Vol. 3 July 2020
Coronavirus, masks, social distancing, shutdown, pandemic…. all words that have become commonplace in the last four short months. More recently, we’ve pivoted to words like resurgence, re-closing, spike in cases, testing rates, contact tracing, etc. All of this is unprecedented, leaving our world in turmoil, and there seems to be no end in sight. That said, the OrthoForum first and foremost hopes that you, your families and your colleagues are safe and well. The novel COVID-19 virus has created challenges for all of us – at home, at our clinics/ASCs and beyond. In fact, the only thing that remains certain during this time is uncertainty.
The OrthoForum has worked to remain a valuable resource for members during the hurdles of 2020. As most of you know, the OrthoForum hosted conference calls in the months of March, April and May with the intent to create a space for our members to share, brainstorm and commiserate about the many impacts of COVID19. We also created a resource center on our website which includes notes from the aforementioned calls, legislative updates and valuable guidance from our members and partners. We continue to update this resource as new information becomes available. Please login to theorthoforum.com to take advantage of this members-only webpage.
Though our lives have been turned upside down and our plans challenged, we remain dedicated to offering our membership the same services and support before, during and after COVID-19. All of what we learned in our Annual Conference about future industry trends remains valid. We believe that the movement toward accepting more delivery risk and developing more direct employer contracts will increase. Look for updates in this newsletter on our plans and activities to take advantage of this important trend. As we continue navigating these ever-evolving circumstances, please let us know how we can support you best.
2020 MEETING SCHEDULE UPDATES
With COVID-19 dictating our 2020 scheduled events, there have been some significant changes to our calendar. Please see below for an updated listing of our meetings. Especially note that we’ve reduced our regional meetings from four to two. Of course, we understand that state mandates and safety concerns could change these plans entirely. Rest assured that you will be the first to know of any future changes or cancellations.
- Asheville OrthoForum & Atlantic OrthoForum Meeting –
September 24-26, 2020 at Omni Nashville Hotel (Nashville, TN) - Western OrthoForum & Reynolds OrthoForum Meeting –
October 1-3, 2020 at Omni Barton Creek Resort (Austin, TX) - OrthoForum Therapy Services Meeting –
October 15-17, 2020 at JW Marriott Hill Country Resort and Spa (San Antonio, TX) - OrthoASC/OrthoHospital Meetings –
November 4-5, 2020 at JW Marriott Chicago (Chicago, IL) - OrthoConnect Annual Conference –
November 5-7, 2020 at JW Marriott Chicago (Chicago, IL)
ORTHOFORUM MEMBERSHIP MANAGEMENT TOOL
The OrthoForum has adopted a new membership management tool. Our new software will help us to interact with members more efficiently, streamlining communication and allowing us to reach specific audiences for specific messaging. In addition, we will be able to better facilitate connecting our members with their counterparts across the OrthoForum for easy networking.
While this technology will be used as an in-office tool for OrthoForum staff only, we will solicit your help occasionally to maintain its accuracy. Be on the lookout for emails from Vanessa Helgerson, OrthoForum Member Success Manager, once or twice a year to make sure your practice profile information is up to date and, as always, continue to send us updates as changes occur within your practice. Thanks for helping us make the most of our new tool!
ORTHOFORUM PUBLIC IMAGE
The OrthoForum has made the strategic decision to establish a more robust public-facing image. With this initiative, we hope to create a far-reaching presence with audiences such as physician candidates, potential sponsors, employers, the larger healthcare community and, of course, our current membership. This project will take on two initial phases: (1) a presence on social media platforms and (2) a revamp to our existing website. We would like to ask for your help in growing our social media brand and visibility.
If you don’t already, please take a moment to follow @TheOrthoForum on LinkedIn. We also have an OrthoForum presence on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. On these platforms you will find OrthoForum original content, reposts from valuable articles and thought leaders, conference information and more. We appreciate your help and thank you for your support!
TRENDING TOPICS FOR WEBINAR CALLS
Another exciting venture is our newly established ‘Trending Topics’ webinar calls. As some of you know, the OrthoForum has started hosting presentations in an effort to provide members with information on current and exciting topics in the world of orthopaedics. Each webinar will feature a different topic of interest pertinent to the ever-evolving healthcare environment. The first call, titled Telework Metrics and Management, provided registrants with metrics, seasoned telework leaders and a Q&A session which aimed to assist members in leading and evaluating offsite teams. If you would like to access the video and presentation for this webinar call, please visit theorthoforum.com.
Note that these calls are not mandatory, but we hope you will be able to participate and that you find the information timely and valuable. We look forward to continuing to partner with members, sponsors and outside speakers to bring you presentations on today’s Trending Topics. If you have questions or topic suggestions, please contact Karen Simonton, OrthoForum Strategic Alliance Director, at ksimonton@theorthoforum.com.
COVID-19 may have delayed our rollout, but the OrthoForum Vendor Grades website is still one of our strategic initiatives for 2020 and we are planning to go live in the coming weeks. The goal of OrthoForum Vendor Grades is to help you make well-informed decisions on orthopaedic products and services by connecting you with honest feedback from your peers. Our directory will provide members with ratings, reviews and information from OrthoForum colleagues who have had direct experience with the services listed. Be on the lookout for emails from OrthoForum staff that will invite you to login via the OrthoForum website, leave reviews and gain insight. OrthoForum Vendor Grades – Just another way to make the most out of your membership!
DIRECT EMPLOYER CONTRACTING
As many of you know, Karen Simonton joined the OrthoForum staff earlier this year as our Director of Strategic Alliances. Her primary focus has been to build on the information that was shared at our Annual Conference regarding the direct to employer contracting movement. She is actively investigating the development of a nationwide orthopaedic network composed of OrthoForum and OrthoConnect members that will allow us to take advantage of this significant new trend. Here is her report of work done so far.
The OrthoForum is proud to announce a collaboration with the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), naming the AAOS Registry Program the recommended registries for OrthoForum members. The four registries include the American Joint Replacement Registry (AJRR), the Shoulder & Elbow Registry, the Musculoskeletal Tumor Registry and the American Spine Registry, which is a collaboration of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and AAOS. All of the AAOS Registries support the OrthoForum’s mission of providing member groups with access to the latest best practices and benchmarking tools.
In addition to providing scale, objectivity, subspecialization and patient-reported outcomes, the AAOS Registry Program will help members raise patient, benefit plan advisor and employer awareness about the importance of measuring Patient Reported Outcomes within each practice. The AAOS Registry Program will be an important part of OrthoForum members’ internal quality programs. Even more, the Registry Program presents the opportunity for OrthoForum members to review their cases against a growing list of national statistics and analytics. For more information on the AAOS Registry Program, click here.
To view the official press release announcing this partnership, click here.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT
You’ve likely seen them at numerous OrthoForum conferences. Hopper Marketing works behind the scenes, helping with many of our marketing initiatives from web development and design to video and social media.
Joe Hopper, MBA
President
Prior to starting Hopper Marketing, Joe worked for over a decade in the media industry, managing marketing for Oklahoma’s largest newspaper and online news site, numerous magazines and publications, and a variety of new media initiatives. Joe has over 20 years of experience as a marketing strategist, a researcher, a practitioner, and a college marketing professor. With Hopper Marketing, he specializes in strategy, design, all aspects of digital and traditional marketing, and web development. Joe is also a bit of a musician in his spare time.
Samantha Marcus
Director of Client Services
Samantha specializes in strategic communication and serves as client liaison overseeing all content marketing development and social media management for Hopper Marketing. She is also skilled in a number of other areas, including photography, design, video editing, SEO, and advertising campaign development. Sam has helped at OrthoForum conferences with photography, video, and registration as well as creating and managing conference materials.
Dave Morris, MBA
Director of Video
Dave manages video development at Hopper Marketing. You may recognize him as the guy behind the camera at the OrthoForum conferences. He has over 25 years of experience in digital storytelling. His digital media efforts have won three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, two EPpy Awards, a Digital Edge Award, two Katie Awards, and numerous AP honors. His work has also been nominated for four Emmy awards and has won multiple Telly and W3 awards. He’s also a semi-pro piano player.
