Spine Centers of Excellence: Marketing Programs that Reach Out to Governmental Agencies and Employers

• Generate an outcomes study assessing length of stay, complications and medication utilization for geriatric admissions for musculoskeletal care and orthopedic surgery treated at the hospital over the last 12 months and disseminate results to the local intermediaries for Medicare in the region.

• Based on a high ratio of permanent and transient elderly citizens living in the area, a white paper cost benefits analysis should be conducted for musculoskeletal high-risk disease states and chronically ill populations treated at the Spine Center as opposed to competing facilities in the area. This information should be disseminated to appropriate third party payors and physician groups.

How to Reach Employers

• Initiate a regional awareness campaign focused on medium to large corporate selfinsured employers and their risk managers, human resource personnel, and on-site medical staff; set up on- and off-site educational programs featuring prevention, treatment modalities and outcomes from operative/ non-operative spine care.

• Consider negotiating at-risk carve-out contracts for operative/non-operative spine care based on three criteria:

1. Accountability and objective outcomes
2. Cost of care
3. Return to function/work

• Identify new employer, industry and manufacturing groups entering the area as opportunities for contracting for pre-placement screenings.

• Expand programs highlighting ergonomic considerations for the reduction of work-site related injuries and integrating at-risk employees into existing rehab programs.