Becker's Spine Review

12 SPINE SURGEONS Smart ideas in spine: 4 surgeons look to the future By Laura Dyrda S pine and neurosurgeons across the U.S. are facing very different realities than they were a year ago due to the pandemic. Four spine surgeons on how they're thinking about their practice going forward: Q: How would a second shutdown in your state affect your practice? Khawar Siddique, MD. DOCS Spine + Or- thopedics (Los Angeles): It seems a second shutdown is only a matter of time. Even though we're an essential business, many procedures end up being deferred until the government gives us approval. Elective surgeries are the lifeline for any surgical practice. Not just from a payment perspective, but from a momentum standpoint. We gain momentum by word-of- mouth and when we're shut down, in any ca- pacity, that organic word-of-mouth marketing, decreases significantly. It's almost like starting a new practice each time we reopen. Q: What percentage of patient vol- ume is your practice currently oper- ating at? What was the key to your ramp-up strategy? James Chappuis, MD. SpineCenterAtlanta: We are currently operating at 75 percent to 80 percent capacity in most departments. Our physical therapy department may see lower numbers, due to the closeness of the person- al space required for those types of appoint- ments. e key for us as a practice has been the flexibility with patient schedules. Q: What strategies is your practice implementing to improve its financial standing? Mark Tantorski, DO. Premier Orthopaedics (West Chester, Pa.): As with most businesses, our company was not immune to the negative financial impact of the pandemic. A small number of staff were furloughed and some had hours decreased, but we are currently back to full complement. As we trend toward normalcy, we have continued to implement safety strategies that, combined with rigorous screening and disinfecting protocols, have allowed us to significantly increase the num- bers of individuals we see in the office while providing the patient a sense of security. We have received positive feedback from patients regarding these measures. Q: Where do you see the biggest op- portunities for spine surgeons in the current landscape? James Lynch, MD. SpineNevada (Reno): We have to prepare for the future now. I think building a musculoskeletal-differentiated practice with the whole spectrum of patient care is important. I think the isolated silos of practice — whether it's surgery, pain manage- ment or physical medicine and rehabilitation — working individually is going to change, except if you're in remote areas. ere's a rap- id transformation occurring. at may not be in months, but certainly over the next three to five years. I think focusing on partnerships or investments in an ASC platform is a natural transition for this. Currently, about 10 percent to 15 percent of spine cases are being done in an ASC platform, which is far too low. Some projections have this at 35 percent to 40 per- cent over the next few years. n 10 spine surgeons who debuted new devices this year — Drs. Raymond Gardocki, Peter Derman & more By Alan Condon Ten spine surgeons who performed debut procedures with new devices this year: June Raymond Gardocki, MD, performed the first fully endo- scopic interbody fusion with Integrity Implants' Flarehawk 7 expandable cage. Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University's Daniel Sciub- ba, MD, completed the first tumor resection with a new augmented reality system from Augmedics, an AR surgical image guidance startup. Jaren Riley, MD, of Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children in Denver, performed the region's first surgery with a verte- bral body tethering system. Pierce Nunley, MD, performed the first procedure in a clinical trial examining the efficacy of a posterior cervical stabilization system in patients with three-level degenera- tive disc disease. The first procedures with Orthofix's Firebird SI fusion sys- tem were completed by Justin Hall, MD. May The first lumbar spinal fusion that fuses two biocompatible polymer stabilization devices in the U.S. was completed by Steven Zielinski, MD. April Derek Taggard, MD, performed the first effective implan- tation of Nexxt Spine's Matrixx corpectomy system at Com- munity Regional Medical Center in Fresno, Calif. February Plano-based Texas Back Institute's Peter Derman, MD, completed the first procedure with the E3 MIS pedicle screw system, which is designed to improve placement of posterior instrumentation by percutaneous means. January William Tobler, MD, performed the first single-position lateral interbody fusion in an ASC at Cincinnati-based May- field Spine Surgery Center, using Medtronic devices. Kornelis Poelstra, MD, PhD, of The Robotic Spine Institute of Silicon Valley in Los Gatos, Calif., became the first spine surgeon on the West Coast to implant a Molybdenum-Rhe- nium rod in a patient during a spinal fusion. n

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