gral part of the bigger picture.
"Our philosophy is to be conservative, offering surgery as a last
resort," says David Rothbart, MD, the medical director and founder of
Spine Team Texas. The multi-disciplinary team at Spine Team Texas
includes rehabilitation physicians who specialize in non-surgical spine
care, anesthesiologists who specialize in chronic spine pain and spine-
focused physical therapists, as well as surgeons.
Smaller facilities can benefit from partnering with office-based
pain-management physicians, says Dr. McMillan, as patients transi-
tion from appropriate non-surgical or conservative management to
minimally invasive outpatient care and back to pain management,
if necessary.
Infection prevention
Aggressive infection prevention protocols are a must with spine pro-
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O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U N E 2 0 1 5
z SKILL SET Along with having specialized skills,
outpatient spine surgeons need to embrace an
intensely cost-conscious environment.
