Becker's Spine Review

6 SPINE SURGEONS Spinal fusion hospital costs for Medicare patients exceed $40K: 5 things to know By Laura Dyrda I n a study presented at the North Amer- ican Spine Society Annual Meeting last September, Kevin McGuire, MD, of Lebanon, N.H-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center shared findings on hospital costs for spinal fusion patients, according to AAOS Now. e researchers examined data from 2014 that included 43,425 hospital admissions and iden- tified seven different procedure approaches, with posterior being the most common ap- proach used in around half of the patients. Five findings on the cost of care: 1. e average hospitalization was $27,182 per patient, with additional costs hitting $25,177 among patients aged 80 years or old- er. For patients younger than 65 years old, the additional costs reached $27,715. 2. Non-white Medicare beneficiaries incurred higher hospital costs than white beneficiaries, at $28,607 compared to $27,003. 3. e total hospital costs exceeded $40,000 for three of the fusion combination approaches: • Anterior lumbar interbody fusion or lateral lumbar interbody fusion and posterolateral fusion • ALIF or LLIF and transforaminal lum- bar interbody fusion • ALIF or LLIF, posterolateral and TLIF 4. e incremental hospital cost estimations where higher for patients 80 years and old- er, and patients 65 to 69 years old reported the highest average incremental cost increase. Malnutrition added $19,243, malignant tu- mor present on admission added $14,780 and bone infections on admission increased cost by $13,025. 5. Six comorbid conditions were associated with lower costs, and researchers estimated patients with long-term antiplatelet use low- ered the cost by more than $850. "As alternative payment models continue to evolve, the variability in resource utili- zation and predicting this variability within a reasonable degree of certainty will allow providers and hospitals to provide up- stream resources to decrease complication rates and facilitate care, as well as develop a sustainable economic model for care at the institution," said Kevin J. McGuire, MD, who presented the study. n Alabama hospital to build $250M orthopedic & spine building By Shayna Korol Construction is underway on Huntsville (Ala.) Hospital's Orthopedic and Spine Tower, WAFF, an NBC affiliate, reports. Five things to know: 1. The seven-story tower will take up an entire city block, featuring 375,000 square feet of surgical, patient care and specialized rehabilitation space. 2. The $250 million medical tower will feature 72 private patient rooms as well as 24 operating rooms for spine and orthopedic surgery. 3. Scheduled to open in 2021, the building will include large presurgical and postsurgical recovery areas. It will also house Huntsville Hospital's Joint Camp program for joint replacement patients. 4. When complete, it will be the largest medical construction project in down- town Huntsville since 1980. Robins & Morton is serving as general contractor. 5. "More patients are choosing to drive from 50, 60, 70 miles to Huntsville to have healthcare here. People who previously went to [Chattanooga, Tenn.- based Erlanger Health System; Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Univer- sity Medical Center; or University of Alabama at Birmingham] are choosing to come here because we have the services where we can treat anyone that those facilities can treat," Huntsville Hospital Health System COO Jeff Samz told WAFF. n Top 5 highest- paying specialties — Orthopedic surgeons report $414K annually By Shayna Korol O rthopedic surgeons have the highest base salary of any specialty, according to the MedPage Today 2018 Orthope- dics Salary Survey. Here are the top five highest-paying specialties: 1. Orthopedics — $414,283 2. Oncology — $410,941 3. Cardiology — $400,603 4. Urology — $395,000 5. Gastroenterology — $387,078 n

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