Resolutions Committee Holds Open Hearing Tomorrow

Richard N. Peterson, JD

The AAOS Resolutions Committee will conduct an Open Hearing regarding the proposed resolutions of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (Academy) and the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (Association) on Wednesday, March 20, at 1 p.m. in Room S101B of McCormick Place. All fellows are encouraged to participate.

Two newly proposed Academy resolutions and two other Academy resolutions up for their 5-year review will be considered. In addition, five Association resolutions will be considered as part of the 5-year review process.

Copies of all resolutions and the recommendations of the Board of Councilors (BOC), the Board of Specialty Societies (BOS), and the AAOS Board of Directors were included in the official meeting notice sent electronically to each fellow in January.

The Resolutions Committee encourages all fellows to attend the open hearing and express their opinions before the committee makes its recommendations on the resolutions. All fellows will have the opportunity to vote on the recommendations of the Resolutions Committee on each of the proposed resolutions shortly after the 2013 Annual Meeting.

Academy Resolutions
Two newly proposed Academy resolutions and two other Academy resolutions up for their 5-year review will be considered.

Resolution 1—Provision of Orthopaedic Care in Rural America: If adopted as proposed, this resolution would require that the AAOS do the following:

establish a Project Team to conduct a study regarding the provision of orthopaedic care in rural America and the degree to which access to orthopaedic care is limited or not available
develop proposals to increase access to orthopaedic care in rural communities
consider the establishment of a standing AAOS committee to monitor and augment rural orthopaedic care

The BOC, BOS, and the AAOS Board of Directors do not recommend the adoption of this resolution as Academy policy. However, the BOC and BOS adopted an Advisory Opinion on this topic, which the AAOS Board of Directors adopted at its December 2012 meeting.

Resolution 2—Residency Duty Work Hours: If adopted as revised by the BOC and the BOS, this resolution would require the AAOS to “work with other surgical and medical specialty societies to encourage the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) to substantially relax the existing residency duty hour restrictions and to oppose further residency duty hour restrictions in recognition of these restrictions’ demonstrated lack of effectiveness in improving patient safety and their deleterious effect on surgical and medical education.”

The BOC, BOS, and AAOS Board of Directors recommend the adoption of this resolution.

Resolution 3—Enhanced Role of Practicing Non-Surgical Orthopaedic Physicians: If adopted as recommended as part of the 5-year review process, this resolution would require the AAOS to continue “to support members who provide nonsurgical orthopaedic care” and “provide educational opportunities of particular interest for members who provide nonsurgical orthopaedic care.”

The BOC, BOS, and AAOS Board of Directors recommend that this resolution be retained.

Resolution 4—Health and Fitness Assessment and Maintenance: If adopted as recommended by the AAOS Board of Directors as part of the 5-year review process, this resolution would require the AAOS to “continue its efforts to promote health and healthy lifestyles through education of the Fellowship and the dissemination of information to the general public.”