Has your local hospital asked you about full-time employment? Are you considering trading the hassles of an independent practice for the security of a hospital position? Before you make any decision, you’ll want to check out the new primer from the AAOS Health Care Systems Committee (HCSC), with input from the Practice Management Committee.

Hospital Employment of Orthopaedic Surgeons was introduced at the 2010 AAOS Annual Meeting and is the fourth in a series of primers designed to provide AAOS members with basic information and important tools for decision-making. Previous primers covered human resources, electronic medical records, and picture archiving and communication systems.

“The content of the Primer relates primarily to orthopaedic surgeons who are considering hospital-based employment,” says Kevin J. Bozic, MD, MBA, HCSC chair. “Much of the information, however, applies to already-employed orthopaedists, or orthopaedic surgeons in any practice setting who are in competition with a hospital-based physician group.”

The primer consists of the following nine major sections, plus a list of additional resources:

• Reasons physicians are seeking hospital employment
• Reasons hospitals are seeking to employ orthopaedic surgeons
• Types of hospital employment
• Potential drawbacks
• Determining feasibility and appropriateness of becoming a hospital employee
• Legal considerations
• Tips for ensuring long-term success
• Using consultants and advisors effectively
• Implications of increased employment of physicians by healthcare institutions

For more information or to download a free copy of the AAOS hospital employment primer, visit the online Practice Management Center. The Practice Management Center also contains additional hospital employment-related information.