IAOS President Doug Evans and IAOS BOC Representatives John Cherf and Chuck Bush-Joseph attended the AAOS Board of Councilors (BOC) meetings this week and several points warrant mention:
- The AAOS has increased the amounts of grants available to state orthopaedic societies with grants up to $20,000 available with competitive review.
- The BOC and the 3 of us endorse the AAOS Bylaw changes as needed to improve the AAOS governance structure to make the society more nimble to face coming challenges. We ask all IAOS members to vote "Yes" with the upcoming AAOS ballot that will be sent to your email in the next 30 days.
- The entire BOC as well as the 3 of us are OrthoPac contributors and hope that all our members will contribute. Surprisingly, the current federal budget crisis has provided an opportunity to correct the perpetual Medicare Fee schedule crisis. The AAOS Advocacy Chair Adam Bruggeman MD has met with Speaker Michael Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune and assured the "Doc Fix" will be part of the 2025 Budget Reconciliation Bill to be introduced in April to continue the expiring 2017 Trump Tax cuts. Please consider contributing for 2025 as this represents the best chance to eliminate the perpetual reductions in our reimbursements. Currently only 15% of IAOS members contribute to the OrthoPAC. You can text "OrthoUnity" to 41444 and make a contribution. https://www.aaos.org/aaosnow/2024/dec/advocacy/advocacy01/
- We will be attending the 2025 AAOS National Orthopaedic Leadership conference in Washington DC September 14-17, 2025. We will be meeting with our Ilinois Congressional delegation with selected residents from our academic training programs to press our case. Follow IAOS on Instagram @iaos.24
Doug Evans MD
John Cherf MD
Chuck Bush-Joseph MD