Here are seven things for spine surgeons to know for today.
Budget deal to maintain Medicare cuts.
The two-year budget plan proposed by Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.) would maintain Medicare cuts. However, the deal would likely open up discretionary spending for medical education and medical research, as well as avoid a government shutdown scheduled for January 2014. The House votes on the budget today.
Spine device companies report net losses.
Several spine device companies, and the spine businesses of large device companies, reported net losses during the last quarter. For example, Alphatec spine saw a $14.5 million loss after discontinuing its PurGen Osteoprogenator Cell Allograft and SpineGuard reported $1.65 million in net losses.
Spinal fusion has similar quality of life improvement as knee replacement.
A new study in The Spine Journal compared the quality of life outcomes for spinal fusion in spinal stenosis patients and total knee replacement for patients with osteoarthritis. Revision rates between the two groups were similar and patients had comparable average long-tem improvement in health-related quality of life from the baseline.
Vanderbilt Spine Center names new medical director.
Oran Aaronson, MD, has been appointed medical director of the Vanderbilt Spine Center at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He joined Vanderbilt in 2004 and is an associate professor of neurological surgery.
35% of physicians say pay not tied to productivity.
The 2013 Physician Compensation Survey from Physicians Practice shows that 35 percent of physicians don't have compensation tied to productivity. Twenty-eight percent said all of their compensation was tied to productivity, with the rest of the nearly 1,500 physician respondents falling somewhere in between.
NASS concerns for SGR proposal.
While the Senate Finance and Ways and Means Committees incorporated several recommendations from the North American Spine Society and Alliance of Specialty Medicine on the sustainable growth rate change proposal, the organizations still have concerns. The new proposal would freeze physician payments in the future and creates a budget-neutral, tiered quality payment program comparing individual physicians with each other.
First use of Aurora Spine's new implant
Aurora Spine announced that Ian Armstrong, MD, performed the first surgical procedure in the United States using the ZIP ULTRA Minimally Invasive Interspinous Fusion System at Southern California Hospital in Culver City.
More Articles on Spine Surgeons:
2014 Spine Field Observations: What the Future Demands of Spine Surgeons
8 Spine and Neurosurgeons on the Move
Spinal Fusion, Total Knee Replacement Have Similar Health-Related Quality of Life Outcomes