D. Scott Kreiner, M.D. has been named president of the North American Spine Society (NASS) during the organization’s recent 39th Annual Meeting in Chicago. Dr. Kreiner is board-certified in physical medicine and rehabilitation and is the director of Interventional Spine and Sports Medicine at Barrow Brain & Spine in the Phoenix area.
“I am very excited to serve as the NASS President,” Dr. Kreiner said. “Over the last 20-plus years, I have gained a great deal of insight on spine care and leadership through my interactions with spine surgeons, nonsurgeons and staff who work with this organization. One of my goals is to try and facilitate a collaborative relationship between all the specialties for the betterment of spine care. None of us can do it alone.”
Dr. Kreiner told OTW, “I have been involved on the Executive Committee for a couple of years now and I have pretty good understanding of the state of the organization and at this point I think it is about keeping things moving in the right direction.”
“We have gone through a lot of changes with regard to the board, finances, and management over the last few years and I think stability will be good. I look to maintain and further the collaborative relationships that Dr. Ghogawala initiated during his presidency. We have made good inroads working with neurosurgery for billing and coding issues. I would like to expand the collaboration regarding clinical care as it relates to procedures amongst various specialties.”
After earning his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering and medical doctorate degree at the University of Arizona, Dr. Kreiner completed a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He then returned to Arizona and joined Ahwatukee Sports & Spine, where he became a partner and the Fellowship Director for 17 years before the practice merged with Barrow in 2018.
At Barrow, Dr. Kreiner works solely in the musculoskeletal medicine realm, with an emphasis on interventional spine. Dr. Kreiner also serves as the pain management physician for the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals. His interest in evidence-based medicine and health policy has led him to serve in many roles related to these interests including chair of NASS’s Evidence-based Guideline Development Committee, co-chair of the Coverage Committee, and director of the Evidence Analysis and Research Council.
OTW asked Dr. Kreiner about his background in biomechanical engineering, “I think it regularly affects my approach to how I clinically direct patients. It helps navigate diagnoses if you understand how mechanics affect the spine and other joints. It also aids treatment from a nonsurgical standpoint, in particular with regard to physical therapy, lifting techniques, etc, and helps with understanding when surgery may be a better option, with issues of sagittal balance and instability.”
When OTW asked what orthopedic surgeons might not appreciate about physical medicine and rehabilitation, Dr. Kreiner noted, “I think spine surgeons that work with physiatrists have a good understanding of how positive that clinical collaboration can be on clinical care.”
“Physiatrists with fellowship training in interventional spine are comfortable with diagnostics, reviewing imaging, and developing treatment plans that potentially include surgical intervention when appropriate. I believe that the approach towards patient care is similar and it makes communication easy. I personally co-clinic with surgeons on a weekly basis and being able to review images and treatments together has really been beneficial for the surgeons and non-surgeons.”
