Becker's ASC Review

46 ORTHOPEDICS Surgeon convicted in tax scheme, allegedly diverted $1M from practice By Laura Dyrda A North Carolina orthopedic surgeon and his wife were convicted of tax fraud Sept. 20, according to the Justice Department. Four details: 1. A federal jury found that James Rice, MD, owner of Sandhills Orthopaedic and Spine Clinic in Pinehurst, N.C., and his wife, who oversaw administrative opera- tions at the practice, withheld almost $580,000 in Social Security and other taxes from employee wages from 2007 to 2016, according to the Justice Depart- ment. 2. The government claimed that the Rices used the withheld taxes to fund personal expenditures instead of paying the IRS. The couple also didn't file tax re- turns from 2014 to 2016, the Justice Department said. 3. Dr. and Ms. Rice transferred funds from the Sand- hills bank accounts to other accounts, including one for Ms. Rice's truffles business, to conceal income, and they used funds from the business accounts to pay for country club memberships, rent and other personal expenses, according to the Justice Department. 4. The jury found that the couple diverted $1 million from the practice to their personal accounts from June 2013 to December 2016.n Orthopedic surgery center opens in New York By Ariana Portalatin T he Center for Advanced Ambulatory Surgery in Malta, N.Y., opened to patients Sept. 8. The ASC is the result of a partnership between Albany, N.Y.-based Bone & Joint Center, the Albany (N.Y.) Med health system and Saratoga (N.Y.) Hospital. The $19.1 million facility was built to meet the growing demand for outpatient orthopedic and spine surgeries, according to a Sept. 8 news release from Albany Med. The center features eight preoperative bays, six surgical suites and eight postoperative bays and six discharge rooms. It also has Zimmer Biomet's ROSA robot-assisted knee surgery system and Mizuho OSI's Hana surgery tables for hip replacement. The location's second floor houses physician offices for the Bone & Joint Center. n 12-physician orthopedic practice completes ASC By Patsy Newitt T he 12-physician Motion Orthopaedics com- pleted the construction of an ASC, clinic and imaging center in Wentzville, Mo. The 14,200-square-foot facility features two operat- ing rooms, according to Kadean Construction Co., a construction company involved with the project. The imaging center includes a C-arm imager and on-site MRI. The new facility is an expansion of the Motion Ortho- paedics' Creve Coeur facility and includes new staff offices, generator backup and pre- and postoperative bays. n How the US can learn from New Zealand's healthcare system: Dr. Brian Gantwerker By Alan Condon N ew Zealand's healthcare system employs a single- payer model and offers universal coverage to its population of more than 5 million. Brian Gantwerker, neurosurgeon and CEO of the Cra- niospinal Center of Los Angeles, spoke to Becker's Spine Review about how the U.S. healthcare system can learn from New Zealand about access to care, universal cover- age and physician independence. Question: Which country's healthcare system do you think the U.S. healthcare system can learn from? Brian Gantwerker, MD. The Craniospinal Center of Los Angeles: The New Zealand healthcare system has successfully integrated universal coverage, patient timely access and physician autonomy in a way that no other country has seen. There, public health is paramount. From the beginning of the pandemic, they hunkered down, banded together and kept the integrity of their system. I think we have a lot to learn from them. If we can all agree all patients should have health insurance of some kind, and that physicians should get paid a reason- able (i.e., not discounted) rate, and realize we are getting gouged by a very large, but somehow still obscure, third party and that is what is driving up healthcare costs, we will be OK. n

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