BWC Rule Steers Workers Away From Lumbar Fusion Surgeries

Five years ago, when public health officials were sounding an alarm about the overuse of opioids, the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation's new top doctor examined which procedures led to the highest rates of opioid use. Scanning the data, Dr. Stephen Woods homed in on a procedure that was familiar to him: lumbar fusion surgery.  An internal audit geared at improving quality of care had found that claimants who received spinal fusions had some of the longest lasting claims, highest rates of disability and highest use of medical care. As it turned out, they a...