Philip Schneider, MD, is the medical director of the Silver Springs, Md.-based Holy Cross Hospital Spine Center and an orthopedic surgeon at The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics based in Bethesda, Md. Here he discusses the biggest challenges for his practice as well as how the spine field will evolve in the future.
Question: How has your role as a spine department leader evolved over the past two to three years? How have your responsibilities changed?
Dr. Philip Schneider: My role as the spine center leader has evolved significantly. In the past, it was mostly about surgical volume. Now, my role is more related to quality, certifications, readmissions and cost control.
Q: What do you consider your No. 1 priority to ensure departmental success?
PS: My No. 1 priority to achieve success of the spine center is to ensure full collaboration between the key constituencies which include orthopedics, neurosurgery, pain management, operating room services, floor nursing and the various quality improvement personnel.
Q: What is the biggest challenge you are facing as head of the department and how are you overcoming that?
PS: My biggest challenge is that I am in full-time private practice and have limited time to run the hospital spine program. Our hospital does not employ physicians, so I am doing this in the early morning, lunchtime and after hours.
Q: What are the department's goals for 2019 and what is your vision moving forward?
PS: Our goals for 2019 include creating new quality measures as we have successfully reached our goals for 2017-18. Quality measures need to be meaningful, objective and collectible, preferably through electronic means. Manual collection of data has been too cumbersome and inefficient. Our vision for the future remains the same: to be the trusted leader of the highest quality spine care.
More articles on spine surgery:
How Dr. Jason Lowenstein plans to grow Atlantic Health System's Scoliosis and Spine Deformty Center in 2019
Dr. Frank Phillips: The 3 organizational issues that will position orthopedic, spine practices for the future
How Dr. Andrew Gitkind built a multidisciplinary department that works toward a unified goal