Top spine surgeons reap royalties, medicare bounty

Norton Hospital in Louisville, Ky., may not be a household name nationally. But five senior spine surgeons have helped put it on the map in at least one category: From 2004 to 2008, Norton performed the third-most spinal fusions on Medicare patients in the country.

The five surgeons are also among the largest recipients nationwide of payments from medical-device giant Medtronic Inc. In the first nine months of this year alone, the surgeons?Steven Glassman, Mitchell Campbell, John Johnson, John Dimar and Rolando Puno?received more than $7 million from the Fridley, Minn., company.