2014

Models of human vertebra were strewn across tables and hung from coat racks at Leesburg spinal surgery company K2M when I toured its headquarters this week. Scattered across desks were colorful devices made of plastic and bits of steel resembling toys. They were prototypes for implants and  Read more »

Medtronic recently reported first-quarter earnings , topping analyst expectations as non-GAAP earnings rose 6% and revenue climbed 5%.But the quarterly report only tells half the story. Let’s look at the five most interesting things that CEO Omar Ishrak discussed during the medical-device maker’s earnings conference call.The spine business will hopefully strengthen… Read more »

Medical care might not be the most obvious place for 3D printing applications, but 3D-printed kidneys and 3D-printed prosthetic eyes say otherwise. 3D-printed plastics are being used for medical tools and devices, models for surgical training and even lightweight, cost-efficient implants and prosthetics. Read more »

DAYTONA BEACH — A spinal implant vendor who lost business at Halifax Health is alleging in a federal lawsuit the public hospital violated her constitutional rights when it banished her for writing a critical letter. Read more »

Medtronic Inc. will seek to dismiss shareholder lawsuits over its Infuse bone-growth product after a panel found the allegations were “without merit,” the medical-device maker said Tuesday. Shareholders accused Medtronic executives and directors of deliberately violating FoodRead more »

Additive manufacturing — a.k.a. 3-D printing — has moved beyond being a primarily techie and Wall Street topic to capture the attention of many on Main Street. This attention is well deserved, given the 3-D printing sector is expected to balloon from $2.2 billion in 2012 to nearly $6 billion in 2017, and will eventually […]

(Reuters Health) – Orthopedic surgery patients go in and out of the operating room “blind” to the cost of their procedures, researchers say, but the patients often assume doctors are making much more than they really do.The misperceptions among spinal surgery patients are emblematic of a major barrier to controlling healthcare costs, according to the […]

In response to losing a lawsuit, Carlsbad’s Alphatec Holdings said it has delayed its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2013 earnings results until March 17. The company is the parent of Alphatec Spine, a medical device maker. Read more »

The former owner of a Los Angeles-area hospital will plead guilty to federal charges that he bribed a state senator as part of a wide-ranging kickback scheme to get spinal surgery cases referred to his facility, the Associated Press reported. Altogether, the fraudulent charges connected to the scheme may top $500 million. Michael D. Drobot, […]

EL PASO, Texas — An ex-Army doctor in Texas has been indicted in a $7.3 million health care scam.The 65-count federal indictment announced Thursday in El Paso names Dr. Richard Craig Rooney of Medina, Washington Rooney worked at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso and Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort […]

Investment in robotic surgery has become a growing trend in the field of healthcare research. It is expected that in a few years from now surgical interventions will be performed by robotic technologies under the supervision of human surgeons from remote places. The EUROSURGE Read more »

K2M, a spinal device company in Leesburg, has filed an S-1 draft registration with the Securities and Exchanges Commission to become a publicly traded company.The S-1 form is a confidential document between the SEC and the company filing to go public, which outlines key information about the company such as its business, properties, competition, the […]

(HealthDay)—A new model can predict the risk of medical complications, including major complications, after spine surgery, according to a study published in the Feb. 1 issue of Spine. Michael J. Lee, M.D., from the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues created and validated a predictive model for the risk of medical complication or major […]

January 16th 2014 ,(seekingalpha.com)–Sell-side analysts still seem to be nervous about the near-term future of the spine market, but investors haven’t let that scare them away fromNuVasive (NUVA). With new products and a focused OUS strategy re-accelerating growth and management laying out some bold ambitions for the next five years, these shares have more than […]

Imagine taking your car to a mechanic who couldn’t tell you how much, say, a new battery would cost. Or, for that matter, the price of any available batteries. What’s more, there’s no way to find out because the manufacturer sells parts to different shops at vastly different prices, and its supply contracts forbid them […]