Becker's Spine Review

41 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT How well is Walmart's spine center of excellence program working? 5 takeaways By Laura Dyrda D anville, Pa.-based Geisinger joined Walmart's center of excellence network in 2017 for spine surgery, providing Walmart employees access to the health system's spine team without additional out-of- pocket costs. A Harvard Business Review arti- cle recently outlined the program's success. Walmart pays the entire cost for employees to travel and receive spine care at Geisinger. Employees can seek care outside of a COE, but they are responsible for the bill. In 2017, employees that sought care outside of a COE paid half the bill; Today, they are responsible for the whole bill. Five things to know: 1. About 2,300 employees — half of the Walmart employees who underwent spine surgery or evaluation from 2015 to 2018 — utilized COE. During that time, 46 percent of patients underwent surgery and 54 percent received other forms of treatment. 2. e employees who underwent care at COE sites reported shorter hospital stays; the COE employees stayed in the hospital for 2.5 days on average, compared to 2.9 days on average for the non-COE employees. Less than 1 per- cent of the COE patients were discharged to skilled nursing facilities, far lower than 4.9 percent of the non-COE patients. 3. Over the past three years, the readmission rate per 1,000 patients in the program was three, compared to 65 for non-COE patients. 4. On average, patients who received care at a COE returned to work aer 10.6 weeks, which was 2.6 weeks sooner than the non- COE patients. 5. Cost for care was 8 percent higher at a COE — $32,177 on average — compared to $29,770 at the non-COE, but the lower re- admission rates, earlier discharge and lower skilled nursing facility use was a "payoff " of the COE model. e authors of the article included Lisa Woods, head of Walmart's U.S. benefits de- sign and strategy; Jonathan R. Slotkin, MD, a neurosurgeon who directs spine surgery at Geisinger Neuroscience Institute and serves as associate chief medical informatics offi- cer at Geisinger Health; and Ruth Coleman, founder of Health Design Plus. n 4 things to know about orthopedic surgeons:36% still in private practice By Laura Dyrda T he 2018 American Academy of Ortho- paedic Surgeons census report provided demographic and specialty information on its membership. Four key trends from the report: 1. Thirty-six percent of the respondents were in pri- vate practice or an orthopedic group setting. 2. Seventeen percent of respondents were em- ployed by a hospital while 14 percent of respon- dents received a salary from an academic institution. 3. Sixty percent of respondents were subspecial- ists, with 18.2 percent focused on sports medicine and 14.4 percent focused on total joints. 4. On average, the orthopedic surgeon respon- dents performed 30 procedures per month; full- time orthopedists performed 32 procedures per month on average. n Venture capital firm invests in orthopedic device company — 4 insights By Eric Oliver G enesis Innovation Group, a venture capital firm, invest- ed in Embody through its early-stage healthcare develop- ment group cultivate(MD) Capital Fund II. What you should know: 1. Embody created Tapestry, a collagen-based microfiber implant used for Achilles' and rotator cuff repairs. 2. The Tapestry device is still being studied. Embody hopes stud- ies will show that Tapestry helps to minimize scarring while accel- erating postoperative rehabilitation. 3. As a result of the investment, Genesis Innovation Group CEO Rob Ball will join Embody's board. 4. Mr. Ball said, "Embody technology is built on an incredible body of research and development which utilizes powerful manufactur- ing technology to produce soft tissue augmentation products that provide optimal characteristics for growth of tissue. They've devel- oped a truly unique platform that will deliver product innovation for years to come." n

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