Becker's Spine Review

5 SPINE Spine surgeon expects 'record year' for patient volume, revenue By Laura Dyrda Los Angeles-based DOCS Surgery Center had a record year for case volume and revenue, Co-CEO Khawar Siddique, MD, told Becker's. "Our growth was driven by an increase in spine, orthopedic and pain management cases eligible to be performed in an ambulatory setting," he said. "is year, we expect to have another record year." Why? Two reasons: 1. DOCS was able to renegotiate a PPO payer contract for better per- case revenue in spine and orthopedics. 2. More surgeons are comfortable moving spine and orthopedic cases into the ASC. Payers in some markets see the benefit of spine and orthopedic procedures in the ASC as the high quality, low cost setting. Some payers are incentivising patients to have their surgeries in the outpatient setting; in other cases, they're working with ASCs to develop sustainable or value-based contracts. Surgeons have also taken notice of advanced technology and pain management techniques allowing patients to ambulate quicker and go home within 24 hours of their procedure. During the pandemic, when hospitals treated high volumes of COVID-19 patients and in many cases temporarily halted elective procedures, surgeons began taking cases to the ASC. When they realized surgeries can be safely done in outpatient centers, they continued to take patients there even aer hospitals opened back up. e support form payers and surgeons means growth for DOCS Surgery Center. "Given these two changes, we are planning to expand the number of ORs by either building another suite in the current facility or purchasing a pre-existing ASC," said Dr. Siddique. DOCS Health also broke ground on a $123 million surgical hospital late in 2023. e five-story hospital is replacing a smaller building the owners purchased in 2019 and is expected to be complete in 2026. When opened, the surgical hospital will supplement DOCS Health's ASC.n Spine surgeon vs. neurosurgeon salary – Does location matter in 2024? By Carly Behm S pine surgeons and neurosurgeons sometimes have overlap in the type of care they offer. However their training paths are unique, along with having varying compensation. Here's what you need to know about the competing salaries. 1. Orthopedic spine surgeon positions offer salaries from $649,900 to $1.2 million, according to AMN Healthcare. The average salary is $975,820. 2. Physicians Thrive noted some orthopedic spine surgeons make even more. Surgeons on the 90th percentile make $1.4 million while those on the other end of the spectrum, the 10th percentile, make $468,787, according to MGMA. 3. Metropolitan areas with fewer than 250,000 people netted higher compensations for spine surgeons with a median salary of $882,502. Meanwhile more densely populated cities saw average salaries between $589,540 and $831,366. 4. Spine surgeons also earned around 7% more in multispecialty practices than single-specialty practices, according to MGMA. Those in physician- owned facilities earned about 5% more than spine surgeons in hospitals. 5. On average, neurosurgery pay is $788,313, according to Doximity's "2023 Physician Compensation Report." 6. Anchorage, Alaska; Saint Paul, Minn., and Minneapolis are the best cities for neurosurgeons, according to Zippia. Zippia ranked those cities based on average salary and job availability. The average pay for neurosurgeons in those cities is $581,950 in Anchorage; $403,144 in Saint Paul, and $403,760 in Minneapolis. 7. The top 10 cities for neurosurgeons also include Cleveland; Omaha, Neb.; Milwaukee; Detroit; Louisville, Ky.; Columbus, Ohio, and Lubbock, Texas, according to Zippia. 8. A survey from Neurosurgery Executives' Resource Value and Education Society found the average pay for private practice neurosurgeons was $889,000. Neurosurgeons working in hospitals earned an average $786,000. 9. Academic neurosurgeons had the lowest average pay with $647,000. n

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