Issue

Comeback in the Crescent City

Jennie McKee

Two years after Katrina, New Orleans orthopaedists are rebuilding their practices and their city When Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast—and New Orleans, in particular—in August 2005, it destroyed entire towns and displaced thousands. After living through the desperate conditions following the hurricane, when civil services came grinding to a halt and much of the city was under water, AAOS members had to put their personal and professional lives back together.

Pictures add power to your presentation

Carolyn Rogers

How to find just the right images to make your PowerPoint presentations POP! Have you ever sat through the “PowerPoint Presentation from Hell”? Most of us have. It’s long and tedious—a dreary succession of slides filled with tiny text, presented by a lackluster speaker who doesn’t seem to notice that the audience isn’t paying attention. When it’s your turn to stand at the podium, how will you keep your audience riveted to your talk—not drifting off toward dreamland?

Increase reimbursements with electronic coding, billing

J. Brian Gill, MD, MBA

For the last several years, orthopaedic practices have seen professional reimbursements decline while practice expenses increase. According to AAOS census data, private pay insurance in orthopaedic practices declined from 38.7 percent of total revenues to 17.1 percent of total revenues between 1988 and 2004. For the same time period, payments from managed care programs increased from 11.6 percent to 33.8 percent of total revenues and Medicare/Medicaid payments increased from 26.4 percent to 31.

Are your collection agency accounts collecting dust?

Jennifer Bever, MS, FACHE

Do you know how much money your collection agency recovered last year? If you don’t, how can you evaluate their effectiveness…or your return? Although patient balances forwarded to a collection agency are often considered “lost causes,” there would be little point in using such services if that were always the case. Some patients simply do not respond to practice statements or internal collection letters.

P4P: Participation now may pay off later

Jennie McKee

Meeting quality indicators may eventually affect your financial success How do you feel about pay-for-performance (P4P)? Regardless of your answer, it’s very important that you realize the growing influence of P4P and understand what P4P may require of you in the future. A panel of experts discussed these and other issues at the 2007 BONES Society Annual Conference.

Are you saving with the AAOS Group Purchasing Program yet?

Steven E. Fisher, MBA

Collective buying power could save you 20 percent or more on supplies Ever since the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) Group Purchasing program, powered by Esurg Corporation, was rolled out at the 2007 Annual Meeting, AAOS members have been signing up and saving 20 percent or more on their medical/surgical, office, and pharmaceutical product needs.

Get ready now for National Action Week

Annie Hayashi

Celebrate the Bone & Joint Decade, Oct. 12-20, with programs and materials from the AAOS and the USBJD “Starting out as an orthopaedic surgeon, I never thought of myself as a public speaker. But I have found myself in front of groups of 300 people talking about preventing and treating musculoskeletal conditions. I think this volunteer work is very important,” says Kimberly J. Templeton, MD, who chairs both the U.S.

“Fit to a T” program promotes bone health