54
HEALTHCARE
NEWS
ADVERTISINGINDEX
Note: Ad page number(s) given in parentheses
ADVERTISER
Aesculap Implant Systems. spine.us@aesculap.com / xpstrong.
com / (866) 229-3002 (pg. 11)
Bioventus Surgical. bioventussurgical.com (pg. 41)
ChoiceSpine. www.choicespine.com (pgs. 22-25)
DSM Biomedical. dsm.com/spine (pg. 31)
Echelon Medical Capital. echelonmedicalcapital.com / (888) 944-
7264 (pg. 56)
Esaote North America, Inc. esaoteusa.com (pg. 39)
FH Orthopedics. info-us@fhorthopedics.com / fhortho.com / (773)
290-1039 (pg. 18)
Genesys Spine. info@genesysspine.com / genesysspine.com (pg.
52)
Haag-Streit USA. hsmicroscopes.com/spine / (855) 854-5810 (pg.
19)
Joimax. joimax.com (pg. 51)
K2M. bacs.com (pg. 21)
Mizuho OSI. mizuhosi.com/proaxis (pgs. 12-15)
National Medical Billing Services. nationalascbilling.com / (866)
948-7673 (pg. 5)
Orthofix. orthofix.com / (800) 535-4492 (pgs. 45-47)
Pacira Pharmaceuticals. pacira.com / (855) 793-9727 (pgs. 7-8)
Paradigm Spine. coflexsolution.com (pg. 3)
Stryker. www.stryker.com (pg. 2)
TeDan Surgical Innovations. info@tedansurgical.com /
tedansurgical.com / (713) 726-0886 (pg. 29)
Titan Spine. www.titanspine.com (pg. 55)
Vallum. vallumcorp.com (pgs. 32-35)
Zavation. sales@zavation.com / zavation.com / (601) 919-1119 (pg.
40)
Will hospitals become obsolete? Dr. Richard Wohns
explains the future of spine surgery
By Mackenzie Garrity
S
pine surgeons cannot remain stagnant.
ere is constant pressure to stay ahead
of the curve, and to be innovative with
surgical approaches and devices.
At Becker's 16th Annual Future of Spine + e
Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driv-
en ASC Conference, June 14 to 16 in Chicago,
Richard Wohns, MD, founder, president and
neurosurgeon at NeoSpine in Puyallup, Wash.,
offered insights into what spine surgeons need
to prepare for in the future.
Here are his five major trends to expect:
1. Innovations in minimally invasive surgery:
"is is at the forefront in what is happening in
spine and it will continue. ere will be more
and more minimally invasive surgical approach-
es, procedures, devices because minimally inva-
sive is the future."
"At the present time, minimally invasive is ap-
proximately 35 percent of the market in spine.
However, this is going to change as we move for-
ward. I can't predict when we will be at 60 per-
cent of 70 percent, but this is the future."
2. Motion preservation vs. fusions: "Fusions
will still be necessary, but next generation, mo-
tion preservation technology will be coming out.
We've already seen a few generations in the cer-
vical arena. We've only begun to see the lumbar
motion preservation technology. Fusions will be
in the past with motion preservation being the
future."
3. Artificial intelligence and neuronavigation:
"One of the biggest aspects of the future, besides
motion preservation, will be how we operate. AI
and robotics are sweeping the stage of first gen-
eration devices. As we move forward into the
future, the accuracy of what we do will increase
with artificial intelligence, machine learning and
robotics. We will see more accuracy, less inva-
sion and [repeatability]."
4. Outpatient spine centers outlasting hospi-
tals: "It is predicted most spine surgeries will
move out of the hospitals and become outpa-
tient procedures. As you can imagine with the
help of robotics, motion preservation and artifi-
cial intelligence, all of these are inherently outpa-
tient and ambulatory surgery center procedures.
More and more surgeons will be doing their
procedures outpatient because they can and also
because of patient popularity."
5. e possibilities of independent spine sur-
geons: "[Others] have predicted hospitals will
become obsolete; they will instead become a
place for trauma, brain surgery and premature
babies. We should now welcome the idea that
hospitals are less important, as any change in the
healthcare system that saves money and makes
patients healthier needs to be celebrated."
"Independence is a disappearing phenomenon.
e driving focus for young residents is finding
a job with financial security and job security,
which is larger institutions over private practice.
I think physicians over 50 years old are the likely
candidates to become independent if they hav-
en't been in their careers." n
