10
SPINE
SURGEONS
Walmart partnership pushes retailer into spine care
By Alan Condon
A
chain of spinal health and wellness
centers will begin popping up at
Walmart stores this year, another
key move in the retailer's push into the
healthcare industry.
e chain of retail spine clinics, called e
Back Company, are in partnership with
Brentwood, Tenn.-based IMAC Holdings, a
provider of minimally invasive and regenera-
tive orthopedic therapies.
Following the success of a pilot program,
e Back Company will provide chiropractic
adjustments, corrective instrument adjusting
and percussion therapies for so tissue re-
covery, muscle relaxation and spinal wellness
in the retail store.
Services are priced at $25 per treatment, with
memberships available for $65 per month,
in addition to family and wellness plans,
according to the company.
e Back Space locations in Walmart stores
offer both walk-in and appointment-based
treatments.
"We have the ability to leverage a compet-
itive advantage in a $20 billion industry
that will efficiently utilize capital to increase
storefronts quickly through franchising," Jeff
Ervin, CEO of IMAC, said in a news release.
"Our pilot allowed us to develop our tech-
nical infrastructure, refine the services and
messaging and implement the infrastructure
needed to launch the franchise program."
e Walmart partnership comes nine years
aer the retail giant launched its Centers of
Excellence program, which affiliates with
health systems that demonstrate appropriate
and high-quality care in specialty areas that
include spine surgery and joint replacement.
e program bundles payments for the costs
of certain procedures, allowing Walmart to
bypass insurers and work directly with health
systems.
Walmart's Centers of Excellence for spine
surgery comprisehospitals and health
systems in 10 states, including Rochester,
Minn.-based Mayo Clinic, Emory Univer-
sity Hospital in Atlanta, Geisinger Medical
Center in Danville, Pa., and Virginia Mason
Medical Center in Seattle.
Under the COE program, Walmart pays for
the entire cost of employees to travel and
receive spine care at designated facilities.
Employees can seek care outside of the des-
ignated centers, but they will be responsible
for the bill.
A Harvard Business Review analysis of the
program in 2019 found:
1. Employees who had spine surgery at
Centers of Excellence sites had an average
hospital stay of 2.5 days, compared to 2.9
days for non-COE employees.
2. 0.6 percent of the COE patients were
discharged to skilled nursing facilities, com-
pared to 4.9 percent of non-COE patients.
3. From 2015-18, the readmission rate per 1,000
patients was three for COE patients and 65 for
non-COE patients.
4. On average, patients who received care at
a Center of Excellence returned to work aer
10.6 weeks, 2.6 weeks sooner than the non-
COE patients. n
Spine surgeon will advise HHS in new role
at nonprofit
By Alan Condon
N
onprofit organization Mitre has named Stephen
Ondra, MD, chief medical adviser of the CMS Al-
liance to Modernize Healthcare federally funded
research and development center.
Dr. Ondra will serve as an adviser to all HHS organizations,
providing thought leadership, guiding teams and build-
ing partnerships with the private sector to promote health
and wellness in the U.S. He will be responsible for devel-
oping new ideas to advance private insurance markets,
Medicare and Medicaid, value-based payments and care
quality in partnership with HHS and the private sector.
"[Dr. Ondra's] experience as a business innovator, health
insurance executive, clinician, researcher, veteran and
public policy official will bring a unique vantage point to
the complex health and human services problems facing
our government sponsors," Kim Warren, vice president
and director of CMS Alliance to Modernize Healthcare,
said in a March 7 news release. "His experience will
provide new perspectives to tackle hard questions and
reimagine approaches to achieve health and well-being
for all."
Dr. Ondra previously practiced spine surgery at North-
western Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where he served
as senior vice president and CMO, and has experience
overseeing clinical operations for Health Care Service
Corp, the parent company of five Blue Cross Blue Shield
plans.
Former President Barack Obama appointed the sur-
geon as the senior policy adviser for health affairs at the
Department of Veterans Affairs, and he also served in the
executive office of the President.
Most recently, Dr. Ondra was CEO of Cygnus-AI, which
specializes in artificial intelligence and clinical decision
support tools for diagnostic radiology. n
