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President's Message

Todd J. Albert, MD
SRS President 2017-2018

I hope you have had a wonderful summer and are enjoying time with your family and potentially some time out of the office. I am pleased to report that June was Scoliosis Awareness Month and during it the SRS had significant activities related to this as well as public engagement. We were connected through Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. This led to 228,038 total impressions and 15,571 total engagements.

Inside this Issue

In Memoriam
Historian Corner
Ethics Corner
IMAST Committee Update
Nominating Committee Update
Research Grant Committee Update
Coding Committee Update
Treasurer's Report
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Hot Topics Articles

In Memoriam
IMAST Committee Update
Treasurer's Report

In Memoriam

Gordon W. D. Armstrong, CM, MD, FRCSC August 17, 1923 - June 24, 2018	Robert M. Campbell, MD May 7, 1951 - July 29, 2018
Henry V. Crock, MD, FRCS, FRACS, DSc September 14, 1929 - April 21, 2018	John M. Gray, MD May 27, 1943 - January 17, 2018
John E. Hall, MD April 23, 1925 - March 22, 2018	James E. Ricciardi, MD April 28, 1942 - November 22, 2018
David B. Stevens, MD July 11, 1929 - February 6, 2017

Historian Corner

George H. Thompson, MD
SRS Historian

2018 has been a busy year for the History Committee but unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. We have had a significant number of deaths in our membership, including two founding members.

Ethics Corner

John P. Lubicky, MD, FAAOS, FAAP

W. Timothy Ward, MD

This hypothetical case of possible unethical behavior of a surgeon is presented by John Lubicky, MD and the subsequent discussion is written by guest discussant Tim Ward, MD.

The Committee would like to thank John Lubicky and Tim Ward and appreciates their valuable contributions.

IMAST Committee Update

Henry F.H. Halm, MD
IMAST Committee Chair Elect

From July 11-14, 2018 we held our 25^th Anniversary International Meeting of Advanced Spine Techniques (IMAST) in Los Angeles, USA, which was again very successful. The meeting was again led by our chair, Ron Lehman and had a total of 676 registered participants.

I personally and in conjunction with the whole IMAST committee would like to thank Ronald A. Lehman Jr., MD for his tremendous work as chairman of IMAST during the last three years.

Nominating Committee Update

Kenneth MC Cheung, MD
Nominating Committee Chair

The nominating committee met on two occasions via conference calls in March and April.

The following have been nominated by the committee:

Research Grant Committee Update

Leah Y. Carreon, MD, MSc
Research Grant Committee Chair

The Research Committee reviewed 22 grant applications for the Spring 2018 cycle. A total of $114,503 was approved for seven proposals. Three proposals had $25,000 of funding approved and four proposals received $10,000 of funding. In addition, meetings were held where discussions to create guidelines for both Research Committee members who review the grant applications and for researchers applying for the grants.

Coding Corner

Matthew D. Hepler, MD
Coding Committee Past Chair

Coding for Intervertebral Biomechanical Devices: Recent changes and their impact
Intervertebral fusion has been performed with autograft, allograft, and biomechanical devices usually made of synthetic materials including PEEK and metals, most commonly Titanium. The primary goal of intervertebral fusion with any of these materials is to maintain or restore disc height and alignment while promoting spinal arthrodesis. The use of intervertebral mechanical devices has increased dramatically in recent years as have implant design and fixation techniques ultimately leading to a revision in the codes used to describe them. This article will review coding for intervertebral biomechanical devices, outline the recent changes that have been implemented, and some of the nuances associated with their use. This article only discusses the use of biomechanical devices as coding with bone graft materials has not changed.

Treasurer's Report

J. Abbott Byrd, III, MD
Treasurer

This present report summarizes the SRS financial position as of December 31, 2017. It is too early in our fiscal year to make meaningful statements about 2018 because so much of our financial health depends upon the performance of IMAST and the Annual Meeting. Unfortunately, this report is somewhat mixed.

September 2018

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Coding Committee Update

Coding Corner

Matthew D. Hepler, MD
Coding Committee Past Chair

Coding for Intervertebral Biomechanical Devices: Recent changes and their impact
Intervertebral fusion has been performed with autograft, allograft, and biomechanical devices usually made of synthetic materials including PEEK and metals, most commonly Titanium. The primary goal of intervertebral fusion with any of these materials is to maintain or restore disc height and alignment while promoting spinal arthrodesis. The use of intervertebral mechanical devices has increased dramatically in recent years as have implant design and fixation techniques ultimately leading to a revision in the codes used to describe them. This article will review coding for intervertebral biomechanical devices, outline the recent changes that have been implemented, and some of the nuances associated with their use. This article only discusses the use of biomechanical devices as coding with bone graft materials has not changed.