A 4,000-square-foot therapy gym is part of the new Marc A. Asher Comprehensive Spine Center at Kansas University Hospital in Kansas City, Kan. The center also has 27 exam rooms, four specialized diagnostic rooms and 11 procedure rooms, allowing patients to have tests, treatments and therapy sessions in one location.

Kansas University Hospital is opening a new $5.5 million center for back problems on Monday.

The Marc A. Asher Comprehensive Spine Center will bring orthopedic surgeons, neurosurgeons, neurologists, psychiatrists, pain management anesthesiologists and rehabilitative medicine into one 22,000-square-foot center on the ground floor near the main entrance of the hospital. It occupies the space vacated when the cancer center moved to Westwood.

“The big thing is that the specialists involved in any aspect of spine care will be in one area working together,” said Dr. Lisa Hermes, medical director of the center.

The center’s goal is to cut down on fragmented care where patients go from doctor to doctor with little, if any, communication and there’s no particular goal or long-term plan for the patient.

“That’s what we are trying to avoid, and that’s what we plan to do here is get that continuity of care,” Hermes said.

Key to the approach is the introduction of a spineologist, which is a specialist who evaluates each patient’s condition and medical history before making a diagnosis and treatment recommendation. The spineologist assembles the most appropriate team of specialists for each patient.

“It’s a good way to get a patient into the system and then from that point get their care all done in a more efficient manner,” said Hermes, who is a spineologist.

The new center contains 27 exam rooms, four specialized diagnostic rooms, 11 procedure rooms and a 4,000-square-foot therapy gym, so patients can get tests, treatments and therapy session in one location.

The center is named after Dr. Asher who began working at the hospital and medical center in 1972. In 1989, he and colleagues introduced a spinal implant system, which is now one of the most commonly used systems in the world to treat spine deformities. Asher, who is retired, continues to do research, consulting work and recruitment for KU.

The spine center has a learning and resource center in the front lobby and it’s named after longtime rehabilitative medicine leader Dr. George Varghese, who is department chairman of rehabilitation medicine and a spineologist in the new center.

According to the National Institute of Health, back pain is the most common medical problem affecting eight out 10 people at some point in their lives.

“There is so much misinformation out there about back problems,” Varghese said in a press release. “There needs to be reliable, unbiased and scientific information available to patients.”

The center will take patients by appointment or referral. Its phone number is (913) 588-1227.