St. Paul, Minn.-based HealthEast System plans to open a spine clinic in a space formerly occupied by a Gander Mountain Store in Maplewood, Minn., according to a Twin Cities Pioneer Press report.

A new Neuroscience and Spine Center, part of a $223 million expansion project at St. Cloud (Minn.) Hospital, opens its doors May 22, according to a St. Cloud Times report.

Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, Mass., has added a spine center to its surgical offerings, according to a Newburyport News report.

United Hospital Center in Bridgeport, W.Va., will partner with West Virginia University Healthcare to open a new neurosurgery, spine and pain center, according to a WBOY report.

Richard Kube, MD, an orthopedic spine surgeon, formed Prairie Spine & Pain Institute in Peoria, Ill., three years ago with the goal of becoming a comprehensive integrated care spine center. This month, he got one step closer to his goal by opening an ambulatory surgical treatment facility, fully accredited by the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care. Prairie SurgiCare was designed for exclusively spine and back pain patients, and with a strict timeline Dr. Kube and his team were able to open the center only three months after beginning the project.

Stephen Hochschuler, MD, founded Texas Back Institute in Plano in 1977 with Ralph Rashbaum, MD, and Richard Guyer, MD. During that time, consensus seemed to believe that the physician's role was to focus on taking care of patients and not to worry about the business of medicine, according to Dr. Hochschuler.

"There is a saying in spine — you never want to be the first, you never want to be the last [to do something new]," says Brian Massoud, MD, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Spine Centers of America in Fair Lawn, N.J.

Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg, Va., has opened The Center for Advanced Joint and Spine Care, according to a Village News report.

How do you increase profits at a spine center? It might seem basic — bring in a higher volume of patients. However, reaching patients is not always easy. Additionally, there are other ways to increase a spine center's profitability such as decreasing costs and widening the specialties and services offered.

Here are 20 spine surgeons focusing on scoliosis.