Becker's ASC Review

88 ORTHOPEDICS Florida spine surgeon performs outpatient prone transpsoas procedure By Alan Condon O ne of first outpatient prone transpsoas procedure in the U.S. was performed by Samuel Joseph, MD, of Joseph Spine Institute in Tampa, Fla. Four notes: 1. Dr. Joseph developed the prone transpsoas procedure, which is a spinal fusion in which the patient is positioned prone and the disc space is accessed laterally through the psoas muscle, according to an April 1 news release. 2. The procedure is a single-position surgery that enables surgeons to place rods and screws into the spine without having to manually rotate the patient. 3. Dr. Joseph is a minimally invasive spine specialist, with expertise in endoscopic and robotic-assisted surgery. 4. He is also team spine surgeon for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. n Washington surgeon says his outpatient total joints jumped 200% after pandemic By Laura Dyrda O rthopedic surgeon P. Brodie Wood, MD, told Thurston Talk his total joint replacement practice in Olympia, Wash., shifted largely outpatient during the pandemic. The surgeon said he typically performs about 1,000 total joint replace- ments annually, and 25 percent of those cases were outpatient prior to COVID-19. Last year, 75 percent of his cases were outpatient. "The pandemic has created an enormous tailwind for outpatient surgery," Dr. Wood told the Thurston Talk. "It's not unlike the transition to Zoom videos for conferencing. I don't see this trend reversing." Dr. Wood is a surgeon at Olympia Orthopaedic Associates, which has a surgery center in Olympia. The center developed new protocols during the pandemic to minimize contact between patients, staff and families. The center's nurses conduct patient education courses over telephone and video calls, and streamlined the discharge process so families aren't waiting in the center. Becki Taylor, RN, BSN, surgical services program manager at the center, said moving the visits and education before surgery to telehealth ex- panded access for patients who live farther away from the center. n 5 ways spine surgery is changing: ASCs, endoscopic surgery & more By Alan Condon T he last year has been a particularly transformative one for spine care, with telehealth, accelerating outpatient migra- tion and updated site-care-strategies taking center stage. Hanbing Zhou, MD, a spine surgeon with Orthopedic Associates of Hartford (Conn.), outlined five areas that will continue to evolve in the spine field in the coming years. Note Responses are lightly edited for style and clarity. Question: How do you see spine care chang- ing in the next five years? Dr. Hanbing Zhou: Five areas: 1. ASCs. ere will be an increasing movement toward the ASC/outpatient setting. is is val- ued by the patient and payer and will drive new technology to enable outpatient care. 2. Endoscopic spine. e drive to outpatient care will require focus on the endoscopic spine approach for many pathologies as it becomes the standard of care for decompression to reduce morbidity and return patients to their lives more quickly. 3. Artificial intelligence. AI-guided surgery will be the next wave to improve safety, plan- ning and outcomes for spine surgery. It will be interesting to see how they can integrate and complement current technologies to improve patient care and manage costs. 4. Value-based care. How do health systems, surgeons and device companies converge (or not) to facilitate cost-focused and outcome- focused care? is will be important to increase access to spine care with the choices that patients and surgeons want. 5. Telemedicine. App-enabled telemedicine will provide the opportunity for more personal- ized pre- and postoperative virtual patient care visits. is is a scalable technology that will increase patient satisfaction and access. n

• Cover