Other Articles

How to Get the Surgeon’s Attention
Understanding relationship dynamics and having the chutzpah to put your best creative foot forward can garner you real success as a sales rep. Find out how to bring inventiveness to the sales process so as to attract and retain the surgeon’s attention.

Death Spiral
Since January, ReGen Biologic's stock has fallen from $0.95 per share to $0.04 per share. The number of shares outstanding is up 45% in 9 months. In one case, the company paid a $24,000 vendor bill with 68,572 shares of stock. Still, a couple of particularly savvy orthopedics investors have bought roughly 7% of the stock. Can ReGen survive?

Diving in to the Future
Since 1996 total knee procedures have risen 77% to 455,000 annually. A study presented at AAOS estimates that by 2030 that number grows to 3.48 million knee replacements a year! If infection rates continue to rise at current rates, however, that future will not be nearly as rosy for either patients or industry. Read on.

Selling Yourself: Career Advancement for Sales Reps
Are you considering becoming a distributor or do you plan to advance within a company? Either way, you need to be ready. You will want to know how to make product line choices, hire a sales force, and lead others, among other things.

Mission Unaccomplished: Are the Wheels Coming Off at the FDA?
The FDA is no longer able to fulfill its mission and its wheels are coming off. So says the FDA’s own Science Board in a scathing report. We looked under the hood of the report and here’s what we found.

“Back” to the Future Part II: Technology and the Vertebral Compression Fracture Market
In Part I, our inquiring analyst, Matt Menze, highlighted opportunities for spinal implant manufacturers in the vertebral compression fracture (VCF) market. Now he tackles the thorny issue of new and emerging VCF technologies. What’s on the horizon? Read on.

Second Careers for Orthopedic Surgeons
How should you plan for a change in focus later during your career? You may want to continue utilizing your research, managerial, or presentation skills. Find out what Drs. Ray Linovitz and Stephen Hochschuler have to say about how to stay involved in the field at any stage of one’s career.

Finally, Consolidation in the Allograft Industry
So, where’s Adam Smith’s enlightened self interest when you need it? For about the length of the average U.S. Presidency it’s been clear to anyone who could read an income statement that one important market sector was in need of consolidation. That sector is allograft. With RTI and Tutogen merging, it may finally be happening. Read on.

The Smell of Favoritism, Political Interference, and Back-Room Dealing Alleged in Ortho Deferred Prosecution Deal in Jersey
Amid charges of political favoritism, New Jersey Congressmen call for investigation of ortho deferred prosecution agreements. It’s Jersey and the fur’s flying, read about it here.

The Match Process: Let the Courtship Begin
In the first of three articles, two medical students describe their experiences of the residency match process. Learn their thoughts on interviewing, letters of recommendation, and of course, the pressure to match.

A New “Wave” of Extremity Treatment?
Addressing a market of more than a quarter of a million patients annually with a $5-8,000 treatment sounds like the next multi-billion market. FDA approved, but controversial. What is Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy and why should we care? Read on.

Avoiding the Perp Walk, or How to Keep the Justice Department From Knocking on Your Door
We’ve all seen the “Perp Walk” on TV. The defendant cuffed and trying to hide his or her face from the cameras. Will Justice Department and congressional investigations of industry and physician relationships result in a doc taking that walk? Read what a federal prosecutor says about avoiding that indignity.

Syndicom, a provider of problem-solving Web-based tools for medical professionals, medical device manufacturers, and other professional communities, announced the launch of TraumaConnect. A free Web-based service, TraumaConnect (www.traumaconnect.com) is modeled on the Syndicom SpineConnect community, which now boasts more than 900 spine surgeon members. The new community allows orthopedic surgeons around the globe to share their knowledge, experiences, and insight on difficult orthopedic trauma cases. With Syndicom's collaborative social-networking platform, surgeons are now able to post and respond to cases within a HIPAA-compliant environment.

In the news release Scott Capdevielle, CEO of Syndicom noted, "TraumaConnect is simple and intuitive to use. With TraumaConnect, physicians can collaborate with trusted colleagues and still tap into the collective wisdom of the entire orthopedic trauma community. They are free to exchange new ideas and collaborate through interactions and discussions, meet new orthopedic surgeons, discover areas of mutual interest, and even work together to launch research studies or other programs."

Added Dr. Gary Zohman, Chief of Orthopedics, Kern Medical Center, Bakersfield, California, and a TraumaConnect community member, "The TraumaConnect community was created by orthopedic trauma surgeons for use by orthopedic surgeons. Thanks to TraumaConnect, physicians can now collaborate on cases and share information with their peers located anywhere, immediately and securely. We can review cases 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—even from a Blackberry—to get expert perspectives on emergent cases right away."

TraumaConnect allows physicians to enter injury detail and type, pertinent positives, demographic data and other key information. They may even attach X-rays, MRIs, CTs and other images in one step. Being a Web-based system, TraumaConnect is accessible at anytime and from anywhere.

The new networking site recently underwent a beta-testing phase involving doctors from the U.S. and worldwide. One case involved a young patient suffering from a gunshot injury. Said Dr. Zohman in the news release, "Due to the immediate and ongoing efforts of the TraumaConnect community, several procedures were suggested by surgeons in the community that might help to save a patient's injured leg. Thanks to the real-time collaboration engendered by TraumaConnect, I'm pleased to report that this 15-year-old boy was able to avoid having his leg amputated."

Regarding HIPAA, according to a spokesperson for Syndicom, while sharing of patient data with other physicians for the purpose of treatment is generally permitted under HIPAA, TraumaConnect’s terms of use do not permit posting of patient-identifiable information. Although TraumaConnect is careful to comply with privacy and security guidelines, it is up to each member of the community to ensure patient identifiable information is not posted publicly. As far as data security, the entire site uses 128-bit SSL encryption, the Internet standard for secure information transactions. TraumaConnect’s security is verified by Verisign, and the Verisign link is available from the site for verification. Additionally, Syndicom routinely checks to ensure that surgeons have not inadvertently posted any information that may identify patients.