World Research Group-Professional Industry Conferences, Training & Reports

The University of California, San Francisco Medical Center’s Spine Program is leveraging a comprehensive strategic sourcing process to deal with the skyrocketing costs for surgical implants. At a time when nationwide, implant costs are going up by over 7% annually, UCSF achieved nearly $900,000 in costs savings for one of the Spine Center’s busiest surgeons.

"Collaboration has been absolutely key to our directional improvement success and partnering with a strategic sourcing officer has played a large part," said Eula McKinney, Director of the Spine Service Line at UCSF. She attributes her organization’s success to the development of a 9-step implant evaluation process, which requires coordination between surgeons, hospital management, and vendors.

"Our collaborative efforts have resulted in our spine service line maximizing pricing for our implants," McKinney said.

McKinney is the chairperson of "Maximizing the Value of Your Spine Center," a three-day, case study driven conference, focused on containing costs and improving patient care. The conference is scheduled for September 22-24, 2008 in Las Vegas.

"Our research indicates the soaring costs for implants is affecting spine surgery margins across the board, from smaller, freestanding operations to large academic and community hospitals," said Kathryn DiPerna, Conference Director for "Maximizing the Value of Your Spine Center." She noted that, in addition to USCF, the conference speaking faculty brings together 15 Spine Centers, including Brain & Neurospine Clinic of Missouri, Orthopedic Specialists of the Carolinas, Chicago Neuroscience Institute, St. John’s Regional Hospital, Cleveland Clinic Florida, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, Oregon Health & Sciences University, and the Heartland Spine and Specialty Hospital.

For more information on "Maximizing the Value of Your Spine Center" or to register for this event, please call 1-800-647-7600 or visit www.worldrg.com/spine.

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