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Physician Owned Hospitals

While it is clear that physician owned hospitals provide high-quality and cost conscious care, Section 6001 of the Affordable Care Act prevents the further establishment or expansion of physician owned hospitals.  Since it is the role of the Board of Councilors (BOC) to advise the AAOS Board of Directors regarding “matters of importance to orthopaedic surgeons,” the issue of physician owned hospitals received much attention at the recent NOLC in Washington, D.C. and the issue was addressed in two important ways.  First, there was active lobbying on Capitol Hill requesting support of H.R. 2513- The Promoting Access, Competition, and Equity Act (PACE).  H.R. 2513 seeks to suspend the ban on expansion for approximately 3 years.  Second, an advisory opinion requesting legislative relief regarding physician ownership of hospitals was developed with support of the BOC and Board of Specialty Societies (BOS) and will be submitted to the AAOS Board of Directors. For more details regarding H.R. 2513 and a list of co-sponsors go to:  https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/2513/all-info

As your WOA representative to the AAOS Board of Councilors, I look forward to discussing and representing your concerns on advocacy related matters.  Please feel free to contact me.

Bryan Moon, MD
[email protected]


DISCLAIMER: Statements of fact and opinion are the responsibility of the authors alone and do not imply an opinion or endorsement on the part of the officers or the members of WOA unless such opinion or endorsement is specifically stated.