. We invite all spine surgeon and specialist responses.
Next week's question: What ancillary services do you offer at your practice? Are you planning to add more?
Please send responses to Anuja Vaidya at avaidya@beckershealthcare.com by Wednesday, July 17, 5 p.m. CST.
Question: Are you participating in bundled payments? If yes, what are some key lessons you have learned?
Dr. Leo Spector: OrthoCarolina participates in many types of value-based bundles, including prospective, retrospective and site-of-service bundles. We are participating in these programs with CMS and many commercial payers. The single most important lesson learned, regardless of type of bundle, is that to make the bundle successful all the entities involved, patient, provider, payer and facility, have to have aligned incentives that benefit all parties.