Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1089830
15 Thought Leadership How price transparency in spine and big tech will affect healthcare: 4 Qs with Dr. Isador Lieberman By Laura Dyrda I sador Lieberman, MD, is president of Plano-based Texas Back Institute. He has a special interest in minimally invasive, ro- botic and endoscopic spine surgery, and has built a career on innovation in patient care. Dr. Lieberman is also the founder of the Uganda Charitable Spine Surgery Mission. Here, he discusses where he sees the spine field headed and the biggest factors creating change for healthcare providers. Question: Do you think the future is bright or dark for spine surgery? Dr. Isador Lieberman: Very bright for clinical care of the spine patient. We are in a very privileged position at this time. ere is so much tech- nology within our reach that can help our patients; we just need to figure out how to make it work best for them. Q: What are the biggest factors driving decision-making about your practice? IL: Cost of care and contracting because more and more the insurers are denying appropriate interventions in an effort to discourage those who try to 'game the system'; this only serves to further escalate the efforts of those who do take advantage, and also denies the care to legitimate patients served by ethical practitioners. Q: What do you think about tech companies such as Apple, Mi- crosoft and Amazon moving into the healthcare space? Is this a positive or negative trend for spine and healthcare overall? IL: I am concerned about the large tech companies moving into health- care by virtue of their economic prowess and the fact they are not health- care providers, yet I welcome their involvement as the current system is unsustainable and needs a complete restructuring. Q: How do you feel about the move toward increased price transparency? Will this have an impact on spine? IL: Price transparency is the basis of competition and competition is good. Yes, it will have an impact; my concern is that the least expensive provider may not be the best provider. I recount the famous John Glenn quote: "as I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind — every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder." Price transparency must be accompanied by an assessment of quality and value. n Where the value lies for strategic partnerships between spine & tech: Q&A with Dr. Scott Boden By Laura Dyrda S cott Boden, MD, director of At- lanta-based Emory Orthopae- dics & Spine Center and chair of the department of orthopedic surgery at Emory University School of Medicine spent years on the fore- front of spine care and innovation. Now he also serves as the CMO and chief quality officer of Emory Univer- sity Orthopaedics & Spine and vice president for business innovation of Emory Healthcare. Here, he discusses the state of the spine field and how the big trends in health IT and price transparency will affect the field. Question: Do you think the future is bright or dark for spine surgery? What are the biggest factors driving deci- sion-making about your practice? Dr. Scott Boden: I think the future of spine surgery is bright. The right operation in the right patient can restore function in very measurable ways. While there is a continued focus on minimally invasive approaches, the choice of operation and patient diagnosis will always be paramount to success. My hope is that artificial intelligence and new diagnostics will help stratify patients more clearly into treatment groups. Q: What do you think about technology companies such as Apple, Microsoft and Amazon moving into the health- care space? Is this a positive or negative trend for spine and healthcare overall? SB: I think it depends on what these tech companies are add- ing to the equation to increase quality or decrease cost. That is what we need in healthcare right now and if tech compa- nies can help in those two areas, I'm all for it. We are looking at strategic partnerships in the tech space to improve value. Q: How do you feel about the move toward increased price transparency? Will this have an impact on spine? SB: In principle, this is a trend that has appeared in most oth- er industries. Unfortunately purchasing healthcare services is far more complicated than online shopping, so achieving meaningful transparency is more difficult. The other problem with transparency is that there are not reliable measures of quality, appropriate operative indications, so I am a bit con- cerned if healthcare choices are solely driven by price. n