“I strongly encourage you to be part of this year’s meeting by attending in person,” NASS President Ed Dohring, MD, said. “To experience the latest in spine education, to get hands on with new technology in the Exhibit Hall and to collaborate with colleagues on the most important topics in spine.”

Widely regarded as the top meeting in spine care, this year’s meeting received a record number of 1,487 submitted abstracts. Of those, 393 (26%) were accepted and will be presented in Chicago. Additionally, the exhibit hall opens at 9 am Wednesday and will feature hundreds of companies and booths to view the latest spine technologies.

Just prior the official meeting, NASS will host a coding course on Monday and Tuesday, October 10-11, in Chicago. With 14 available AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™, this highly-interactive course has physician faculty who lead NASS’ CPT and RUC efforts and will address ICD-10, E&M coding and CPT4 coding of spinal surgical, medical and radiologic procedures.

In addition to the pre-meeting coding course, there will also be two hands-on courses on Tuesday: minimally invasive spine surgery and getting the best outcomes from robotics and navigation.

The meeting begins in earnest on Wednesday morning. Highlights for the week include guest speaker Erik Weihenmayer, who will address attendees at 11 am Thursday. Weihenmayer is the first blind climber to reach the summit of the world highest mountain, Mount Everest. He is also the founder of No Barriers and Touch on Top.

An exciting new feature this year will be Surgical Stadium Lab Cadaver Demonstrations. Top surgeons will demonstrate procedures live from the new stadium lab located in the exhibit hall. The audience can view and pose questions in real time throughout the demonstrations. Surgeons will be live answering questions and discussing the techniques in detail.

Advocacy guest speaker Nathan Gonzales will speak to attendees at 1 pm Thursday. Gonzales is the editor and publisher of Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, which provides non-partisan analysis of campaigns for Senate, House, governor and president. In addition to publishing Inside Elections, Gonzales is also an elections analyst for CQ Roll Call.

Between an impressive array of both surgical and medical educational sessions, plus social hours and receptions throughout the week, there is sure to be something for everyone at NASS 2022. We look forward to seeing you there!

Visit www.spine.org/am for more details.

Webinar topics include:

AUGUST 18 From Past to Present: Changes in Implant Technology and Clinical Outcomes

Presenters will highlight the historical approaches and technologies of spine implants and how that carried us to today’s standards.

AUGUST 25 Best and Worst Cases in Spinal Deformity

Presenters will discuss some of the best teaching cases given by leaders in the field with the worst outcomes and how these cases changed the physicians’ practices accordingly.

SEPTEMBER 1 NASS Fellowship: Everything Applicants Need to Know

Know Presenters will discuss application trends in the NASS fellowship programs, explain the fellowship process, and address best practices in optimizing participants’ fellowship candidacies.

SEPTEMBER 8 Ankylosing Spondylitis: Nuances of Treatment

Presenters will identify the operative vs nonoperative treatment strategies in ankylosing spondylitis (AS), illustrate the nuances of percutaneous vs open treatment strategies in AS, and examine the expected complications and age-specific outcomes of treatment in AS.

SEPTEMBER 15 Gut, the Final Frontier: Understanding the Link Between the Microbiome and the Spine

Presenters will examine the current knowledge on gut microbiome analysis, and address the evidence supporting the correlation between the gut biome and subclinical infection contributing to high pseudoarthrosis rates.

SEPTEMBER 22 Transitioning Your Practice to Outpatient Lumbar Fusion

Presenters will describe the infrastructure necessary to perform outpatient lumbar fusion, select the lumbar fusion technique, define optimal multi-modal analgesia treatments, assess ambulatory surgery center ownership models and apply appropriate lumbar fusion complications management options.