Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1439613
30 DEVICES & IMPLANTS 10 observations on the spine industry in 2021 By Alan Condon F rom trends in physician compensation to emerging technologies and what's going on in the medical device indus- try, here are 10 observations on the spine industry in 2021: 1. Orthopedic surgeons are no longer the highest-paid specialists in the U.S., with plastic surgeons on average taking home a larger salary each year, according to Med- scape's "Physician Compensation Report 2021." 2. Spine surgeons are concerned that nonur- gent surgeries may be affected this winter as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations spike amid the emergence of the delta and omicron variants. 3. Medicare walked back its planned elimi- nation of the inpatient only list. Most of the procedures removed from the inpa- tient-only list in 2021 will return to the list in January, including 14 spine codes. 4. Spine practices continue to attract invest- ment from private equity firms. Atlan- ta-based Resurgens Orthopaedics became the latest group to affiliate with a private equity firm in December. 5. Physician-owned "supergroups" are be- coming more prominent in orthopedics. In 2021, four new groups with 100 phy- sicians or more were formed through mergers. 6. In the medtech industry, Zimmer Biomet plans to spin off its spine and dental units. e move will create two independent companies: Zimmer Biomet, focused on orthopedics, and ZimVie, focused on spine and dental. 7. A spine allogra was recalled aer several patients became sick and one died. Azi- yo Biologics recalled its FiberCel cellular bone matrix aer several patients who re- ceived it tested positive for tuberculosis. 8. Robots continue to make waves in spine surgery. Robots are expected to play a key role in the future of the specialty, helping surgeons perform safer, more precise and more reproducible surgeries. 9. e FDA designated several spine tech- nologies as "breakthrough devices," in- cluding Carlsmed's patient-specific inter- body for adult deformity and Cerapedic's bone gra for the treatment of degenera- tive disc disease. 10. Awake spine surgery made headlines as a way to deliver care without the use of gen- eral anesthesia. In October, Vijay Yana- madala, MD, became the first surgeon to perform an awake spinal fusion in New England. n 2 spinal fracture treatments can reduce or eliminate opioid use, lower payer costs, study finds By Carly Behm B alloon kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty procedures for spinal fractures were found to help reduce oral opioid use and decrease payer costs, according to a study published in Osteoporosis International. Researchers analyzed opioid prescription patterns and payer costs for 8,845 patients who had a balloon kyphoplasty and vertebroplasty to treat vertebral compression fractures. More than 57 percent of patients who had any baseline opi- oid use decreased or stopped opioid prescription fills, the study found. Those who decreased or discontinued opioid use also saw an average payer cost reduction of $6,759. The study concluded: "Interventional treatment for VCF was associated with decreased or discontinued opioid prescrip- tion fills and reduced payer costs in follow-up in a signifi- cant proportion of the study population. Reduction of opi- oid-based harms may represent a previously unrecognized benefit of vertebral augmentation for VCF, especially in this elderly and medically fragile population." n Spine surgeon appointed CMO of medtech company By Carly Behm S pine surgeon Frank Cammisa, MD, was named chief medical officer of Orthobond. He is chief emeritus of spine surgery at Hospital for Special Surgery and is a professor at Weill Cornell Medi- cal College, both in New York City. At Orthobond, he will lead clinical research and commercial applications into the company's covalently-bound antimicrobial surface technology, according to a Dec. 9 news release. "Device designs have seen significant advances in the past decade; however, the need to eliminate bacteri- al contamination of the surgical instruments and im- plants in the operating room environment has not been solved," Dr. Cammisa said in the release. "Orthobond's technology shows great efficacy against the most com- mon strains of bacteria." Orthobond's antimicrobial nanosurfaces are designed to have broad applications in the medical device indus- try. It's the first company to use nanoscale surface mod- ifications that can permanently bind to any surface, the release said. n