Practice Management Strategies Among Current Members of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons

Abstract

BackgroundA survey was conducted at the 2015 annual meeting of the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) to determine current practice management patterns among AAHKS members. MethodsA survey was conducted by the session moderator during the annual AAHKS meeting using an audience response system. A series of practice management issues were reviewed with AAHKS members. The survey contained multiple choice and yes and no questions. The audience responses were collected in a central database and then immediately displayed for the audience to review. ResultsThe survey responses provided interesting data on a variety of topics including: surgeon demographics, surgical activity, practice status, use of physician extenders, sources of ancillary income, the use of electronic medical records and surgeon satisfaction. Interestingly, 51% of AAHKS members remain in private practice and fee for service remains the most common form of compensation (48%). The vast majority of AAHKS members do not perform hip arthroscopy (86%) or hip preservation procedures (87%). ConclusionValuable information regarding practice patterns of AAHKS members was obtained from this survey. Future surveys will need to focus on 3 areas of activity: surgeon involvement in bundled payment programs frequency of submission of patient data to a joint registry and the frequency of outpatient total joint arthroplasty.