Benefits of a Spine Center include Employers, Payors and Claims Administrators

Ms. Marcy T. Rogers, M.Ed. President/Chief Executive Officer SpineMark Corporation San Diego, California, USA

Benefits of a Spine Center
A multi-disciplinary delivery system made available through a Spine Center offers an innovative, cost-effective and comprehensive approach for the treatment of spine conditions. Utilizing a disease-based model provides for global management of the disease or injury; spanning from diagnosis to return to function.

A multi-disciplinary system also provides coordination and interaction of operative and nonoperative modalities. In addition, it can also offer the following:

• An organized, coordinated approach to diagnosis and treatment
  
• Operative and non-operative treatment modalities under one delivery system
  
• Specialty-focused, outcomes driven care with well-defined critical pathways
  
• Decreased utilization of medical services and medications
  
• Increased patient satisfaction
  
• Reduced cost of care and disability
  
• Quicker return to work
  
• Decreased length of treatment

Benefits to Employers
Spine Centers utilizing a multi-disciplinary care model can also offer a variety of benefits for employers and injured workers including:

• Early, aggressive specialty treatment that promotes rapid return to work/function, reduced utilization of the healthcare delivery system, decreased narcotic usage, less disruption at the workplace due to lost time and improved quality of life

• Significant bottom-line cost savings with reductions in paid claims for medical and disability related expenditures

• Utilization of specialty screening and triage early in the injury treatment continuum (4-6 weeks post-injury) reducing disability, chronic pain and syndromes related to failed surgeries or debilitating pain conditions

• Decreased inpatient stays

• Reductions in utilization and duplication of services through peer review and utilization review

• Lower ratios of permanent disabilities lessen the need for costly training of replacement employees

Benefits to Payors and Claims Administrators
The benefits to third-party payors and claims administrators are:

• Streamlined claims administration and reduction of related paperwork
  
• Centralized intake for referrals, verification of benefits, scheduling, distribution of reports and patient follow-up
  
• Coordination of all primary, secondary and ancillary treatment services
  
• Postgraduate training and education relative to advancements in care, technology, patient selection criteria and post-treatment results
  
• Reduced administration of claims
  
• Predictable costs and risk sharing through comprehensive disease-based global fee schedules

Operative/Non-Operative Spine Algorithm

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