MEDIA ALERT: March 8, 2010

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The Ethical Approach to Physician-Industry Relationships
Media briefing scheduled for public discussion of disclosure and policy

NEW ORLEANS —The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) at its 2010 Annual Meeting will host a media briefing in which panelists will present new research data and discuss ethical relationships between surgeons and orthopaedic industry.

For this briefing, AAOS welcomes Kirk Ogrosky, Deputy Chief of Health Care Fraud in the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), as a special guest panelist. Mr. Ogrosky coordinates DOJ criminal matters with all U.S. Attorney’s offices, the FBI and other federal bureaus. He works directly within the health care fraud division on complex health care fraud cases.

The briefing, which will be held on Friday, March 12, 2010, from 10:15 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. in Room 206 of the Morial Convention Center, will give reporters a chance to ask questions and learn more about the Academy’s position on industry relationships. The briefing immediately follows a surgeon symposium on the same topic.

“The relationship between surgeons and orthopaedic industry is essential. There always has been and always will be enormous patient benefit when these stakeholders come together. However, when these relationships are not apparent, this can cause patients to question the motivations of an individual or the specialty, which is why the Academy has removed all grey area. Everyone who participates in any way in the Academy, discloses everything. It is as simple as that.”said James D. Capozzi, MD, who is the Chair of the Academy’s Ethics Committee. Dr. Capozzi, an orthopaedic surgeon who practices in New York, will serve as the moderator for the briefing.

The Academy has required disclosure from all presenters and leaders within the organization for years. In February 2010, the disclosure process was expanded further to include more information from all participants in AAOS education programs, committees, leaderships structure, authors of AAOS publications and research and presenters at conferences, workshops and courses. Additionally, the updated disclosure database is a year-round disclosure database, which will be housed online and available to the public.

The briefing participants include:

• Moderator James D. Capozzi, MD
• AAOS President Joseph Zuckerman, MD
• Special Guest, Kirk Ogrosky, Deputy Chief for Health Care Fraud of the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.
• Scott C. McGovern, MD
• Christopher White, MD, General Counsel for Advamed
• Kathleen McDermott, JD, a nationally recognized health care attorney based in Washington DC.  

Corresponding New Research

Panelist and Orthopaedic Surgeon, Scott C. McGovern, MD, will present the results of his study entitled, “Patient Perceptions of Surgeon-Industry Relations” One of the study’s findings is that while the majority of patients believe that surgeons should advise device manufacturers, patients also believe these same surgeons should advise patients of this relationship. Learn more about this study.

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