Becker's ASC Review

36 ORTHOPEDICS Colorado hospital to open $12M orthopedic expansion By Alan Condon P ioneers Medical Center in Meeker, Colo., opened an 11,000-square-foot facility ex- panding spine and orthopedic services July 8, The Business Times reports. Four things to know: 1. The center features two operat- ing rooms, three recovery rooms, six inpatient hospital rooms and a clinical space. 2. The expansion cost more than $12 million and provides space for about 15 more staff at the hospital. 3. The hospital acquired Stryker's Mako system for robotic-assisted joint replacement procedures last year. 4. Colorado Advanced Orthopedics performs the full spectrum of spine and orthopedic services at the hospi- tal. n Former spine surgeon accidentally burns down mansion in evidence- destroying venture By Eric Oliver M ark Kuper, MD, and wife Melissa Kuper accidentally burned down their $1.6 million Fort Worth, Texas, house when Mrs. Kuper burned medical records in an attempt to hide evidence of fraudulent medical claims, state prosecutors alleged in an indictment filed against the couple June 17. The Dallas Morning News reported on the indictment, which alleged Ms. Kuper, who was the clinic's office manager, set fire to a number of medical records in their backyard in October 2017; that fire spread and ultimately razed the couple's mansion. The indictment accused the Kupers and their clinic, Fort Worth-based Texas Center Orthopedic & Spinal Disorders, of defrauding Medicare and other government healthcare programs for around $5 million. Dr. Kuper and the clinic allegedly submitted more than 100,000 fraudulent claims for fake physical therapy, psychotherapy and pain management services from 2014 to 2017. Dr. Kuper started his career as a surgeon, but converted his practice to an unregistered pain management clinic in 2014 after settling a malprac- tice lawsuit against him. Dr. Kuper viewed pain management as "bottom feeding," the indictment said. The government alleged Dr. Kuper used opioids to get regular patients to return for treatments so he could bill the government for "worthless services." Dr. and Ms. Kuper appeared in federal court in Fort Worth June 22 and pleaded not guilty in a whistleblower lawsuit. n Texas spine surgeon 1st in US to perform lumbar fusion with biocompatible polymer By Alan Condon S teven Zielinski, MD, was reportedly the first spine surgeon in the U.S. to perform a lumbar spinal fusion that fuses two biocompatible poly- mer stabilization devices, The Marlin Democrat reported May 26. The procedure consists of an oblique lumbar interbody fusion and a pos- terior fusion — neither of which contain screws or metal. The new approach decreases the quantity of hardware implanted in the body, resulting in less blood loss and less trauma to the spine. Dr. Zielinski, founder of Waco-based Texas Spine & Neurosurgery, hopes the approach can be used to correct scoliosis in the near future. n Happe Spine earns patent By Alan Condon T he U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has awarded a patent for Happe Spine's PEEK technology, according to a July 8 report. Happe Spine's porous and bioactive PEEK technology will be featured in the company's cervical interbody implant — its debut product. The PEEK tech enables implant poros- ity to be varied for optimal osteointe- gration and loading. n

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