The U.S. spends more than $90 billion on the treatment and diagnosis of back and neck pain each year, and a new center at UF aims to provide cost-effective treatment for these patients.
UF Health Comprehensive Spine Center, which opened Monday, lets patients see physicians from different areas of expertise relating to back and neck pain. This cuts costs and saves time for patients who are often referred to multiple doctors.
The center is located in the $415 million UF Health Heart & Vascular and Neuromedicine Hospitals built in December 2017.
Before the center was built, doctors who treated patients for back and neck pain would informally consult with doctors of other specializations, said Dr. Andrew McNeil, assistant professor of anesthesiology.
Now, neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, physical medicine and rehabilitation physicians, pain physicians and neurologists can work together to find the right diagnosis.
“I believe that we have the full complement of doctors to make the right diagnosis,” Hoh said. “We really have pretty much all the bases covered.”
The center’s multiple physicians of different specialties working together also allows more patients to be seen, Hoh said. One of the center’s priorities is to provide same-day appointments to patients.
“In our ideal system, a patient who wants to be seen calls one phone number, and they get a quick, efficient access to be seen by one of our doctors,” Hoh said.
Back and neck pain can often affect all aspects of a person’s quality of life, Hoh said. Patients often receive incomplete diagnoses and are given the same information from multiple doctors.
“What we’re focused on … is providing sort of tailored, personalized medicine for each individual to optimize their quality of life,” Hoh said.
The center will also provide medical students and residents insights into a variety of pain treatment options, Hoh said. It also expands the opportunity to study patient outcomes and treatment effectiveness to develop protocol that will benefit patients on a larger scale.
“Pain is very complex and really the data has shown that the best approach to pain is multidisciplinary,” McNeil said.
UF Health is well-recognized around the state and region, Hoh said. Patients will travel far to receive care from UF facilities.
“I really do believe the system that we’ve created here is unique and is very best suited towards the type of patients, as well as the greater sort of huge catchment area that the University of Florida covers,” Hoh said.
(From left) UF Health neurosurgeons Dr. William Fox, Dr. Adam Polifka and Dr. Daniel Hoh are part of a multidisciplinary team improving care for patients with back and neck pain at the UF Health Comprehensive Spine Center.
