The practice of specialty medicine is changing rapidly and as the healthcare industry shifts from “volume” to “value,” organizing spine care patients into an integrated, comprehensive service line is more important than ever. As a part of its commitment to enhancing the delivery of spine care throughout the United States, Texas Back Institute was pleased to sponsor The Second Annual Spine Business Summit, held in Frisco, Texas on February 26 and 27, 2014. During the two-day conference, current best-practices among spine specialty clinics were presented and discussed. Much of the thought-leadership of this important summit was supplied by the spine specialists at Texas Back Institute.
Healthcare Questions Answered at the Summit
The Spine Business Summit answered many questions for the administrators of hospitals, health systems, academic medical centers, community hospitals, physician clinics, hospital management groups and healthcare consulting groups. These included:
- How does an organization develop a comprehensive Spine program?
- How to leverage navigation and outcomes collection to engage physicians and the community?
- What are the best tried and true marketing strategies for a spine program?
- What are the key components required for The Joint Commission orthopedic and spine certifications?
- How does an organization differentiate/brand a Spine service line?
- How are costs controlled and how are third-party payor relationships managed
- How are physicians incented such that the program generates a favorable financial return?
- How does an organization resolve “physician engagement” issues?
- How does an organization increase collaboration among neuro and ortho surgeons?
- How does an organization quantify “success?”
- How can an organization improve reimbursement for spine?
- What are the best practices in collaborating with physicians under both employed and non-employed models?
Thought Leadership from the Spine Specialists at TBI
Some of the most important presentations at the Spine Summit were given by the spine specialists at Texas Back Institute, including:
In his presentation on the final day of the conference, Dr. Blumenthal offered the “Current Innovations in the Spine: Successes and Challenges.” He noted, “One of the exciting areas of spine care has been the ongoing development of new interventions.” He focused his presentation on three areas: (1) Total disc replacement (2) Disc regeneration, including stem cell (3) Minimally invasive spine surgery.
Since the first total disc replacement in the United States was performed by Texas Back Institute in 2000, as a part of an FDA trial, the clinic has a unique perspective in the history of this intervention. The challenges and opportunities of each of these interventions were presented to the attendees with a better understanding about each being the objective. The Spine Business Summit, which also offered all attendees an opportunity to tour the state-of-the-art Texas Back Institute facility, proved to be invaluable to the hundreds of administrators and physicians who are driving the “value” in spine health.