President's Message

By Quanjun (Trey) Cui, MD
President, Virginia Orthopaedic Society

Quanjun (Trey) Cui, MD
VOS President

As we move into the harvest season of the year, I would like to take this opportunity to do two things - to share with you the great news from our 2017 Annual Meeting Program chairs and to ask you to become involved with VOS missions in the area of education and legislative endeavors.

We are pleased to announce that the world renowned orthopaedic trauma surgeon, Dr. Andrew Burgess, and hip preservation and arthroplasty surgeon, Dr. John Clohisy, have kindly agreed to serve as our Presidential Guest Speakers for the VOS 2017 Annual Meeting. We look forward to their presentations in Charlottesville. Thanks to the Annual Meeting Program Chairs and the Program Committee for their hard work and strategic planning.

The Boar's Head Inn provides a world class retreat in an exceptional destination, offers the very best that Virginia has to offer, from championship golf and tennis to local wineries and hot air ballooning, a relaxing afternoon at the spa after your conference or majestic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains. You're sure to find an array of activities to make the most of your attendance at the Annual Meeting. We would like to see as many members, fellows, residents, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners at the meeting as possible. Please join us for this unique opportunity to enjoy all that Charlottesville has to offer and an outstanding scientific and social program.

While we are preparing a high quality education program for our Annual Meeting, I encourage all of our VOS members (and nonmember orthopaedic surgeons in the Commonwealth of Virginia) to become actively involved in state and national legislative issues, especially those associated with medical reform. It may sound strange, but in reality, it has been affecting what we do on daily basis. In my mind, this means advocacy for our patients and our profession.

VOS representatives met with congressional staffers in Washington, DC to discuss their professional concerns.

The VOS representatives joined the AAOS team during the National Orthopaedic Leadership Conference (NOLC) in Washington, DC, met with congressional staffers (see photos) to discuss the Healthy Inpatient Procedures Act (HR #4848), the Flexibility in EHR Reporting Act (HR #5001), the Protecting Access, Competition and Equity (PACE) Act for Physician-owned Hospitals (HR #2513), and the Sports Medicine Licensure Clarity Act (HR #921), asking CMS to continue evolving the CJR model as new data becomes available. The good news is that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation will be stratifying BPCI target prices within DRGs 469 and 470 to “with fracture” and “without fracture” categories similar to the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement model’s methodology. This will create four target prices for primary joints instead of two. Implementation of the new methodology is targeted for October 1, 2016.

Despite many successes, we continue to have serious challenges ahead of us. We have to act proactively. Unity is critical for our success in this new environment; we must team up with the Medical Society of Virginia locally, and with AAOS and its subspecialty associations nationally to tackle many legislative issues that will affect our practice and patients’ care. The Virginia Ortho PAC has been our premier voice in Richmond. With support from our members, together with Ortho PAC, we can achieve our mission of educating policymakers about our professional concerns. The VOS Board has been 100% in support of Ortho PAC in the last three years at the leadership level ($500 or above). Please consider contributing to the Orthopaedic PAC at whatever level you can.

Thank you, and I look forward to working with you for a productive year.