ARTICLE SUMMARY:
NASS 2024 had fewer crowds, anxious surgeons and a smaller exhibit hall, as leadership looks to bolster more basic research and fill in gaps in evidence-based medicine. Industry dynamics remain robust, with innovation focused on incremental improvements to enabled technology offerings, and the dust has settled around recent M&A integration.
The North American Spine Society 2024 annual meeting presented an unusual dichotomy: a healthy spine industry but a surgery profession under intense pressure.
The industry is experiencing robust mid-single-digit growth, due to an increase in procedure volumes in the post-COVID-19 era, steady demand, and an aging population, according to BTIG’s Ryan Zimmerman. Hospital administrators report their volumes are back to 90% or more of pre-pandemic levels, and although pandemic-era backlogs are ongoing due to capacity constraints, those are declining. Pricing is also stable, essentially flat from 2023, and reimbursement remains under pressure, with sacroiliac and lumbar procedures experiencing the biggest pushback from payors, he notes (see Figure 1).
The top spine companies combined are predicted to generate an estimated $12.8 billion in revenues this year, up 4.7% from $12.2 billion in 2023, according to BTIG. This rate is slower than in 2023, but that year was an outlier due to COVID-19 catch-ups.
The meeting offered little in the way of disruptive innovation. Exhibit floor booths were smaller than in previous years and attendance was down from pre-pandemic levels, at roughly 4,000, split between providers and industry, according to NASS. But the meeting clearly showcased the depth to which enabling technologies, particularly robotics, are taking root. The largest spine companies have varying strategies and timetables for building ecosystems that integrate and connect their enabling technology platforms, but all are at some stage of the process.
