Spine Center of Excellence

The Salem Health Spine Center is an official Spine Center of Excellence (COE), certified by the Joint Commission.

The Joint Commission makes sure that a hospital’s program:

Follows established national standards
Makes decisions based on medical evidence
Constantly measures and improves performance

The ultimate point of the standards is to make sure you get the right treatment at the right time, every time.

What is especially rewarding about earning Center of Excellence (COE) recognition is that it makes Salem Health Spine Center the model that other spine centers all over the country will follow when they create their own programs.

It’s an honor for us to serve as an example of what’s possible when doctors, surgeons, hospitals and patients all work together with a common goal.

The Salem Health Spine Center’s triage and patient navigation program, now known as guided patient services (GPS), opened in 2008. It started as a way to speed up the referral process and help patients understand their options for care.

Since then, the program has grown to include surgery, preoperative education and postoperative therapy that put the patient at the center of his or her own care.

The Spine Center was listed in Becker’s 2012 Hospital Review publication: “101 Hospitals With Great Spine and Neurosurgery Programs,” and was recognized for being a Blue Distinction Center of Excellence for Spine Surgery.

Patient stories

Watch a Spine Center testimonial from a real patient success story. From medicine to exercise to surgery, patients explain how they finally got the relief they needed. See more here.