Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/627546
13 SPINE LEADERSHIP keep me in the game. I'm excited to help people transform their lives every day. But if every physician in the course of their month did one charity case and three to five Medicaid patients, I think things would radically change." For instance, the government wouldn't need to re-design the healthcare system to ensure people in need received care and keep costs in-check. ere may be fewer regulations if people were cared for, and fewer disabilities because providers can treat small problems before they become big problems. "Diabetes patients suffer disproportionately poorer health and shorter life spans," says Dr. Ivankovich. "I didn't realize how integral musculoskeletal health and orthopedics was to their lives. It really empowered me to know how I was impacting these patients' lives. I had tens of thousands of patients in need of my services in Chicago." And caring for this population could give physicians a better outlook on the future as well. Orthopedic surgeons are among the highest paid spe- cialists in medicine, yet many report low career satisfaction. e average orthopedic surgeon earns $421,000 per year, according to the Medscape Orthopedist Compensation Re- port 2015 — the top paid specialty in the report — yet more than half of the surgeons reported dissatisfaction with their income. Nearly 45 percent of orthopedic surgeons reported burn-out in a separate Medscape report. "As you're finding a lack of satisfaction in your personal life, look around you," says Dr. Ivankovich. "Maybe there is a poor person, someone who is disabled; reach out and ask if you can help. If you have the power to change someone's life, do it. Research shows people doing good work derive more benefit from the work than the people who are on the receiving end. It makes you feel good. Deep down inside, humans want to do good. But sometimes you have to step outside a screwed up system to do it." Population health on a budget Population health is a huge buzz word in healthcare today and many providers are tip-toeing around these initiatives, but Dr. Ivankovich and his wife Dr. Karla Ivankovich already incorporate many of these principles into treating their pa- tients. ey teach patients about nutrition and exercise. "We have relationships with our patients, so we don't want them just coming in when something is bad," says Dr. Ivankovich. "We love the idea of them letting us know what we're doing well and the healthy things they're eating. We work to impact our patients so they are inspired and moti- vated to educate others in their community." Some of their former patients have become members of organic diet programs or formed walking groups with church members or in their neighborhoods. "Doing good is like a virus. You plant good seeds in people and send them out into the community and they'll do good things. ey aren't dependent on the medical in- frastructure," says Dr. Ivankovich. "It starts with one person doing good who can impact 10 people, and those 10 people CHAIRPERSON Praveen Mummaneni, MD University of California, San Francisco HONORED GUEST Chris Shaffrey, MD University of Virginia HONORED GUEST Lawrence Lenke, MD Columbia University Spine Summit 2016 The 32nd Annual Meeting of the Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves Join hundreds of leading spine surgeons from around the world for Spine Summit 2016 at the exquisite Loews Royal Pacific Resort in Orlando. Renew old friendships and catch up on the latest in spinal neurosurgery while your whole family enjoys Florida's most thrilling theme parks! Highlights include: • Hands-on cadaver course with the masters • Sessions on navigating quality measures and reimbursement changes • Symposia on reducing peri-operative infections, the surgical impact of bone quality, and complication avoidance with the masters Visit cns.org/spine to join Spine Summit 2016 Spine Summit 2016 is jointly provided by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves. • March 16-19, 2016 Loews Royal Pacific Resort Orlando, Florida • SpineSummit_Ad_Bleed Vertical.indd 1 12/11/15 9:15 AM