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http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...87188a-4c87-11e3-be6b-d3d28122e6d4_story.html
By Peter Whoriskey, Published: November 13 E-mail the writer
A government study of Medicare billings shows that financial incentives for doctors may be driving some of the rapid rise in spinal fusion surgery.
The report, conducted by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, focuses on the “proliferation” of companies that are owned by physicians and sell equipment for spinal fusions — screws, rods and plates. Such equipment costs more than $11,000 per spinal fusion, according to the report.
Graphic
A Florida case study in surgical necessity
The Washington Post reported last month that, based on an analysis of 125,000 patient records, roughly half the tremendous rise in spinal fusions in Florida involved patients with diagnoses that experts and professional societies say should not routinely be treated with spinal fusion.
A simpler procedure known as a decompression often offers patients without complications as much benefit as a fusion and poses fewer risks, doctors said. But the decompression might yield a surgeon roughly $1,000, while a complex fusion would garner as much as $6,000.
By Peter Whoriskey, Published: November 13 E-mail the writer
A government study of Medicare billings shows that financial incentives for doctors may be driving some of the rapid rise in spinal fusion surgery.
The report, conducted by the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services, focuses on the “proliferation” of companies that are owned by physicians and sell equipment for spinal fusions — screws, rods and plates. Such equipment costs more than $11,000 per spinal fusion, according to the report.
Graphic
A Florida case study in surgical necessity
The Washington Post reported last month that, based on an analysis of 125,000 patient records, roughly half the tremendous rise in spinal fusions in Florida involved patients with diagnoses that experts and professional societies say should not routinely be treated with spinal fusion.
A simpler procedure known as a decompression often offers patients without complications as much benefit as a fusion and poses fewer risks, doctors said. But the decompression might yield a surgeon roughly $1,000, while a complex fusion would garner as much as $6,000.
