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ORTHOPEDICS
California hospital to end orthopedic services amid
financial constraints: 5 things to know
By Laura Dyrda
K
ing City, Calif.-based Mee Memorial
Healthcare, a critical access hospital,
has eliminated orthopedic services
due to financial difficulties.
Five things to know:
1. Mee Memorial announced plans to reduce
staff and services, including orthopedics, July
19. e hospital plans to discontinue staffing
for its ICU and halt orthopedic services at
the hospital.
2. e change was announced aer the
hospital spent months reviewing and imple-
menting other cost-saving measures, such as
eliminating or revising operating contracts.
However, these changes did not do enough
to improve the hospital's financial situation.
3. Hospital CEO Michael Hutchinson
blamed increasing competition and reduced
Medicare, Medi-Cal and private payer reim-
bursements as well as unreliable government
funding for its financial challenges.
"We have no choice but to react to lower
volumes, lower reimbursement rates and
to address the impacts of the transition to
electronic medical records," he said. "We are
currently overstaffed and need to reduce our
employee numbers in order to come in line
with other small rural hospitals, and to en-
sure we are offering efficient and sustainable
care to our patients and community."
4. e hospital gave affected employees 30
days' notice. Aug. 18 was the final day of
employment for 43 members of the hospital's
353-person staff. e hospital planned to
connect with other local healthcare provid-
ers and employers to help employees find
new positions.
5. Lead orthopedic surgeon at the hospital
Letitia Bradford, MD, spent the past decade
practicing there and told the local news out-
let KSBW8 that she wasn't given prior notice
that the orthopedic program would be cut.
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Meet the head neurosurgeon for
Elon Musk's Neuralink, Dr. Matthew
MacDougall
By Laura Dyrda
T
esla founder Elon Musk hired Matthew MacDougall, MD, a prac-
ticing neurosurgeon, to participate in a new project to develop a
brain-computer interface technology and advance treatment for
brain disorders, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Neuralink is working on FDA clearance for its platform, which is designed
to help treat patients with spinal cord injury and other neurological condi-
tions. The company has around 100 employees and is currently recruiting.
Mr. Musk unveiled the startup on July 17 in a presentation that included
Dr. MacDougall as head neurosurgeon for the company. Dr. MacDougall
joined the company in December 2017 and maintains his practice as a San
Francisco-based neurosurgeon at Sutter Health. He also has experience as
a clinical instructor at Stanford Health Care.
Dr. MacDougall earned his medical degree at the University of Southern
California and completed his residency at the University of California, San
Diego. He also underwent a fellowship at Stanford University.
In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. MacDougall has conducted research
in optical brain interfaces. During the presentation, Dr. MacDougall said
Neuralink implants "could be as seamless as Lasik in the future," according
to TeslaRati.
So far, surgeons have performed 19 procedures with Neuralink technol-
ogy on animals and successfully placed its threads 87 percent of the time.
The company hopes to begin implanting the device in humans next year,
with the goal of allowing paralyzed people to control phones or comput-
ers with the implants.
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Sanford Health halts
use of neurosurgeon's
devices while federal
investigation ongoing
By Alan Condon
S
ioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford
Health will halt the use of medical
devices sold by a company owned
by one of its neurosurgeons while a
federal investigation into their use is
ongoing, reports Argus Leader.
Medical Designs, owned by Wilson
Asfora, MD, develops the Asfora Bullet
Cage used in spinal fusions and a plate
used in cervical fusions, both of which
Sanford Health stopped using effective
Aug. 1.
A 2016 lawsuit against Sanford Health
and Dr. Asfora alleges Dr. Asfora per-
formed unnecessary spine surgeries us-
ing devices from a company he owned.
The lawsuit was recently unsealed when
the Department of Justice decided to in-
tervene. The federal government has not
filed accusations in the case, according
to the report, but Sanford has terminated
Dr. Asfora's contract.
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