al business model that didn't rely on treating patients with traditional
insurance. Eventually, the sales team convinced me that it was worth-
while to meet with the individuals who were behind this success. So in
the fall of 2005, I flew down to West Palm Beach to meet with the prin-
cipals to see what this was all about. I knew that the model had some-
thing to do with personal injury (PI), so I wasn't surprised that the
meeting took place at the law offices of one of the top personal injury
firms in Palm Beach County.
After a dinner of filet mignon, lobster tails and soft drinks (apparent-
ly they were all teetotalers), I was treated to one of the most com-
pelling, unique and well thought-out presentations I've ever heard.
The principal in the law firm and practice administrator for one of the
surgeons outlined what amounted to an opportunity to make disc
decompression with the SpineWand the standard of care in all person-
al injury cases where the patient had suffered a contained herniated
disc.
I know what you're thinking — and I was thinking the same thing.
Personal injury? Seedy, unethical ambulance chasers? All I can say is
the presenters were very persuasive.
They started by extolling the medical benefits of the SpineWand for
patients. They raved about the results they were seeing and claimed
that more than 90% of the patients treated by the surgeons they
worked with experienced significant reductions in pain and increases
in functioning.
They then explained that they followed a very specific treatment
algorithm to ensure that they offered the SpineWand procedure only
to patients who had a good chance of improvement. All patients
referred by personal injury attorneys with back or neck pain were
given an MRI. For patients with a confirmed contained disc herniation
on MRI, they prescribed a minimum of 3 months of conservative care,
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