Becker's Spine Review

20 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT Resurgens to End 2017 With 102 Physicians, 23 Office Locations By Laura Dyrda A tlanta-based Resurgens Orthopaedics experienced landmark growth in 2017, with the opening of a new location and addition of seven orthopedic surgeons. "Resurgens Orthopaedics continues to proudly serve the peo- ple of metro Atlanta by delivering excellent care, provided by the best physicians, where the patients want to be seen," said John Gleason, MD, co-president of the practice. Resurgens plans to open its Acworth, Ga., location in November, the 23rd location in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The practice also opened two Georgia-based surgery centers, in Covington and Fay- etteville, and will finish the year with 102 physician partners. "Our growth throughout 2017 and into the future illustrates our commitment to investing in our practice and to improving our patients' healthcare experience," said Dr. Gleason. The practice is looking forward to adding a new total joint replacement sur- geon in the summer of 2018. n 8 Bundled Payment Considerations for Spine Surgeons + 5 Strategies to Prepare for the Future By Mary Rechtoris E llis Knight, MD, senior vice presi- dent and CMO of Coker Group in Alpharetta, Ga., says there are eight key factors for spine surgeons to consider before jumping into bundled payments. Dr. Knight discusses these factors and five ways surgeons can deliver higher quality, cost-effective care in healthcare's value-based reimbursement model. Question: What should spine sur- geons consider before pursuing a bundled payment? Dr. Ellis Knight: Key considerations prior to pursuing bundled payments include the fol- lowing items: 1. Inclusion and exclusion criteria — which procedures will be included in the bundle and which won't. 2. Patient selection criteria — which patients will be excluded from the bundle based on clinical criteria, e.g. co-morbid conditions. 3. Location of surgery — will this include in- patient and outpatient surgical services? 4. Mapping of the care processes and pro- cedures involved and ensuring that these include evidence-based, best practice com- ponents and exclude non-value-added care steps, i.e. those that add costs but don't im- prove quality or patient experience. 5. Cost accounting of the care processes and procedures, ideally using a time-driven, ac- tivity-based, cost accounting (time-driven activity-based costing) methodology. 6. Selection of quality and patient experience outcome measures and how these will be captured, aggregated and reported to payers, regulators and most importantly to front- line providers for use in continuous, da- ta-driven, process improvement activities. 7. Network formation — who will be in the narrow network surrounding the bundled services? Surgeons, anesthesiologists, hos- pitals, post-acute care providers etc.? 8. Marketing of spine surgery bundles — who will be the target market for these services? Payers (government and commercial), em- ployers (self-insured), ACOs or clinical- ly integrated networks (via wrap around agreements). Q: How is the field of spine surgery changing to keep pace with health- care's transition to value-based care? EK: Like other specialties, the overarching imperative in spine surgery today is to reli- ably deliver high quality (as measured by true outcome measures) in as cost efficient a man- ner as possible (by eliminating non-value- add costs as outlined above). To do this spine surgeons will need to master the following capabilities: 1. Care mapping 2. Application of evidence-based, best prac- tices to care processes and procedures 3. Cost accounting — using techniques such as time-driven activity-based costing 4. Continuous data-driven, process improve- ment, wherein value can be steadily increased through an iterative process over time 5. Marketing of bundled services n 10 States With the Highest Annual Bonus for Orthopedic Surgeons By Laura Dyrda O rthopedic sur- geons receive annual bonuses of around $50,000 to $60,000 on average, according to Salary Expert. Here are the 10 states where orthopedic surgeons receive the highest annual bonus based on salary survey data collected from em- ployers and employees in each state. 1. New Jersey: $63,817 2. California: $62,476 3. New York: $61,420 4. Connecticut: $60,650 5. Massachusetts: $59,861 6. Alaska: $59,491 7. Maryland: $58,940 8. Rhode Island: $58,125 9. Washington: $58,087 10. Delaware: $57,979 n

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