Written by Laura Dyrda
As healthcare shifts from fee-for-service to pay-for-performance and risk-sharing compensation models, specialists are developing new and innovative ways to ensure their field’s sustainability in the future. Spine is no different — and in many ways, spine surgeons have an uphill battle.
“Spine surgery can be looked at as historically one of the largest offenders of non-sustainable care,” says Robert S. Bray Jr., MD, Founder of DISC Sports & Spine Center in Marina del Rey, Calif. “There has been too much done without enough evidence behind it and physicians are paid a straight fee-for-service for doing so. That’s not sustainable. We are all trying to figure out how to transition into a system that accounts for providing quality care for a large number of people in a cost-efficient manner.”
