Five-year trends in spine care: The impact of health care reform

摘要

I am both honored and humbled to stand before you today and describe the privilege I have had in helping with the stewardship of North American Spine Society (NASS) over the past year. Many fantastic people have come before me, and I believe the NASS stewardship will continue to influence both our practices and health policy nationally over the coming years. Much of my life has been dedicated to socioeconomics and health policy. And based on experience I have had, the privileges of working on several Medicare committees (including the Practicing Physicians Advisory Council, and at present, the Ambulatory Payment Classification Panel), and opportunities to work with third-party payers, including United Healthcare and Humana, I have a unique insight into how the payment system works in the United States, how the payers view practitioners, and how we can better interface with them so we can provide the best opportunities and care for our patients.