Geisinger Health Plan and the Medacta Group SA have come together to offer the first lumbar spinal fusion lifetime guarantee.
The First Spinal Fusion Lifetime Guarantee Is Here

Geisinger, based in Danville, Pennsylvania, is made up of 10 hospital campuses, a health plan, a research institute, and the Geisinger College of Health Sciences. Medacta is a Swiss company specializing in orthopedic products and the development of surgical techniques.
Michael Suk, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., FACS is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and the chair of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Geisinger Health System. He commented, “This new guarantee allows us to expand our ProvenCare® commitment for patients who qualify for spinal fusion surgery while offering them a sense of security on the clinical outcome when making the decision to have the procedure.”
Dr. Suk continued, “By standing behind our world-class joint replacement, spinal surgeries and other orthopedic care options, Geisinger is demonstrating its commitment to making better health easier and more accessible for our patients and communities.”
Edward DelSole, M.D. is a board-certified and fellowship-trained orthopedic surgeon. Dr. DelSole performed the first lifetime guaranteed spinal fusion surgery at Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Per the press release, he completed the procedure “using Medacta’s M.U.S.T. [Medacta Universal Screw Technology] Pedicle Screw System and MIS MySpine MCpatient matched solution.”
Medacta International CEO Francesco Siccardi stated, “Tailored medical education along with personalized solutions are at the forefront of all we do at Medacta with the aim of empowering surgeons and improving patient outcomes.”
Siccardi continued, “With the introduction of this guarantee, which expands our existing hip and knee guarantees with Geisinger, we are incredibly proud to continue our commitment to patients throughout their entire continuum of care.”
This is not the first time the companies have joined forces to offer lifetime guarantees. For OTW’s coverage of the companies’ other guarantees, see “Geisinger & Medacta: 1st to Guarantee Joint Arthroplasty Outcomes.”

Discussion
This is a fascinating development. In my practice we've seen similar outcomes with the revised protocol. The key differentiator seems to be patient selection criteria. Has anyone else noticed the correlation with BMI thresholds?
Great point. I'd push back slightly on the conclusion, the sample size in the cited study is too small to draw population-level inferences. That said, the directional signal is compelling and worth a larger RCT.
We implemented a similar approach last year. Early results are promising but we're still gathering 12-month follow-up data. Happy to share our protocol if anyone is interested.
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