PMID: 9111391

Issn Print: 0021-9355

Publication Date: 1997/04/01


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A Time for Renewal*

Douglas W. Jackson

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Excerpt

Renewal entails monitoring and evaluating what is working, reaffirming what is essential, and making the adaptations to the changing environment. Renewal is a process that every established organization and profession must go through in changing times if they are to remain vibrant and relevant. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons has a renewal process, a dynamic strategic plan, in place for our organization. This was developed with broad-based input from members. This living document is constantly renewed by the Board of Directors. This renewal process for our organization is working. The challenge before us is the renewal of our profession and the role that the orthopaedic surgeon will play in the health-care-delivery systems of the twenty-first century.
Because the changes that we are experiencing in our professional lives as orthopaedic surgeons are so profound, I want to reassure you that I am focused on the present. While I feel strongly that renewal for our future members is a commitment that we need to address, I want you to know that I am here to serve the current members of The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and the patients whom we serve.
You will be hearing the details of the multiple array of current and ongoing projects and programs that The Academy is engaged in from our President, Dr. Ken DeHaven, at this meeting. You will be hearing the progress of these ongoing projects in the coming year through the methods of communication that we have with you. In addition, two areas of special renewal will occur this year. This March, your Board of Directors and Council on Education will hold a workshop, which will culminate one year of preparation looking at the education of orthopaedic surgeons in the year 2001. The changes impacting adult continuing education will require the renewal of our strong tradition and commitment to innovative and quality education. You will be reading about and experiencing the outcome of this work.
The other area of renewal this year will evolve as the Medicare-reform debate proceeds. Our organization will need to step up and be part of a responsible debate, representing the patients whom we serve and the professional concerns of our members. Personally, I have come to the point in my practice that the continued one-sided cost reductions as a solution to financing health care have gone too far. We need to continue to be part of a solution that empowers patients, rewarding those who are responsible for their own health and lifestyles, and that offers portable coverage, choice, and access. We need to continue to work toward a system that returns the real savings from health-care cost reduction to the patient and the providers and not to an investor. Simply reducing reimbursement to providers does not address these real, basic issues. You will be hearing additional details of The Academy's Medicare-reimbursement coalition-building activities and individual efforts in the April edition of the Bulletin.
What I want to focus on today is the renewal of our profession and the role of the orthopaedic surgeon. Take your thoughts away from our situation today and think about the new members sitting in your seats as well as those of you who will be attending our Annual Meeting in ten to twenty years. Our profession will continue to be impacted by changes that The AAOS cannot respond to alone.
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