Sunday, November 25, 2012

Black Friday

The last couple of weeks have been an eye opener of sorts as TSB is traveling the U.S. talking to many of your peers to get a pulse on the industry.  It has become evident that management in most  companies still don't get it.  Since the market crashed and nearly burned in late '07 thru most of '08, the oracles of the industry are still stuck in that proverbial time warp.  20% growth use to be the norm, but as Don McLean once sang, "bye, bye Miss American Pie." The insanity of the industry is closely tied to those CEO's that are still attempting to manipulate their stock portfolio's and promise the Street that they are will be the next billion dollar baby. How can anyone run a company that has so much tied into the current and future valuation of their own stock? Are they making prudent decisions based on potential technologies?  Let's face facts, this isn't a new phenomenon, the NY Times (that socialist publication) has had numerous articles on this topic dating back to 1996.

What is it about our society and American business people in general.  That's right we're talking about the golden oracle theory, I said it, therefore, it must be true.  Just look at today's talk shows and hear them debate the economy.  "Sales aren't what we expected."  "Stores opened on Thursday night, and sales were still not up to expectation." Just because you opened Kmart, JC Penny's, Target, or Walmart 12 hours earlier doesn't mean that people that shop at those stores are going to spend more, all they are going to do is look for a better deal.  And this brings us to the gist of today's blog.  The spine industry is no different than the insanity that prevails on a daily if not monthly basis in this country.  The golden oracle theory holds true.  Don't believe it, listen to the insanity.  

A Regional Manager that works for a highly esteemed and beloved favorite of the Street recently stated, "I received a 30% increase in quota, our ASP is going south, my sales team has increased the number of cases from 2011 and I am still short of quota year to date.  Even if I finish at 98.6% my CEO and VP of Sales are not going to be happy."  Or, "my CEO and VP of Sales called with two days left until the close of the month and asked if we could call Dr. Famous and ask him to book a few cases."  That has to be one of TSB's all time favorites.  What is it about things dick heads that makes them believe that just because you have a surgeon that is a loyal customer, that they are just going to pull a couple of patients out of their ass and get you those numbers? These aren't isolated situations.  There seems to be an epidemic in the industry. Do any of those oracles understand how much the landscape has changed  since they were out in the field?  Whatever happened to the oracles that made grandiose promises of increasing the business 300 or 400% at some of the smaller companies within the industry? As Ray Davies once sang, "everybody's a hero, everybody's a star," until reality sets in. Some of these oracles are walking the concrete down on 125th St, or in Southern Cal licking their wounds. What has happened to the companies that have burned through $20-$25 million of investment capital and are struggling because the person at the helm of the ship has no experience. What has happened to all that foreign capital that some were waiting for? Nada. Bupkus. Even the Captain of the Costa Concordia knew when to jump ship with the bella donna. What happened to some of those companies whose CEO claimed that they were offered $18 million only to exclaim, "if someone is offering me $18, then my company must be worth at least $45 million."  Today, they are scratching and scraping a mere existence.  How do some of those investors really feel? Were they taken for a ride?

Happy Days no longer exist. Richie and the Fonz have been replaced by Reality Television, deep down everyone wants to be like the Spine Executives of Orange County or Montgomery County. Hey maybe TSB should trademark those names and bring that concept to the cable networks? Borscht and  Hariyali Kebab will be on the menu, it would be pretty funny. Some people wonder why there hasn't been more written about spine, but the question must be asked, what is so new and innovative that it warrants the attention of TSB? Zimmer is going to train regulators in China? Regulation? How about some quality control lessons for our Asian brethren? How about teaching them about ethical business practices? If there ever was a Xerox culture, welcome to China. Medtronic buys 80% of China's tier one hospitals? Has anything really changed. Nuvasive's most innovative technology this year was the Houdini Rod Bending System, the now you see it, now your don't system, increasing the price of their implants? Innovation in procedural tools doesn't necessarily warrant an increase in pricing or  necessarily will increase your sales volume. It may even make the case go ten minutes faster, but as an accountant what's the difference if hospital operating rooms are run on fixed costs. Could it be that the spine industry is hanging on to the last vestiges of its stellar past?  Could the rise and fall of spine be equated to Pompeii? 

Maybe "the secret" is understanding current market conditions and having the innate ability to adjust rather than continue doing the same things over and over.  Maybe fewer MBA's and more worker bee's would suffice, especially on the corporate level?  Maybe fewer bullshit artists running these companies would better serve the BOD and stockholders? TSB has beaten the drum on POD's, POC's, and Consultancies to the point of ad nauseam.  Today, we hear the biggest and baddest CEO preempt a quarterly earnings report by informing the same analysts whom placed him on a pedestal that his companies revenue is in sequential decline due to factors out of their control. What world was this person living in? We hear of other CEO's laying off employees due to the Affordable Care Act, which is nothing more than political theater, considering that the real owners are left wing sympathizers.  Talk about responsibility?  Maybe some of our highly esteemed oracles should learn that the same way the Street nearly sucked the life out of our economy, they will eventually suck the life out of this industry.

This isn't what is known in media circles as "blow job" journalism, if you want that, go to OTW or OrthoWorld, it's up to the people that run the very companies that make up the spine world to adapt or perish.  Maybe being realistic is too simple.  Maybe aligning your quotas and expectations in addition to respecting your employees knowledge, dedication and hard work is too simple a formula, but then they don't teach that to MBA's because its all about the numbers. Maybe the commitment that you show your employees has more to do with the success of your organization, than pandering to the shareholders who live in a world of short term results but expect long term viability.  So in closing,

When Black Friday comes, I'll stand down by the door
And catch the CEO's when they dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes, I'll collect everything I'm owned
And before my friends find out, I'll be on the road
When Black Friday falls you know its got to be
Don't let it fall on me.

128 comments:

  1. Current spine leadership:
    Hey Nineteen, no we've got nothing in common. No we don't talk at all.
    A Cuevo Gold, a fine Columbian, make tonight a wonderful thing

    My advice to all spine reps after Obamacare kicks in: Start drinking heavily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. how to ruin a great SteelyDan ditty....

      Delete
  2. The problem is that BODs of the public companies always take the path of least resistance and recycle recognized names even when they have failed before. Similarly, the venture funds tend to install their own 'entrepreneur in residence' to manage their investment, whether they have meaningful experience or not. What will it take for investors to call on fresh management, management that has real experience in the industry and the creative ability to take a new approach?

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  3. So true. How many CEO and VP Sales have ever been in an O.R. much less even sold anything to a surgeon?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Some of these people have never sold a lick in their lives, or they sold twenty years ago when the landscape was four or five companies, no pods or pods, etc. Sounds like a Nuva manager, cigarette sales must be up.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Agreed. Show me a NuVa or any other top four company that's managers don't manage every conversation with their fancy pie chart that took a week to color and I will be happy to support them. All Sales guys want is a manager who takes 10 minutes a week to talk to them about pushing their corporate sales plan in their territory. 6+ years in this industry and I have still not met a manager who as asked the simple question of, "how can I help you this week, or month or year". We don't need help covering cases or understanding where we are at percent to quota. We need people that roll up their sleeves and ask to help. This business is to damn hard to have managers that can not find the time to talk to their reps one on one every month.
      We are in a buyer apathetic environment, a screw is a screw. We have to work harder, provide better service and continue to push ourselves and those around us to learn more, but even if your the best rep in every category a consulting agreement often trumps that.

      Delete
  5. Here is an example of how people with no clue about health care get wreck the industry, harm patients and rape the underlings. There is a popular patient site called Spine-Health. They have a huge web presense. They have a site with a patient forum. Many subjects are forbidden. They include, surgery outside the US, ADRs, chiropractic, nucleous implant, and nucleoplasty.

    I did a little research and I found that this site is owned by HEALTHCARE STRATEGY PARTNERS suburke@mindspring.com
    1840 OAK AVE
    EVANSTON, IL 60201-3642
    US
    847 866 0461 fax: 847 866 1808

    Healthcare Strategy Partners is a venture capital private equity investment banker group. This is an example of a group of vulture capitalist that don't know or care to know anything about the business they acquire.

    Is profiting from the suffering of others moral? You tell me. Is exploiting the suffering of others by blocking and stifling better, safer and innovative treatment for extreme profit moral? You tell me but that is what this industry does.

    Stop by Spine-Health and get a feel for the place. They have forums and a chatroom but they ban members for not talking the party line. Perhaps some of you industry insiders can go there and warn patients. For the greedy reps who post here just read the forums and all the horror stories of failed surgery and patient abuse by your industry's surgeons.

    The problem with your industry is what is wrong with the entire medical industry. The money is not in the cure its in the medicine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, but I don't think you're going to find a lot of concurrence to your opinion. Anyone who knows Dr. Ullrich and Stephanie Burke know that they've had the right intentions for the site from the beginning. They've got a good advisory panel and contributing writers and their site is a whole lot better than much of the self-interest promoting material that presents itself as patient information on the web.

      I hadn't checked out the site for a while so your message prompted me to do so. It still seems like the good resource it was originally intended to be. And there's good articles from contributors on ADR's, chiropractic, nucleus replacement and presumably all of the other items you mentioned.

      Sorry, not sure what axe you're trying to grind, but I'll dissent to your opinion.

      Delete
    2. Read the patient forums on Spine Health. They have 3 tyranical mods and the head mod is a despot named Ron DiLauro. Try going on their forum and discussing ADRs, DCs, non US surgeons, failed back surgery syndrome, lack on innovation or medical tourism you get banned.

      This industry should be supporting conservative treatments like the 5 or 6 nucleoplasty methods, the good ADRs, disk regeneration and the nucleous implants. The truth is these treatments are no as lucrative and fusion aka the gold standard. When it comes to spine treatment Americans are getting screwed.

      Delete
    3. Welcome back FB aka BB! It is quite easy to pick up your posts.

      Delete
  6. When Black Friday comes, I'll stand down by the door
    And catch the CEO's when they dive from the fourteenth floor
    When Black Friday comes, I'll collect everything I'm owned
    And before my friends find out, I'll be on the road
    When Black Friday falls you know its got to be
    Don't let it fall on me.

    Don't worry about them falling on you MSM they all have golden parachutes.

    I bet you have a lot of dirt on some very high parties. You may want to find a qui tam lawyer and bring some of them down and put some money in your pocket in the bargain. Until there is government oversight of this industry it will remain chaos run by jackyls. If the peasants want it to change they need to be the ones to change it. It's not just the CEOs, they are just overseers for the boards of directors.

    If you do a little research you will find that one of the biggest and most fined medical device companies has two board members who work for Goldman Sachs. This is the company that bribed clinical trial doctors to the tune of 220 million to lie about the safety and efficacy of a product both to the FDA and in medical journals.




    ReplyDelete
  7. "But to be honest with you, I don't want to sit in rooms with PowerPoint presentations, with mediocre people, with all the corporate politics. I have no appetite for the corporate [nonsense] that goes on in any big organization. The V Brothers best friend, Michael Woodford former CEO of Olympus.

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  8. VP of Sales from the little corpectomy company in Missouri- has she ever been in a case yet? Has she left her house yet? Has the CEO ever been in a case? Could he demo a single product?

    I guess if you can do a PowerPoint presentation then it makes it all ok though.

    Great points TSB.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha Yes she is there only because she worked with the current President for I believe was a home health/sleep apnea company. IMHO oth are typical of how little the foreign companies vett their US officers before hiring.

      Delete
    2. Sounds like the Erica and Hans Show

      Delete
    3. I've been selling their products for over 8yrs..... And have never heard from Erica, or know what she looks like. Great job!

      Delete
  9. As an AVP of a small company I have to agree with you. I get in the OR every chance I get to keep up my clinical acumen while staying connected to reps and docs alike. I do not look to attend cases, but cover them to free up my reps and distributors to do more productive things. I find that when I speak to my peers at meetings, most of them could not cover a case or present a product if needed. I do not understand how these people find leadership roles in companies. Maybe that is why I have always enjoyed the small company environment where your voice can be heard and you have to bring something to the table to stay fed.

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  10. 7:42 am, I agree with you about management in most of the companies not being knowledgeable enough to cover a case nor do they want to learn enough to do so. Its difficult to be a leader when you don't really know what challenges face the sales people in the field. Its not just surgeons, but OR personnel, purchasing and all those who "touch" that sale. Why does management experience matter more than management experience with clinical knowledge/background. Its no wonder that on that Wednesday before the end of the month the reps get the call from that manager asking them to have their surgeons book a case or two before the end of the month. Guess not only do they not know about how a patient gets worked up, no Mr. Manager, the patient doesn't walk in today and get surgery tomorrow, but how long it takes to get the insurance company to approve the surgery. Its time to get a reality check, the number of cases will go up, pricing will continue to fall, profit margins will shrink. Its a brave new world out there, my friend. The change isn't coming, the change has come. You must readjust your management style, or managers to reflect the change and get a reality check.

    ReplyDelete
  11. MSM,

    The Chicken little speach is getting old... The sky has been falling for a couple of years now. Anything new to write about?!?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I couldn't agree more. I've heard the same line from sales reps over the last two years - all they do is complain. Perhaps they should stop complaining and start selling.

      Delete
    2. Start selling? Dude you must live in the proverbial Ivory Tower, is that you Alex? Here are the facts Mr. Dinosaur. There are no longer 4 spine companies in spine. What worked twenty years ago no longer works. Free market? Let's try bought market and customers. You can't walk in and sell product without having to go through product committees (try 3 months at a minimum), purchasing assholes who don't have a clue because they are only budgetary people, surgeons that want kickbacks, Rapetrax, VendorRape, Hospitals that want you to pay a fee to have the right to attempt to sell your product, surgeons that want you to pay a fee to do a sales presentation in their office, OR Supers and Nurses who are not only fat and ugly, but look at salespeople as the enemy, not as part of the team. Are you a child molester? Have you ever been arrested? And all the while they continue to squeeze every nickel and dime that they can out of the vendors all for the love of delivering American Healthcare. Since you know how to criticize those doing the dirty work for your profits, why don't you come out here yourself and show us how its done Mr. Anonymous? Or are a gutless chicken shit?

      Delete
    3. Wow - That was some next level Whinning!!!

      Delete
    4. AnonymousNovember 27, 2012 8:29 AM

      Start selling? Dude you must live in the proverbial Ivory Tower, is that you Alex? Here are the facts Mr. Dinosaur. There are no longer 4 spine companies in spine. What worked twenty years ago no longer works. Free market? Let's try bought market and customers. You can't walk in and sell product without having to go through product committees (try 3 months at a minimum), purchasing assholes who don't have a clue because they are only budgetary people, surgeons that want kickbacks, Rapetrax, VendorRape, Hospitals that want you to pay a fee to have the right to attempt to sell your product, surgeons that want you to pay a fee to do a sales presentation in their office, OR Supers and Nurses who are not only fat and ugly, but look at salespeople as the enemy, not as part of the team. Are you a child molester? Have you ever been arrested? And all the while they continue to squeeze every nickel and dime that they can out of the vendors all for the love of delivering American Healthcare. Since you know how to criticize those doing the dirty work for your profits, why don't you come out here yourself and show us how its done Mr. Anonymous? Or are a gutless chicken shit?

      ************************************************************

      Crony capitalism meets corporate socialism meets surfdom. The greedy exploitation of human suffering for obscene profits. Ain't it somethin when a profession become an unregulated industry? Look how it benefits the patient.

      Have you guys ever thought of black mailing some of these crooks? All's fair in the health care free for all. Pretty soon even the far right wingnuts will be begging for regulation of this whore of an industry.

      Delete
    5. Still Tired of BallyNovember 28, 2012 at 8:56 AM

      Bally has all of the answers doesn't she. Why don't you get up and go do something other than whine and bitch about things all over the blog'o'sphere. If yo can't move because of your ailments then create something helpful. It's obvious you can still talk and type. So go do something else! Maybe something important? Try being productive Bally and stop wasting more of your pathetic life.

      Delete
    6. If you cant lift them, you cant love them!

      Delete
    7. http://biggerfatterpolitics.blogspot.com/2012/11/spine-surgeons-are-evil-and-dangerous.html

      I am informing patients and warning them about the dangers of the industry in which you work.


      “It’s amazing how much evidence there is that fusions don’t work, yet surgeons do them anyway,” said Sohail Mirza, a spine surgeon who chairs the Department of Orthopaedics at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire. “The only one who isn’t benefitting from the equation is the patient.”

      Face reality or take more Ambien to forget.

      Delete
    8. Bally Balldez sounds like the psycho chick that used to pimp Asculap and Blackstone in my area... Is that you?
      Listen to yourself - spine fusiion don't work? Yea maybe for black disc, but how about spondy, scoliosis, trauma, tumor, ACDF, etc... Not everyone in this business is as scummy as the docs that would give you the time of day.

      Delete
  12. 8:38 You're saying? What you sayin'? Wah, Wah, Wah there's nuttin' new to right about

    ReplyDelete
  13. TSB - great post and I agree with almost everything you stated with one minor exception: the MBA. I happen to be in the corporate office. I've carried the bag for several years, had a background in Finance before getting into Med Device. I am hoping to replace the old and stale exec. management thought / drones with a ground level up, no non-sense, hard work mentality, and I see getting my MBA as probably the only way to stand out in a crowded room of attention whores. The ability to break-in and break-down the good 'ol boy's clubs that reside at the top; that's the real goal; and not become another empty suit.

    Perhaps that is the better topic -- get some opinions feedback on what it takes to break-in and break-down the 'top-down' push and arrogance of executive management. Is it even worth it in a public company? Can it be done? Or are we doomed to the same fate at the prior telecomm bust? Just another fad and trend that has seen the light of day come and pass?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mommy! MommY! Momma! Lois: What! Stewie: ...Hi!

    Go Sell something!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Angst between executives, managers, and sales is nothing unique to your industry.

    Adapt, migrate, or die!

    Go to happy hour like everyone else, just don't invite your surgeon buddies, relax!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Please use my cervical plate

    ReplyDelete
  17. So many whiny little sales rep bitches on this site.

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  18. Fantasy playoffs this week!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anybody know whats going on with Paradigm and coflex? Looks like VB is screwing up again! Heard all the regional people are fleeing ship and new VP is way over his head. Distributors beware they just cut a good friend of mine for the local MDT distributor. Wonder what Big blue thinks about that.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. New VP has zero implant/spine experience..but is that not the norm nowadays?

      Delete
    2. Yep, just ask Lanx

      Delete
  20. it'll be the only growth anyone in MDT will see this year. Might win President's Club!

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  21. TSB, you should spend a week in the corporate office at Depuy, MSD, or Stryker. Talk about operating in a vacuum. Everyone in house is just politic-ing for their next job. Many have no clue what is going on in the field, or have ever been in the field. I work for one of them in the field, and sense it is not too different with the others.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Someone not-so-smart once said something very smart to me. "This is not an orthopedics company. This is a finance company."

      In the end, and at the top levels, they don't know sh*t about what the company makes and sells. All they know how to do is how to make money out of money.

      The big contradiction is, the best way to do THAT is to have a good product. A point that misses the execs completely.

      Delete
  22. I would like to know how many of the reps complaining about management have ever successfully completed an acquisition or merger? How many are able to view the industry as a global market and not just what is happening in their little backwoods corner of the world? How many have relationships with 15, 30, 50 docs? How many would be able to speak with a financial analyst without dropping the stock value? How many know how to deal with the intricacies of working with the FDA/Notified bodies to get products cleared? How many are able to establish a clear 3, 5, 7 year lifecycle plan?

    You are all pathetic and weak.

    Bottom line... Shut-up monkey boys and girls and sell. if you can't Foot Locker is always hiring.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually many of us would. If your D&@k is as big as your ego, look out girls. Your arrogance is quite evident

      Delete
    2. Your an idiot. When was the last spine merger that was successful? Global Market? If your not growing your dying! FA's are easy to spew BS to, all if the top companies have been doing it for years. I guess your asking, how much can we blatantly lie? FDA has been B@%&$ slapping the industry for a year or two now, good luck figuring out that. Not a single company has the easy pass anymore. When was the last time any if the public companies hit their plans? Everyone is taking a hit. Also, meeting Surgeons at NASS and shaking hands is not a relationship. Waking up at 2 AM to help set up for a trauma, getting a surgeon out of a cluster f?*& case, and actually understanding that what you do every day effects the patients that we see in the OR, that's what makes relationships. Keep trying to justify your useless existence with the good ole boys and us reps will keep working with the Surgeons and Patients that matter.

      Delete
    3. Nice job of bitch slapping that FA or PE, these guys all think they are so important that they forget that they put one pant leg at a time and breath the same air we do the only thing they do different is run around with their superman cape on, F&$k them

      Delete
  23. Anyone know with certainty this question?

    When MDT reports spine earnings, does the BMP category they report include DBM sales (grafton, magnifuse, etc) or is that lumped into core spine? Also, is mastergraft in core spine?

    Gratze

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. BMP is separate - mastergraft is in core

      Delete
    2. Thanks. Is grafton/magnifuse in core too?

      Delete
    3. If not, $133M this past quarter for Infuse + Grafton + Magnifuse + Progenix is pretty bad. Probably under $100M for Infuse alone.

      Delete
    4. No - the total number for Infuse and Grafton + Magnifuse + Progenix is approxiately 189M. Infuse (US)
      119 and Infuse (OUS) 14 = 133M. All of this info comes directly from Wall Street analysts

      Delete
    5. Could you post the link to that info?

      Delete
  24. AnonymousNovember 27, 2012 4:42 PM

    So many whiny little sales rep bitches on this site.
    Reply

    ***************************************************

    Can you blame them. They work in an industry where they are as disposable as the patients.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Baldy Badisease - you are ill....informed about spine. You are not helping patients in the least. Quoting Dr. Mirza above is example 1. (You can find anything on the internet to support your dementia if you look hard enough).

      But don't worry, when your dad finally passes the company over you will run the family investigation business into the ground because you are ill....prepared to do anything but whine.

      “There has never been a statue erected to honor a critic.”

      Delete
    2. Here is the entire report on the unethical and criminal behavior of spine surgeons.

      http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-12-30/highest-paid-u-s-doctors-get-rich-with-fusion-surgery-debunked-by-studies.html

      Mirza is a professor and MD.

      Need more proof from 4 more studies? If I am ill informed blame it on the studies I quote.

      You probably don't like the American Medical Association.

      Evidence that fusion is better than a simpler procedure called decompression for stenosis is “lacking,” a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found earlier this year. The study also found that fast-growing complex fusions -- those joining more than three vertebrae -- carried a 5.6 percent risk of life threatening complications, more than double the 2.3 percent rate for decompression, which usually involves cutting away damaged discs or bone pressing on spinal nerves

      British and Norwegian researchers found fusion no better than physical therapy for disc-related pain in three studies, totaling 473 patients, published in the journals Spine, Pain and the British Medical Journal between 2003 and 2006. A 2001 Swedish study of 294 patients in Spine found fusion better than physical therapy that was less structured than the kinds used in the other studies.

      Rates of complications from surgery in three of the European studies -- including bleeding, blood clots, and infections -- were as high as 18 percent. None reported complications from physical therapy. The four studies are cited in journals as the only head-to-head, randomized comparisons between the two treatments.

      In a U.S. study in Spine in 2007, surgeons reported fusion was successful in only 41 percent of 75 patients suffering from lower-back disc degeneration. Success measures included pain reduction. Two years earlier in the same journal, surgeons found a 47 percent success rate among 99 patients, 80 percent of which were taking narcotics for pain two years later. Both studies compared fusion to artificial disc replacement in trials submitted to the FDA.

      I bet you voted for Romney based on your hatred of facts.

      Delete
  25. One more thing Bally Buster, if you have a problem with the article or the many scientific studies showing that fusions often to more harm than good contact the authors and the editors.

    To contact the reporters responsible for this story: Peter Waldman in San Francisco at pwaldman@bloomberg.net; David Armstrong in Boston at darmstrong16@bloomberg.net

    To contact the editor responsible for this story: Gary Putka at gputka@bloomberg.net

    OR.... you can prove them wrong here with unbiased scientific data right here for all your cronies to see. BUT... be warned, you may encounter immutable facts and science and that may cause cognitive dissonance. Maybe you better keep lying and insulting me. Facts are stubborn things.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are my puppet.

      Delete
    2. Puppet MasterDecember 1, 2012 5:21 AM said:

      You are my puppet.

      *************************************************************

      Are you playing with your meat puppet again? This is not a porn site.

      Delete
  26. Bally is a hottie!

    ReplyDelete
  27. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_15/b4223064555570.htm?campaign_id=rss_null

    Look at what the industry you reps defend does to our military.

    Johnson & Johnson's Quality Catastrophe

    Full story: BusinessWeek
    After 50-plus product recalls in 15 months, the $60 billion company is fighting to clear its once-trusted name.

    I am hot... hot under the collar about the fact that the big companies can kill and maim Americans and can buy their way out of it. You reps should be just as hot because as they stifle innovation the device market will become an even bigger whore's market than it already is. Surgeons can buy screws, cages and plates from any merchant so what's to stop them from ordering them from China where your own companies have them manufactured?

    www.PedicleScrewsR_US.com/cheap/cheap/cheap Add to Cart.... LOL!



    ReplyDelete
  28. MSM, I would like to see a Spine Industry Hall of Shame and Dubious Achievement Awards.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. What good will that accomplish?

      Delete
    2. Altivan - ask your doctor about it bally!!

      Delete
    3. Why don't you put it on your own website, puppet?

      Delete
    4. This is actually good... here is my list:
      1. Trans-1
      2. Baxano's $4200 Gigglie Saw
      3. X-stop
      4. MILD decompression
      5. Laser Spine Institute
      PS - Future nominee: Coflex

      Delete
    5. AnonymousDecember 4, 2012 9:28 AM

      What good will that accomplish?
      AnonymousDecember 4, 2012 11:03 AM

      Altivan - ask your doctor about it bally!!
      Puppet MasterDecember 4, 2012 4:24 PM

      Why don't you put it on your own website, puppet?
      AnonymousDecember 4, 2012 8:08 PM

      This is actually good... here is my list:
      1. Trans-1
      2. Baxano's $4200 Gigglie Saw
      3. X-stop
      4. MILD decompression
      5. Laser Spine Institute
      PS - Future nominee: Coflex

      ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

      Identify the trash and then take it out. MSM has the inside information. Since a lot of reps read this blog only the real losers wit work for the gangster companies and those companies will go down the tubes even sooner.

      It'd time to trash the trash and keep the trash with the trash.

      Puppet Master would probably love working for the heavily fine Laser Spine Institute and that way he can blame the government for his failures.

      BTW Puppet master, I have posted about the spine industry.
      http://biggerfatterpolitics.blogspot.com/2012/11/spine-surgeons-are-evil-and-dangerous.html

      Stop by and leave a comment.

      Delete
    6. You see, when I pull these strings the puppet moves.

      I'm glad you posted on your site. Good Puppet.

      You have to learn why no one visits your site and you find the need to troll other sites seeking acceptance. Your presentation is rudimnetary and unrefined. Your radical views, dripping with contempt, come through in every statement. You do not "inform" but rail against anything you deem, even with limited knowledge, as abhorrent. Continue down this path and you will only destroy yourself both physically and mentally. A raving loon lashing out from a basement dwelling.

      Alas, it is time for the Puppet Master to lay this puppet to rest, for after all, puppetry is merely pretense.

      Delete
    7. You are dumber than I thought puppet master. My site is a parody of the fat acceptance movement.

      Keep working that tiny little meat puppet as you watch Faux News and blame your failures as a rep on everyone but you and the corporate goons who hired you to sell their over over priced tinker toys. People like you and your company will be falling by the wayside. This industry in being cleaned up thanks to the efforts of folks like MSM who are moral and brave enough not to fear innovation and embrace the idea of quality, unbiased science and putting patient safety first.

      Come gather 'round people
      Wherever you roam
      And admit that the waters
      Around you have grown
      And accept it that soon
      You'll be drenched to the bone
      If your time to you
      Is worth savin'
      Then you better start swimmin'
      Or you'll sink like a stone
      For the times they are a-changin'.

      If people with your anti progressive mind set were running the world we would still be in the stone age. Here's what is happening. Innovation will drive down cost and improve quality and that will make what your company makes as obsolete as you are.

      You can pull your head out of the sand or where ever it is stuck. Spine surgeries will become cheaper and better and this industry will shrink. Adapt or lose. IBM is a shell of what it once was thanks to visionaries like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The same thing is happening in this industry and you and your backwards company will be left in the dust. Your upper managment will get their golden parachutes and you will be long gone. Instead of saying, "hey doc we got some real fine screws and plates and some great bone goo" practice saying, "Would you like fries with that?" That's your future.

      What was it about this article http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_15/b4223064555570.htm?campaign_id=rss_null that bothered you the most? Was it the truth?



      Delete
    8. So how much flour does your chubby chaser boyfriend need to find the wetspot after getting off work at the video store? When was the last time you saw your feet? What was it like going to see santa sitting on his lap and having him sing these words to you" I got a fat girl on my jock"? Was Jaba The Hut your mother or father? So does your boyfriend find you in bed by rolling to find the low spot? Do you require a special toilet let me suggest using a feed bunk from the farm you fat heifer. Just how many poor cows have to be slaughtered to make a belt to go around all your guts. We never land on the moon Armstrong landed on Ballys fat asses.


      You're so fat that you're not just a ..........beep........... on the radar, you're a beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.


      Bally is so fat that when she was born her mom had to have two cessarians/

      How to fix gas prices stick a spicket in Bally

      Delete
    9. Never been to your blog puppet and like most people, I never will. We have seen what you progressives have done to innovation. Prop 30 in California? Have fun puppet.
      Spewing hatred,
      shots in the dark
      you're aim remains far from it's mark.
      This puppet dances on its own
      This puppet dances all alone.

      Delete
    10. Don't forget the 2.3% innovation killing penalty tax on med device.

      Liberals suck!

      Delete
    11. Bally, you are truly stupid. "IBM is a shell of what it once was...". That statement is so incredibly incorrect. Just like all your spewed hate and satirical misfires.

      Delete
    12. OK all you Einstiens.

      IBM is much smaller than it once was.

      I'm a Reagan Democrat and by today's standards that make me a liberal.

      Stop lying about the device tax and face the fact that the average US CEO salary 500 times more than the average worker. In Japan it's 11 to 1. You reps, especially the ones of you who can't sell and who work for companies that sell junk are disposable. Salesmen are a dime a dozen. Face the fact that the spine market in the US is a whore's market. All the good products are sold outside of North America.

      The times they are a changin. Innovation will decrease the size of your industry just as Bill Gate a liberal and Steve Jobs a liberal made IBM and their hardware approach to business obsolete. You reps are reps because you can't do anything else. You are also too obtuse to see that Bigger Fatter Politics is satire.

      Say what you want about Walmart but they are hiring. Maybe you can get a job at Home Depot. They sell screws and other fasteners and compared to junk you guys have been selling these were actually designed by real mechanical engineers.

      I feel a song coming on.

      Itemize the things you covet
      As you squander through your life
      Bigger cars, bigger houses
      Term insurance for your wife
      Tuesday evenings with your sale manager
      And on Wednesdays it's a charlatan
      orthopedic group high upon your list

      Youve got air conditioned sinuses
      And dark disturbing doubt about religion
      And you keep those cards and letters going out
      While your money lust is tempting you
      Your morals are exempting you from guilt and shame
      Heaven knows you're not to blame

      You better, Take care of business Mr. Pedicle Screw salesman
      What's your plan?
      Get down to business Mr. Pedicle Screw salesman if you can
      Before it's too late
      And you throw your life away

      Did you see your children growing up today?
      And did you hear the music of their laughter?
      As they set about to play
      Did you catch the fragrance of those roses in your garden
      Did the morning sunlight warm your soul,
      Brighten up your day
      Do you qualify to be alive?
      Or is the limit of your senses so as only to survive?
      Hey yeah...

      Spending counterfeit incentive
      Wasting precious time and health
      Placing value on the worthless
      Disregarding priceless wealth
      You can wheel and deal the best of them
      And steal it from the rest of them
      You know the score, their ethics are a bore

      Eighty-six proof anesthetic crutches prop you to the top
      Where the smiles are all synthetic
      And the ulcers never stop
      When they take that final inventory,
      Yours will be the same sad story everywhere
      No one will really care, no one more lonely than
      This rich important man, lets have your autograph
      Endorse your epitaph

      You better, take care of business Mr. Pedicle Screw salesman.
      What's your plan?
      Get down to business Mr. Businessman if you ca-a-a-n
      Hey, yeah, hey, hey, hey yeah yeah



      Delete
    13. Bally, As is your typical style, you spew lies and statements with little to no facts.
      Pull up the historical value of IBM. Today, IBM's stock is worth nearly 7 times what it traded for in 1980 (the dawn of Apple and Microsoft). Most corporations would love to have this type of value increase over a 30 year period during the most dynamic period of the computer industry. Oh yeah, almost forgot. They pay a dividend of $3.40 per share.
      My point to you is this. When you make inflammatory statements using false analogies, you loose all credibility. Frankly, from your first post on this blog your sinister, foul and lie coated opinions were obvious to most.
      I'm sure whatever industry you work within you are deemed as an blight and worthless parasite suckling from some puss oozing teat. My only wish and thought for you is to be in need of some future healthcare and every possible complication can be your companion. I'm sure you carry a healthy host of MRSA considering the putrid, flaccid brain you exhibit.

      Delete
    14. Amazing how I'm not the only one to see puppet for what she is.
      Bally is the daughter of an immigrant who made good in the US running an investigation company in CA. She is the heiress (can you believe it?)
      She has claimed to be maimed by the industry in previous blogs.
      She will tell you to stop lying when you present facts. She claims to be a Reagan Democrat (Ha!) and is ultimately dying to be relevant.
      She continues to post her blog sites on here in hopes of being heard by someone.
      Bally is a misanthrope.
      In her country of origin they would have stoned her to death for her previous comments. But hating America is in fashion and as much as she does she still is allowed to post.
      A puppet who has no idea who pulls her strings. Dance puppet! Dance!

      Delete
    15. Bally uses facts and links and has wrecked you liars.

      BTW, Romney and the GOP lost big time. Looks like lying isn't working on most people any longer. Looks to me like your lies and fact free statements are becoming as obsolete as the instrumentation you whiny clowns sell.

      FACT TIME>>>

      IBM loses server market share to rivals HP, Dell, Sun


      What strategic error did IBM make that caused IBM to lose its leading status????

      Why IBM Layoffs Are Not Rebalancing | Delusions of Adequacy
      johnsimonds.com/2012/.../why-ibm-layoffs-are-not-rebalancin...


      #4: IBM — 9,000 Layoffs
      #4: IBM — 9,000 Layoffs

      Percent of Employees Cut:

      2.1%

      Number of Employees After Cuts:

      424,362

      Description:

      Labor groups in Germany announced that the company was planning to cut as many as 8,000 employees this year. That came on top of reports that IBM had fired 1,000 U.S. and Canadian workers.

      Source: Business Insider, Bloomberg

      Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/21-biggest-layoffs-of-2012-2012-9?op=1#ixzz2Efp6YrrF

      If you can't lie about Bally better than this.... you might as well tell the truth.

      The fact remains that you so called CONservatives.... suck at business.

      Delete
    16. Thank's El,

      I love it when a lying right winger gets pwned by the facts.

      Screws and goo... LOL! These guys can get jobs in hardware stores.... maybe. They may like selling screws with threads that actually work.

      Delete
  29. Wazzup with the Globus stock price? Investors getting nervous that the Fed's are closing in?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Finally, something to talk about!

      Delete
  30. New thread, please.

    ReplyDelete
  31. This site, which I barely check anymore, is dead.

    ReplyDelete
  32. This site is as dynamic as the spine industry. Maybe all TSBs recent posts are on a mirror blog in China?

    ReplyDelete
  33. Did the Spneblogger get a job or what?

    ReplyDelete
  34. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/12/industrialists-vs-the-rest-of-us.html -

    Industrialists are not capitalists.

    Capitalists take risks. They see an opportunity, an unmet need, and then they bring resources to bear to solve the problem and make a profit.

    Industrialists seek stability instead.

    Industrialists work to take working systems and polish them, insulate them from risk, maximize productivity and extract the maximum amount of profit. Much of society's wealth is due to the relentless march of productivity created by single-minded industrialists, particularly those that turned nascent industries (as Henry Ford did with cars) into efficient engines of profit.

    Industrialists don't mind government regulations if they write them, don't particularly like competition or creativity or change. They are maximizers of the existing status quo.

    Of course, they can't abide humanity when it comes to work, because humanity is inconsistent and interested in things other than the last zero. The best employee is a robot that can be plugged into a wall.

    The stock market rewards the single-minded industrialist with short-term applause and then the relentless desire for ever more of the same growth and productivity that got them applause yesterday.

    Today's industrialists define our economy, but they offer very little promise for tomorrow. They've long bought ads to polish their image, but mostly work to alter the culture in ways that will ensure they'll get just a little bit more yield out of each of us. 64 ounce Coke, anyone?

    As long as industrialists are measuring productivity, engaging in scientific management and focused on ROI and predictability, there will always be a gap between the dreams of those they interact with and the demands of their shareholders.

    There are lots of ways to justify the work of industrialists, to point to the efficiencies and productivity they create. That doesn't mean that we must aspire to nothing more.

    ReplyDelete
  35. My Fellow Spine People, in the spirit of the Holidays, i give you the Whiskey Speech.



    "My friends,

    "I had not intended to discuss this controversial subject at this particular time. However, I want you to know that I do not shun controversy. On the contrary, I will take a stand on any issue at any time, regardless of how fraught with controversy it might be. You have asked me how I feel about whiskey. All right, here is how I feel about whiskey.

    "If when you say whiskey you mean the devil's brew, the poison scourge, the bloody monster, that defiles innocence, dethrones reason, destroys the home, creates misery and poverty, yea, literally takes the bread from the mouths of little children; if you mean the evil drink that topples the Christian man and woman from the pinnacle of righteous, gracious living into the bottomless pit of degradation, and despair, and shame and helplessness, and hopelessness, then certainly I am against it.

    "But;

    "If when you say whiskey you mean the oil of conversation, the philosophic wine, the ale that is consumed when good fellows get together, that puts a song in their hearts and laughter on their lips, and the warm glow of contentment in their eyes; if you mean Christmas cheer; if you mean the stimulating drink that puts the spring in the old gentleman's step on a frosty, crispy morning; if you mean the drink which enables a man to magnify his joy, and his happiness, and to forget, if only for a little while, life's great tragedies, and heartaches, and sorrows; if you mean that drink, the sale of which pours into our treasuries untold millions of dollars, which are used to provide tender care for our little crippled children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged and infirm; to build highways and hospitals and schools, then certainly I am for it.

    "This is my stand. I will not retreat from it. I will not compromise."

    ReplyDelete
  36. Ummm, okay. Back on topic.

    ReplyDelete
  37. MSM,
    David Paul the next Spine Oracle? C'mon... Not according to the GMED stock price... Now trading well below their IPO price.

    ReplyDelete
  38. MSM has posted article after article exposing industry corruption. For those of you who would like to see this industry cleaned up I have two words... qui tam. Google it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just so you'll know....


      Neurosurgery Salaries
      Lowest Reported Average Reported Highest Reported
      $354000 $541000 $936000

      Gastroenterology Physician Jobs Information - Salaries
      Lowest Reported Average Reported Highest Reported
      $265000 $349000 $590000

      Cardiovascular Surgery Salary Information
      Lowest Reported Average Reported Highest Reported
      $351108 $558719 $852717

      Cardiology Salaries
      Lowest Reported Average Reported Highest Reported
      $268000 $403000 $811000

      Orthopedic Surgery Salary Information
      Lowest Reported Average Reported Highest Reported
      $228000 $459000 $1,352,000

      Plastic Surgery Salary Information
      Lowest Reported Average Reported Highest Reported
      $237000 $412000 $820000

      Delete
    2. So what's your point?
      I for one could care less what an individuals makes for income. The market always decides Whats a fair price to pay. Unless you're a government official who can vote your income level and raises. And if there isn't enough money in the budget, just forcibly take it by taxation.
      I don't think it's fair to pay a plumber $40 per hour to lay pipe or unstop my drains, but that's what the market has settled on.
      By the way - its called the "Practice of Medicine".

      Delete
  39. AnonymousDecember 9, 2012 8:29 PM

    So what's your point?
    I for one could care less what an individuals makes for income. The market always decides Whats a fair price to pay. Unless you're a government official who can vote your income level and raises. And if there isn't enough money in the budget, just forcibly take it by taxation.
    I don't think it's fair to pay a plumber $40 per hour to lay pipe or unstop my drains, but that's what the market has settled on.
    By the way - its called the "Practice of Medicine".

    ========================================================================================================================================
    Your argument is wrong on every level.

    Basing human health and treatment of disease on market conditions is evil but that is not the worst of it. In spite of the fact that American MDs are paid 2 to 3 times the world average we have a shortage of doctors. Where I live there are a lot ot foreign doctors who can barely speak English and the only reason they are here is for the $$$$$$$$$$$$

    Market forces do not dictate prices in many cases. The medical market is manipulated. The industry does not exist to cure disease they exist to make a profit and that's all well and good when you are dealing with a commodity. Human health is not a commodity and should not be exploited for obscene profits.

    It's not a matter of fair or unfair. It's a matter of morality. You plumber analogy is dishonest. You can negotiate prices with a plumber and get estimates. You can't do that with a doctor. Because of the doctor shortage in the US there is not competition. Health care inflation is out of control.

    American doctors in most cases are not working in the best interests of their customers. Sick people are medical consumer now. They are no longer patients.

    The only thing that holds doctors accountable are the few medical malpractice lawyers.

    Americans who graduate from medical school are not going outside the US to get in the doctor business but American patients go outside the US for better medical care.

    Foreigners are not coming to US for health care. We have the worst spine care in the industrialzed world. Our spine care is disgraceful. India has better spine surgery than the US.

    We can play semantics but that will not change the fact that the spine industry in the US is rife with corruption and fined as much and the drug industry.

    Let's go back to your plumber analogy. If the plumber does bad work he won't get paid and he may have to pay to fix his blunders. The Medical industry is the only industry where doing bad work is more lucrative than doing good work.

    Americans pay 3 times the world average for health care but the US is ranked dead last in the industrialized world for quality. The free market argument is laughable because there is no free market when the consumer is given no choice.

    ReplyDelete
  40. Wow. Another rant full of generalized fallacies. You really should be sure to take your meds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Another whiney screw & goo salesman beaten by the facts offers a lame and fact free retort.

      Anonymous aka ANY MOUSE did not refute anything Bally wrote.

      "Ain't no money in the cure, the money's in the medicine...that's how a drug dealer makes his money, on the comeback." Chris Rock

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L926GhAMNvs Watch the video.

      Delete
    2. I thought I was blind till I saw you!

      Thank you soooo much for shedding the light of truth on everything. Thank goodness for your clarity and, and...

      I'm sorry. I just threw up in my mouth.

      Really. Please go peddle your trinkets and remedies somewhere else. Cause we ain't buying!

      Delete
    3. Nice work El! Another hapless rep is devoid of facts, logic and reason.

      Delete
  41. Closed door and hallway meeting, all day, at Pioneer Surgical. Suits all over the place.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's called being sold!!!!

      Delete
    2. And what would be the purpose of buying Pioneer? They have no unique product or technology.

      Delete
    3. I know you spine 'tards aren't the most astute business minds but for your information...at times businesses will buy another for the increase of just revenue and profits. It does not always need to be all about products or technology. But how about scale? Pioneer has several surgeons who are on their consulting list who are also shareholders. They are very loyal to the company and if the business is purchased, it could certainly line the pockets in the shot run by finally giving them some liquidity. In addition, the acquiring company will also be able to benefit off the simple measure of additional revenue and related profits. It's just numbers in the end. (sorry for grammar..I just didn't want to take the time)

      Delete
    4. From one Spine Tard to another.
      No company in their right mind would buy Pioneer to scale up their sales. As you pointed out, many of Pioneer's surgeon users are investors. Once they hit their payday they may very likely move quickly to their next potential payoff. The purchasing company would likely see a 20 to 25% loss of sales through surgeon attrition and sales rep departures.
      Given that Pioneer Spine is less than $50 mil a year in sales and after a purchase would generate at best an ongoing $40 mil - again I post my question. Why would any company buy Pioneer Spine?
      More likely the suits are all meeting and running around trying to figure out how to stay liquid as they begin paying the 2.3% Medical Device Tax starting in January. Let's face it. If your company is trying to figure out liquidity and how to even begin being profitable, it's too late!
      Companies with liquidity problems in Spine - now there's a discussion point. I'll start...
      Alphatec. What other companies do you all believe are in serious trouble?

      Delete
    5. It's probably being bought by a vulture capital groups with bank loans and private capital. The vultures will risk no money of their own. They will borrow more money on the company lay off workers to show huge short term profits and then sell the shell to some suckers. Google Romney Damon Corp or Romney Clear Channel to see all the details on how it is done.

      Delete
    6. Bally,
      SHUT THE HELL UP!
      You are such a myopic, self-important troll. Your ignorance oozes out of you as your responses are all single cell minded with no ability to actually respond to a post other than with your predetermined political agenda.
      YOU ARE BORING AND PREDICTABLE.

      Delete
  42. This is what happens when you let a post run waaaaaay to long. MM we need an intervention here. New post or perhaps all the nonsensical political ranters will start eating each other.

    Let start a discussion on 3D printing how this will change the manufacturing landscape for spine. Just a suggestion...

    ReplyDelete
  43. The Spineblogger is finished. I'm sad to say that MM has completely lost control of this blog.
    Unfortunately the likes of Bally and El have been allowed to take control of this blog and add nothing but their own political, single minded rants to every post. They have been allowed to constantly call us reps criminals, murderers, incompetent and so forth. While there are certainly those within our profession that have engaged in questionable behavior, for the most part, we are individuals who feel that as long as we work within this industry we have a responsibility to be of value to the healthcare staff and place the patient first.
    This blog used to be a place to come and have relevant discussions that involved our industry - yes, I know there was the occasional sniping and juvenile activity that took place. However, for the most part, the post were active with individuals discussing industry happenings. I miss the "When's Globus going public?" post.
    So, what's a spine rep to do? Put up with the broken record statements of Bally and El, delete this blog from our computers, start our own blog or maybe take up more serious reading. I guess we all have to decide how relevant and valuable this blog is.
    The Spineblogger of the past will be missed. RIP
    J

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousDecember 11, 2012 7:04 AM Said:

      The Spineblogger is finished. I'm sad to say that MM has completely lost control of this blog.
      Unfortunately the likes of Bally and El have been allowed to take control of this blog and add nothing but their own political, single minded rants to every post. They have been allowed to constantly call us reps criminals, murderers, incompetent and so forth. While there are certainly those within our profession that have engaged in questionable behavior, for the most part, we are individuals who feel that as long as we work within this industry we have a responsibility to be of value to the healthcare staff and place the patient first.
      This blog used to be a place to come and have relevant discussions that involved our industry - yes, I know there was the occasional sniping and juvenile activity that took place. However, for the most part, the post were active with individuals discussing industry happenings. I miss the "When's Globus going public?" post.
      So, what's a spine rep to do? Put up with the broken record statements of Bally and El, delete this blog from our computers, start our own blog or maybe take up more serious reading. I guess we all have to decide how relevant and valuable this blog is.
      The Spineblogger of the past will be missed. RIP
      J

      ****************************************************************************************************************************

      It would appear that El and I struck a nerve. It also appears that the whiney screw and goo crowd don't have a factual comeback.

      Nobody has called you reps criminals. You guys are merely errand boys. What you do is between you and or conscience.

      By all means, start your own blog but as to the criminal and unethical behavior that goes on in your industry... well... that's a matter of public record and for every incident of wrong doing that get found and brought to light there are many many more that don't.

      What you reps don't get is that this isn't somebody selling and misprepresnting consumer products. This is not Toyota with a sticky accelerator pedal or Chinese toys with some lead paint on them. This is part of a trillion dollar industry that ie the medical industry that is not only poorly serving its customers, it is maiming them.

      We know about the clinical trials that are a sham. We know about the huge fines and we know about the lack of criminal prosecutions. Let's take the bone goo scandal and compare it with Toyota. Mr Toyota himself was grilled by congress but what happened to the clinical investigators who lied about the safety and efficasy of the bone goo. Were any of them brought infront of congress and grilled? Did any of these thugs even lose their medical license? How many deaths will it take?

      What's a spine rep to do you ask. You can come back with a counter arguement instead of sophomoric insults but the problem is you lack the facts to support and honest argument.

      In defense of the spine rep... When you went into this industry you probably did not know or expect the level of corruption and wrong doing. You thought that if you did your job you would help yourself and others. I was a very good sales rep and one reason for that is because I knew the competition and I also did right by my customers. We had a good product line. We were also selling to industries and government that were subject to regulations and oversight. When we came across someone looking for a kickback we gave them the opportunity to be honest of dishonest.

      Delete
    2. Continued...

      When a medical practice makes a rep pay to merely present products that is unethical and probably illegal. PODs are illegal but they exist. My ethics would not allow me to work in such a cesspool and I actually feel for you reps. You guys seem to get treated like crap by your customers and your companies and knowing that surgeons are making more in a week in salaries alone than you will see in two years.

      The work I did was that of a sales rep and a configurations engineer. My business was to make companies more efficient and profitable but I worked in a very ethical and competitive industry selling cutting edge technology that today is obsolete. Things were moving very quickly then but today most of those companies are gone due to innovation. What you reps don't get is that your industry would shrink if there were more innovation. Your industry doesn't want innovation but neither did mine but our customers did. Their needs drove innovation and that innovation made products better and more cost effective. Your customers would be hurt by innovation but the end use aka patient/medical consumer is being hurt both physically and financial by lack of innovation.

      The bottom line is... Medicine should not be a business.

      Based on what I have read from the reps who post here, I can out sell you with one brain tied behind my back. Let's be honest; you guys are not the sharpest cheddar and they don't want you to be the sharpest cheddar. In the industry in which I worked we had to be sharp. You guys go in and do a tap dance for some surgeons who have seen the act a million times whereas I had to go up against companies that were competitive and who offered solutions similar to ours. In our business the sleazy types did not last long.

      MSM has posted many articles and nobody is stopping you from commenting or starting your own blog. These blogs are free and if you like you can monetize it and censor all you want. Killing the messenger will not stop the fact that innovation will decrease the size of your industry. It did with mine and I will with yours.

      I don't know if you reps believe the crap you say. Maybe it is a defense mechanism to help you believe in your company, their products and the industry at large. The truth is, what you guys do can be done on a website called Spines Are Us.

      Page one: Hardware Buy our our screws and register for a free trip to Paris to see real spine surgeons at work.

      Page two: Bone Goo: We have Cord Crusher, Cancer Causer and Bone Grow Wild

      Page three: Tools Stryker DeKompressor prelude to fusion.

      Page four: Kickback

      Page five: PODs Sell and promote our crap to other greedy surgeons. Mention this ad and get a Spine R Us frequent buyer rewards card to buy anything.

      I see a the potential for a pyramid scam here like Amway.

      They don't even need you reps you can be replaced by a web site and Pay Pal.




      Delete
    3. Medicine should not be a business?

      What should it be then? Do you believe there would be more or less innovation in general if medicine was NOT a business? You can argue what you wish regarding costs, pricing, greed, cheating, lying to patients etc but do you really see ANYTHING as not a business?

      How the business is structured is the issue.

      Delete
    4. Bally, stop typing so much... and do a sit-up OR THREE

      MM, Block Bally or I go elsewhere!

      Delete
  44. Spineblogger needs to add a like/unlike feature and allow it to be parsed. Maybe more unlikes push that comment out of the blog.

    Either way the suits are gone. No news or further info

    ReplyDelete
  45. RIP?? spineblogger??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Did someone in the industry take a hit out on him?

      Delete
  46. Folks,, What is there exactly to talk about in Spine? The answer?? NADA.

    ReplyDelete
  47. This blog is over. Good riddance to this shit heap of slander, lies, and whining. Thanks Bally for putting the final nail in the coffin. Happy holidays!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry that you cannot refute the facts. MSM rarely censors and you reps have every opportunity to present facts and sources.

      I have read a lot of MSM's article and they are all accurate and sourced. Much of what he posts is a matter of public record same as my posts and his opinions are his opinions based on incontrovertible documented facts and scholarly articles. You reps could do the same if you had the facts on your side. You know what the big players in your industry are doing and if you could pull your heads out of your butts not only will you see that it is screwing the patient but it is also screwing you. The fact that you defend creeps that make more in a year than any of you will ever see in 3 lifetimes is pathetic. You guys will bust your humps for a few scraps and you are still at the mercy of people who if they ran your company into the ground would still be set for life. Where is your golden parachute?

      If you think I am wrecking this blog you should thank me but the problem is Spine Blogger is high in the Google crawl and I would bet that if gets close to 100K page views a day.

      Spine Blogger has a respectable page rank and I can, using some simple SEO methods crank it up higher. It already has a respectable Alexa rank. MSM's articles are being read by doctors and patients.

      I hope the day comes when he posts interviews with some of the world's top surgeons.

      Delete
    2. You miss the point Bally!
      None of the previous post are questioning the postings by MM as being factual or at times a scolding statement about the industry. The problem, is that you and EL add nothing of substance to any of the post except your typical politicized, demeaning and dripping with venom indictments on the medical industry. By the way, MM works within the industry.
      It's obvious that you and EL have serious issues with the medical industry. However, when a simple post by an annonymous poster is asking "what company is developing the next greatest widget?" neither you nor EL can post anything without calling the reps stupid, ignorant, criminals and so forth.
      It's the continued rep, company and surgeon bashing that you two engage in with every post. That's the problem. MM has a responsibility to his readers to not allow one or two individuals to(hijack) constantly post their negative and deriding opinions that have nothing to do with a question or post at hand.
      You have the right to free speech. However, this is the Spine Bloggers Blog. Let's see if MM decides to limit how many times you post the same type of response on every posting.
      If it stays as is, I for one will choose not to continue reading Spine Blogger since every discussion devolves into mud slinging and name calling started by Bally and El. I know of several others reps that say they don't even go onto the site any longer because there doesn't seem to be the value of discussions that existed in the past.
      I do have a question for each of you though. You two have made statements that no good spine devices are sold within the U.S. You've use words such as trash and garbage - your latest is "screw and goo". How cute. It's only O.U.S. that has good products. Not to say we sell the same products in the U.S. that are available in the E.U., but you do realize the same cervical plates, pedicle screws and many other products we sell here in the States are also sold abroad?

      Delete
    3. No sense in wasting your time with him. Somebody already did a rebuttal to his early post on surgery vs non surgery and the unbiased facts in that regard. In true BB/FB ignorance, he completely missed it. I just wasted two minutes more talking about this clown.

      Delete
  48. any companies offering good products and high points that anyone knows about?

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  49. I take it someone has passed away.............

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  50. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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