Becker's Spine Review

7 Becker's ASC 22nd Annual Meeting - The Business and Operations of ASCs – Call (800) 417-2035 replace its existing EMR and revenue cycle technology, which was formerly provided by Cerner. Additionally, Epic recently launched a new partner- ship with IBM Watson Health, the new dedicated healthcare unit of IBM. Together, the IT companies are partnering with Mayo Clinic to apply Wat- son's cognitive computing capabilities to EMRs. Please read if you have a chance at Becker's Hospital Review, "Epic Decoded." It is a fascinating story about a very influential company that has relationships with some of the big- gest names in healthcare, including: Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Perman- ente, Cleveland Clinic, Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, UCLA Health in Los Angeles, Arlington-based Texas Health Resources, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mount Sinai Health System in New York City and Duke University Health System in Durham, N.C. 7. The Antitrust Case Against Blue Cross Blue Shield is One to Watch. It was recently reported that the Blue Cross Blue Shield Associa- tion and all 37 of its independently owned companies were sued in suits ad- vancing in a federal court in Alabama. e court consolidated claims into two plaintiff classes. One class reflects individuals and small employers, who allege Blue Cross consolidation has led to higher insurance prices and less competition. e second group of plaintiffs reflects providers stating that the Blue Cross consolidation has led to lower prices and reimbursement. ey essentially say that they are able to buy services as a cartel for all practical purposes. Here, the case is interesting in that it survived a motion to dismiss and is backed by very significant lawyers. Blue Cross has previously been sued over the years on antitrust claims, and it is not clear where this will go. It is interesting in the context of the situation where there has been so much consolidation amongst insurance companies between Cigna, United, Aetna and Blue Cross such that in most states one or two is the dominant payer. 8. PPACA Has Not Provided the Benefits for Nonprofit Hospitals as Expected. Many nonprofit hospitals, particularly systems, continue to perform pretty well. ere was, however, a very interesting statement within a recent Moody's report that clarified how the new health law has not been a tremendous boon for these hospitals. Hospitals in states that expanded Med- icaid were largely expected to benefit from more paying customers (unpaid bills fell 13 percent on average), but their 2014 operating margins did not in- crease any more than hospitals in the 22 states that did not expand Medicaid, Moody's found. is is, again, an interesting story in that so much has been touted about the healthcare law and Medicaid expansion providing stability for hospitals and health systems, and it seems as though this may not be the case this far. A Moody's analyst said the finding by Moody's questions the political and industry narrative that Medicaid expansion lowers bad debt and drives financial improvements for hospitals. Should you have any questions, please contact me at sbecker@beckershealth- care.com, or Editor-in-chief Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com or President and CEO Jessica Cole at jcole@beckershealthcare.com. Very truly yours, Scott Becker 900 Airport Road, Ste. 3B, West Chester, PA 19380 T: 484.887.8810 F: 800.493.0966 cs@centinelspine.com www.centinelspine.com LBL124 rev 2 OPTIMIZING BALANCE BY MAXIMIZING FUSION POTENTIAL To learn more, please visit: MIDLINEII.CENTINELSPINE.COM Large graft area for increased bone graft volume Greater A/P depth and lordosis optimizes sagittal balance restoration Lag screws to provide compressive forces between the graft and bony endplates consistent with Wolff's Law. The next generation of STALIF® Stand-Alone, No-Profile ® Integrated Interbody™ devices, MIDLINE II ™ leverages its 25 years of clinical history to deliver a simple-to-use device that maximizes fusion potential and promotes the healing process. A STALIF® Family Product 1 2 3 NOW... FDA CLEARED FOR USE WITH EITHER AUTOGRAFT OR ALLOGENEIC BONE GRAFT CENT_Beckers_Ad_07-15_v5b.indd 1 6/8/15 10:22 AM

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