Orthopaedic Surgeons Get Results at NOLC

Elizabeth Fassbender

The 2015 National Orthopaedic Leadership Conference (NOLC) brought approximately 400 orthopaedic surgeons from around the country to Capitol Hill to talk with legislators about issues important to the orthopaedic community.

Meet Your New Partner—Uncle Sam

Frank B. Kelly, MD; Mary Ann Porucznik

During the 2015 AAOS Now Forum on “Orthopaedic Economics in 2020,” John Cherf, MD, MPH, MBA, chair of the AAOS Practice Management Committee, outlined the impact of government initiatives on orthopaedic practices, both now and in the future. Calling passage of the 1965 Social Security Act, which incorporated both Medicare and Medicaid, “the most significant health reform of the twentieth century,” Dr. Cherf also noted the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, as “landmark legislation” in the twenty-first century.

Tips for Limiting Scope of Practice Expansion

lMaureen Leahy

Defining the scope of practice for a healthcare provider is often challenging, particularly when nonphysician providers want to step beyond traditional roles. However, it is patients who are most at risk when physicians and nonphysician healthcare providers are allowed to administer musculoskeletal treatment outside of their areas of training and experience.

Leveling the Playing Field for Out-of-Network Providers

Leslie Howard, Esq. By definition, a “level playing field” is about fairness, a system in which all players abide by the same set of rules. This system requires transparency and consistency of the rules, their definition, and their interpretation. The rules should be outlined in a playbook that all players can access and understand. Unfortunately, for out-of-network (OON) providers in today’s medical reimbursement world, the field is sorely off balance.

What to Do When the EHR Goes Down

Howard Mevis

When you were considering the purchase of your electronic health record system (EHR), the company’s sales representative probably pointed proudly to the system’s reliability and minimal “downtime.” This is the amount of time when the system fails for any reason. Most companies describe their EHR reliability as 99.99 percent. So what do you do when the 1/100 of a percent occurs and the EHR goes down—whether in the middle of the day or at 2:00 a.m.?

Apply Now for the LFP

The Leadership Fellows Program (LFP) offers an exciting opportunity available to all AAOS Fellows who are age 45 and younger by January 31, 2016. The LFP is a 1-year program that begins at the AAOS Annual Meeting. The program’s goal is to facilitate the development of future AAOS leaders from younger members who have previous volunteer or leadership experience. The LFP combines didactic and experiential leadership training with an ongoing mentoring program.

Domestic Medical Tourism: Coming to a Center Near You

Daniel K. Moon, MD, MS, MBA; Charles Carroll IV, MD

Although medical “tourism” and itinerant surgery have been part of the medical profession since its inception, Domestic Medical Tourism (DMT) is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon. As a result, physicians and surgeons are faced with both practical and ethical considerations not previously encountered. In this two-part series, members of the AAOS Ethics Committee will outline some of these considerations, in the hope that they will be included in discussions on the topic.

Maintaining a Successful Orthopaedic Practice in a Post-ACA World

Michael A. Swarzman, MA, MBA

As a group, orthopaedic surgeons repeatedly demonstrate a strong, focused, and independent (entrepreneurial) spirit. As a clinical discipline, orthopaedics historically has been one of the most profitable services for hospitals and health systems. With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010, however, the rules for maintaining a successful orthopaedic practice changed virtually overnight.

Orthopaedic Coding Q & A

Mary LeGrand, RN, MA, CCS-P, CPC

It’s time to test your knowledge! Before you read the answers to the following questions, ask yourself what you would do. Then check your response against the answer. Excision of osteophytes with revision TKR Q. The new joint reconstructive surgeon performed his first revision total knee replacement (TKR). He dictated that he removed several osteophytes and he wondered what Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code to use to report this work.