Becker's ASC Review

62 ORTHOPEDICS Coronavirus delays trial of spine surgeon who fled US after allegedly performing 500+ unnecessary surgeries By Alan Condon F ormer Cincinnati-based spine surgeon Atiq Durrani, MD, fled to Pakistan in 2013 after he was charged with performing unnecessary surgeries on more than 500 patients, local NBC affiliate WLWT5 reports. Just 40 of the 500 civil cases filed against Dr. Durrani have gone to trial. Now, due to COVID-19, the remaining patients will have to wait until at least August to have their day in court. Attorneys representing the patients told WLWT5 that 60 patients have died waiting for their cases to be heard. The court is now considering a motion to consolidate the cases. Dr. Durrani, who practiced at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and West Chester Hospital, was also charged with fraudulently charging Medi- care millions of dollars and indicted on federal charges related to clinical and billing issues. He has granted depositions from Pakistan and denies any wrongdoing. n $368M+ in undisclosed spine journal industry contributions found in study; researchers want transparency By Alan Condon R esearchers from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center are advo- cating for more transparency from spine journal authors after finding more than $368 million in undisclosed industry contributions in a recent study, according to News-Medical. Financial conflict of interests were studied in Spine and two other spine journals between 2014 and 2017, including almost 40,000 authors and 6,800 articles. The conflict of interests were compared with CMS' Open Payments Database, which requires pharmaceutical, medical device and biological products manufacturers to report all physician payments of more than $10. Researchers found 15.8 percent of spine surgery authors had payments re- ported in the CMS database. Undisclosed payments comprised $180 million in researcher funding and $188 million in royalties, and made up 22 percent of the $1.9 billion received by authors during the four-year period. Spine had about 77 percent of study authors accurately disclose payments, com- pared to just over 40 percent for the other two journals, according to the study. Researchers suggested searching public databases such as the Open Pay- ments Database to verify financial ties between authors and industry before publishing. 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 allegedly 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. e Dallas Morning News reported on the indictment which alleged Mrs. Kuper, who was the clinic's office manager, set fire to a number of medical records in their back- yard in October 2017; that fire spread and ultimately razed the couple's mansion. e indictment accused the Kupers and their clinic, Fort Worth-based Texas Center Orthopedic & Spinal Disorders, of de- frauding Medicare and other government healthcare programs for around $5 million. Dr. Kuper and the clinic allegedly submit- ted 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 unregis- tered pain management clinic in 2014 aer settling a malpractice lawsuit against him. Dr. Kuper viewed pain management as "bottom feeding," the indictment said. e government alleged Dr. Kuper used opioids to get regular patients to return for treat- ments so he could bill the government for "worthless services." Dr. and Mrs. Kuper appeared in federal court in Fort Worth June 22 and pleaded not guilty in a whistleblower lawsuit. n

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