Spine care in the US has been mired in a crisis of rapidly rising costs with rapidly declining outcomes for patients. Disability related to spine-related diseases (SRDs) is on the rise, costs of medical care for SRDs have skyrocketed in recent years, and despite rising costs there is no evidence of improvement in the quality of care. Across the medical community, many believe that one of the key solutions is for the health care system to have a group of practitioners who are trained to function as primary care practitioners for the spine.