Becker's ASC Review

64 ORTHOPEDICS Dr. James Chappuis sues Emory Healthcare, surgeon alleging defamation: 6 details By Laura Dyrda A n Atlanta-based spine surgeon filed a lawsuit on July 29 against Emory Healthcare and Daniel Refai, MD. Six things to know: 1. James Chappuis, MD, the founder and owner of SpineCenterAtlanta, sued Dr. Refai and Emory Healthcare alleging defamation occurred more than a year ago. In March 2019, Dr. Chappuis performed an outpatient anterior cervical discectomy and fusion at Atlanta Orthopedic Surgery Center; the patient developed fluid collection and im- pinged cord at C3 to C5 levels of the spine. 2. Dr. Chappuis performed a second pro- cedure and removed plates, screws and the interbody gra at C3-C4 and C4-C5 before noticing cerebrospinal fluid. He performed a partial corpectomy at C3-C4 and patched the leak. e patient continued to report issues and was taken to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and underwent addi- tional observation. 3. e patient's condition and motor func- tion improved. By May 6, the patient's upper extremity neurologic function improved, according to the lawsuit, and he planned to have her transferred to another care facility. However, on May 7 Dr. Chappuis received no- tification that the patient no longer wanted his treatment and Dr. Refai took over her case. Dr. Refai proceeded to perform another surgery on the patient on May 9 and aer emerging from the procedure she was a quadriplegic. 4. Dr. Chappuis alleges Dr. Refai provided the patient with "false and defamatory infor- mation" about her care and then published the false allegations among other members of the hospital staff. 5. Dr. Refai also allegedly sent information to the National Practitioner Data Bank, which is a repository of reports containing information on malpractice, that incorrectly characterized the initial procedure Dr. Chap- puis performed. The report to NPDB also states that Dr. Refai found a suture needle left in the patient from previous procedures; Dr. Chappuis maintains in the lawsuit that his team accounted for all needles and spong- es after the procedures were performed and none of the imaging scans performed on the patient after the initial procedures showed a needle. 6. e lawsuit also alleges the Emory Peer Review Committee engaged in efforts to review the decision to perform the initial surgeries at the outpatient surgical center, a competing entity. Dr. Chappuis believes the peer review has a conflict of interest in the matter. During the investigation, Dr. Chappuis was suspended from the hospital on a precautionary basis. He resigned his privileges on May 19, 2019. n 6 billionaire doctors in the US have a combined net worth of $25.3B By Laura Dyrda Six physicians are currently on the Forbes Billionaires list. Here are the six physicians and their net worth as of July 24. 1. Thomas Frist, MD. Founder of HCA Healthcare: $11.6 billion 2. Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD. Inventor of Abraxane, owner Nant- Works, Los Angeles Times and San Diego Tribune: $6.7 billion 3. Phillip Frost, MD. Inventor and CEO of Opko Health: $2.4 billion 4. Gary Michelson, MD. Retired spine surgeon and inventor with more than 340 patents: $1.7 billion 5. James Leininger, MD. Founder of Kinetic Concepts: $1.5 billion 6. George Yancopoulos, MD, PhD. Chief scientific officer of Regeneron: $1.4 billion n 57 new musculoskeletal codes to take effect in October By Angie Stewart T he CDC's ICD-10-CM code update for fiscal year 2021 includes 57 new musculoskeletal codes, according to Part B News. Three things to know: 1. Overall, the update entails 490 new, 47 revised and 58 invalidated codes, which were all outlined in the CDC's proposed rule. 2. Several of the new musculoskeletal codes are in the M24 category for other articular cartilage disor- ders, ligament disorders, pathological dislocation, recurrent dislocation, contracture and ankylosis. 3. The 2021 ICD-10-CM code rules take effect Oct. 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2021. ICD-10-CM codes are used to classify diagnoses and the reason for visits to all U.S. healthcare settings. n

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