Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/904318
14 SPINE SURGEONS 6 Key Trends in Spine Surgery Malpractice Litigation — Average Settlement is $1.9M By Laura Dyrda A new study published in the Journal of Neurosur- gery: Spine examines malpractice litigation after spine surgery. Study authors gathered data for spine surgery medico- legal cases filed between February 1988 and May 2015, finding 234 legal cases that met their criteria for inclusion. Study authors found: 1. More than half — 54.2 percent — of the cases ended in a defendant ruling and 26.1 percent of the cases resulted in a plaintiff ruling. The remaining 19.6 percent of cases resulted in a settlement. 2. Awards granted in plaintiff rulings ranged from $134,000 to $38 million with the average being $4 million. 3. Settlement awards ranged from $125,000 to $9 million with the average being $1.9 million. Settlements on aver- age resulted in a lower payment than plaintiff rulings. 4. Cases with delayed diagnosis and those involving a ther- apeutic delay were more likely to result in the plaintiff ver- dict or settlement than a defense verdict, and these cases were more likely to be settled out of court. 5. Around 28 percent of the cases involved a catastroph- ic complication and physicians were more likely to lose in both plaintiff verdict and settlement cases involving cata- strophic complications. Cases with plaintiff ruling that in- volved catastrophic complications resulted in significantly higher average awards than noncatastrophic cases — $6.1 million, compared to $2.9 million. 6. It took an average of 5.1 years to reach a verdict, with plaintiff verdicts taking around five years and settlements taking 3.4 years. n Economics of Outpatient Surgery; Mergers & More — 7 Key Notes By Megan Wood 217 ASCs where orthopedic surgery case volume exceeds 2k More than 200 ambulatory surgery centers reported 2,000 or more orthopedic cases to the CMS Ambulatory Surgical Center Qual- ity Reporting Program in 2015. Texas Spine & Joint Hospital now un- der Baylor Scott & White Health um- brella Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Holdings and Tyler-based Texas Spine & Joint Hospital entered into a partnership, according to Tyler Morning Telegraph. On Aug. 1, Baylor Scott & White acquired a majority stake in Texas Spine & Joint Hospital. A hospital spokesperson said they will expand into clinics and outpatient surgery centers under the partnership. Merger: Advanced Pain Medicine now under Commonwealth Pain & Spine umbrella Lexington, Ky.-based Advanced Pain Med- icine merged with Louisville, Ky.-based Commonwealth Pain & Spine. Advanced Pain Medicine will now fall under the Com- monwealth Pain & Spine's conglomerate of clinics. e merger came to fruition due to Advanced Pain Medicine's Saroj Dubal, MD, deciding to retire. Renew Spine to form management services organization Renew Spinal Care, a physician network fo- cused on minimally invasive spine surgeons, retained a prominent national law firm and lobbying group in preparation for forming a management services organization. Re- new is a member of Prime Health Services and ree Rivers Provider Network, which provide access to spine care for self-insured companies. Key thoughts on the economics of outpatient spine surgery Spine surgery in an ASC can have economic benefits, as ASCs typically cost less than hos- pitals, and studies show outpatient surgery centers are associated with a similar or lower complication rate than the inpatient setting. joimax opens endoscopic spine sur- gery training and education center in California Joimax opened its new Training and Educa- tion Center in Irvine, Calif., dedicated to phy- sician education and training. e demand for joimax's endoscopic procedures in spine surgery has increased this year, aer CMS released a new CPT reimbursement code for endoscopic spine procedures Jan. 1. No fusion, no problem — How coflex is changing the lumbar spinal steno- sis treatment field During a Paradigm Spine-sponsored work- shop, Hallett Mathews, MD, Paradigm Spine chief medical officer, provided an overview of the coflex Interlaminar Stabilization device, and how surgeons implant the device aer a direct surgical decompression procedure. n