Longtime NCMS board member Jeff Donner, MD, cares deeply about implementing the best orthopedic care in northern Colorado and around the state and nation, and is actively working to collaborate with other providers in our region to improve quality and reduce costs of spinal procedures, and improve awareness of osteoporotic fractures.

Board certified and fellowship trained in spinal surgery, Donner is the owner of Colorado Spine Institute (CSI) in Johnstown and has been caring for northern Colorado patients for 25 years. He specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of spine pain involving the entire spine, including the cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacroiliac areas as well as all extremities and joints. He has performed thousands of spinal and orthopedic surgeries using many innovative surgical techniques to help patients suffering from disabling pain.

Donner was the first ambassador for the National Osteoporosis Foundation (NOF), and has presented at multiple national and international spinal symposiums on the diagnosis and treatment of a variety of spinal problems.

One of his presentations at an NOF meeting focused on the treatment of osteoporosis and spine fractures. As Donner explained to the audience, osteoporosis is a disease characterized by weakened and fragile bone tissue, leading to an increased risk of fracture. Nearly 54 million of the 99 million Americans over age 50 in the United States have been diagnosed with osteoporosis or low bone mass. As a result, many older Americans face a risk of fractures and loss of mobility; two million osteoporosis-related fractures are reported each year. The annual cost of osteoporosis is currently estimated at $19 billion and is expected to rise to $25 billion by 2025. Calcium and vitamin D play important roles in bone health, as well as weight-bearing, muscle-strengthening and balance exercises. Some medications are available to help treat osteoporosis or are in development.

Osteoporosis can lead to fractures, and vertebral fractures are common, have serious clinical consequences, are predictive of future subsequent fractures and often go undiagnosed. For these reasons, he encourages primary care physicians and physicians in orthopedic specialties to do more to detect and treat vertebral fractures, which may change diagnostic classification, assessment of fracture risk and clinical management. Treatment of painful vertebral compression fractures include vertebral augmentation, or placement of bone cement into the fractured bone through a small incision, and balloon kyphoplasty, or insertion of a balloon into the fracture bone to restore/improve bone height followed by cement through a small incision.

Learn more through an upcoming webinar from the American Orthopaedic Association, “Identification and Capture of Fragility Fracture Patients.” The webinar will be held Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018, 4 p.m. MT., during which Anne Lake from Wake Forest Baptist Health discusses how to successfully capture fragility fracture patients to ensure they receive osteoporosis education and treatment recommendations. Click here for more information and to register.

Through CSI, Donner has taken steps to ensure its osteoporotic fracture patients receive the treatment and care they deserve through participation in The AOA’s Own the Bone® quality improvement (QI) program. He urges other northern Colorado hospital systems and practices to join him and the over 230 health care institutions nationwide that have taken initiative to ensure their osteoporotic fracture patients receive the treatment and care they deserve.

The Own the Bone program and its national web-based quality improvement registry connects Donner’s staff with the tools to establish a fracture liaison service (FLS) and to document, track and benchmark care of fragility fracture patients. Through an FLS program, a care coordinator, such as a nurse or physician’s assistant, ensures that fragility fracture patients are identified, evaluated and treated.

Donner’s practice received an Own the Bone Star Performer designation in 2017, an achievement reserved only for institutions that perform the highest level of fragility fracture and bone health care. Own the Bone Star Performers like CSI must achieve a 75 percent compliance rate with at least 5 of the 10 Own the Bone prevention measures, including educating patients on the importance of Calcium and Vitamin D, physical activity, falls prevention, limiting alcohol intake and quitting smoking; recommending and initiating bone mineral density testing; discussing pharmacotherapy and treatment (when applicable); and providing written communication to the patient and their physician regarding specific risk factors and treatment recommendations. 

Donner is a member of numerous societies including the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, the North American Spine Society, the Spinal Arthroplasty Society, the International Spinal Intervention Society, the International College of Surgeons, the Colorado Medical Society and the Northern Colorado Medical Society.

For more information about Own the Bone, visit www.ownthebone.org. For more about Donner and the Colorado Spine Institute, visit www.colospine.com.