was time for an all-employee meeting.
Then, the news came in: The Laser Spine Institute, the company that
had billed itself as the nation's leader in minimally invasive spine sur-
gery, was closing at the end of the business day, shuttering its 4 sur-
gery centers in Tampa, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Scottsdale, Ariz., and
laying off almost 600 employees nationwide who'll long recall March
1, 2019, as Black Friday.
"It was shock," says Dr. Koser, who had worked as a chiropractor
for the company since late 2017. "You had people gasping. People
were crying. Other people were just really disappointed that they
found out like that with no warning essentially."
Since 2005, Laser Spine Institute had become known for the kind of
profit margins that would garner envy from any C-suite executive, and
its slick marketing strategies drew patients from around the globe.
After the company collapsed, Laser Spine CEO Jake Brace said the
company received an ultimatum from its lenders: Find an investor to
keep the business afloat in the next week or cease operations and liq-
uidate your assets.
How did Laser Spine fall so far, so fast? Interviews with company
staffers, analysts and others in the industry provide a glimpse of what
happened behind the scenes that led to the epic collapse.
A lucrative model
Since its founding 14 years ago, Laser Spine offered patients a tantaliz-
ing promise: You'll pay a premium for our care — $30,000 upfront cash
payments for laminotomies were common, says a former employee —
but we offer a 5-star experience, a 98% patient satisfaction rate and a
novel laser approach to back surgery that's better and safer than tradi-
tional open procedures with a faster, less painful recovery.
The company took its case directly to the public via powerful mar-
A P R I L 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 3 5
