Dr. Chetan Patel is headed to Chicago this week for the 30th annual meeting of the North American Spine Society (NASS), where he will both present and moderate a special symposium titled “Do Robotics and Navigation Have a Place in the Evolving Health Care Environment of Value-Based Purchasing?” The purpose is to provide a critical analysis of the evidence-based advantages and cost-to-benefit considerations associated with the use of computer-assisted navigation and robotic technologies in spine operations.
Which, if you know anything about Dr. Patel, is a topic that’s right up his alley.
As one of our country’s leading spine surgeons, Dr. Patel constantly seeks out new ways of improving patient outcomes. He devotes considerable energy to helping medical device designers develop and enhance innovative technologies that help meet the ergonomic and other challenges attendant to complex spine surgeries. And in his continuing role as chairman of NASS’s Robotics and Navigation Section, he helps identify promising new technologies and pursues high-quality scientific evidence that these innovations can expand current capabilities. He also participates in informing and educating surgeons internationally about such advancements once they have been conclusively proven.
Bringing New Technologies to Bear in a Value-Based Market
The symposium that Dr. Patel will be leading this week focuses on the fact that, while emerging technologies will continue to play an essential role in advancing the overall state of healthcare going forward, it’s important to weigh the costs of this technology against the potential benefits in order to determine which technologies are ready for implementation. A value-based healthcare market emphasizes this approach by compensating hospitals and providers according to the quality of care they provide – so expensive innovations like robot- and computer-assisted surgery have to produce quantifiably better outcomes than traditional and potentially less expensive methods.
Dr. Patel is in complete agreement with this requirement. He has always been an exceptionally strong advocate of the evidence-based approach to patient care. And indeed, his ongoing efforts to develop and perfect a new robotic systemfor use in spine surgery are predicated on the objectives of increasing surgical accuracy, reducing patients’ time spent in the operating room and hospital, and minimizing post-operative pain and recovery times.
All of which, it would seem, are easily quantifiable, cost-effective – and, not incidentally – comfort enhancing benefits to patients.
About NASS
With more than 8,000 members worldwide, NASS is the largest society of its kind representing orthopaedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, physiatrists, researchers and allied practitioners. This week’s NASS 2015 exposition is expected to draw approximately 3,500 spine care professionals from around the globe to participate in education and networking events designed to expand their knowledge of the latest techniques, procedures and technologies for use in spine care.
