Read the Summer 2021 Issue of “Vertebral Columns” Looking for the latest highlights in spine surgery? This issue of Vertebral Columns explores the increasing use of virtual reality as a training tool, what’s coming for cervical disc arthroplasty, the Mazor vs ExcelsiusGPS robotic systems, intraoperative ultrasonography, the occurrence of venous thromboembolism in spine surgery,...

AMA House of Delegates Calls on Medicare Advantage to Align Prior Authorization Policies with Medicare Fee-for-Service   The American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates issued a statement saying that Medicare Advantage plans shouldn’t override physician judgment. According to a resolution presented at the AMA Special Meeting, more than 62 million Americans are covered by...

CMS says 9.7 Million Americans were added to Medicaid rolls in 2020 Medicaid enrollment rose sharply during the coronavirus pandemic, with nearly 10 million Americans joining the public health coverage program for the poor through January, a government report released Monday shows. Eighty million people—more than ever before in the program’s history—now carry Medicaid coverage, for which states...

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Latest Challenge to the Affordable Care Act On June 17, 2021, the Affordable Care Act survived a third major challenge as the Supreme Court, in a 7-to-2 vote, turned aside the latest effort by Republicans to kill the health care law. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who had cast the decisive vote...