News & Updates
AAOS Action Items
Medicare Cuts
Once again, America’s physicians find themselves faced with dramatic Medicare payment reductions that exacerbate all other care delivery challenges. AAOS has provided a summary of the current proposal and an easy-to-use tool to message your members of Congress. Comments are due
Tuesday, September 6. Please take a few minutes to respond: https://www.aaos.org/advocacy/advocacy-action-center/payment-policy-changes
AAOS responds to CMS Request for Information on the Medicare Program
SCOA joined 39 other orthopaedic specialty societies in signing the request for information letter submitted by AAOS regarding prior authorization requirements for Medicare Advantage plans.
Access the letter by clicking here.
Thank You for Another Incredible Meeting in Kiawah Island!
Join us in welcoming the 2022-2023 Executive Committee:
President
Heather McIntosh, MD
SCOA is honored to celebrate Heather McIntosh, MD as its first female President. We are particularly gratified to recognize that Dr. McIntosh first attended SCOA as a Resident at MUSC. She presented multiple papers at Annual Meetings likely with no goal of one day leading the Association.

The role SCOA played in her professional development makes her especially committed to enhancing opportunities for SC’s orthopaedic residents to connect meaningfully with practicing physicians. She is also motivated to heed Dr. Kneisl’s keynote advice to Cultivate Your Tribe by developing your people. She is hopeful we can grow SCOA membership toward that end. Dr. McIntosh is committed to building relationships with legislators as we promote CON Repeal and seek their support to enhance health care quality by ensuring appropriate scopes of practice for all types of non-physician providers. 

Dr. McIntosh earned both her bachelor’s and medical degree from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, completed residency at MUSC and completed a fellowship in sports medicine at the Lake Tahoe Orthopaedic Institute. She practices at Roper St. Francis in Mount Pleasant.
President-Elect
Chris Bray, MD

Vice-President
Todd Tupis, MD

Secretary/Treasurer
Christopher Mazoue, MD

Immediate Past President
J. Benjamin Jackson III, MD, MBA
Leadership Council
​Member Slots
 
Daniel Scott, MD, MBA 

Keith Gettys, MD 

Seth Bowman, MD

Trey Gurich, MD

Kristen Nathe, MD

Peter Ramsey, MD

Guillaume Dumont, MD

Erik Hansen, MD

Jeremy Saller, MD 
Board of Councilors

Shane Woolf, MD

S. Wendell Holmes, MD
Leadership Council
​Resident Slots

Jonathan Pire, MD

Alex Burnikel, MD

Rachel Glenn, MD
Congratulations to our 2022 Annual Meeting Winners:
Resident Research Winners:

1st Place:
Rachel Glenn, MD

2nd Place:
Rebecca Senehi, MD

3rd Place:
Charles Johnson, MD
Poster Winners:

1st Place:
Ryan Allen BS

2nd Place:
Evan Bailey, BS

3rd Place:
Dillon Graham, MD 
Articles of Interest
Price Transparency Hospital Compliance Tool
Patient Rights Advocate is a non-profit, non-partisan organization focused on improving healthcare quality through healthcare price transparency. PRA has recently issued its Semi-Annual Hospital Price Transparency Compliance Report and updated its state-by-state search tool: https://www.patientrightsadvocate.org/state-by-state-hospital-compliance.
 
This information is helpful for assessing the level of price transparency in your practice’s market. Additionally, it’s a helpful tool to evaluate the potential competitive advantage implementing price transparency in your practice or ASC may provide.
The No Surprises Act is Still Full of Surprises for Medical Providers
On August 19, 2022, the Departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Labor and the Treasury issued a new series of frequently asked questions (FAQs) addressing multiple aspects of the No Surprises Act (NSA).
While medical practices have been most focused on navigating the Good Faith Estimate portion of the NSA, health plans and insurers also have specific obligations under the Rule largely centered around calculating payment for out-of-network emergency care and communicating that information to medical providers. The updated FAQs address these obligations among other topics.
 
The details are complex, but medical providers may use the NSA dispute resolution process to submit a billing complaint against a health plan that isn’t complying with their NSA obligations. Understanding health plan requirements seems particularly relevant for surgeons providing emergency coverage to patients enrolled in plans without networks or in networks that do not include the surgeon.
 
We are sharing several links below, but we hope to provide more information via webinar before year-end:
 
Questions 1, 13 and 17-21 warrant review.
Question 13 indicates that the Standard Disclosure and OON Consent
documents provided to patients must be updated by January 1, 2023.
Sample notices are included in the FAQ Appendices.
 
 
Learn on Your Schedule
Past webinar topics include:
  • ​Marketing, Social Media, & The Physician Practice: Legal Implications
  • Physician Financial Relationships & Conflict of Interest Policies
  • Online Patient Journey & the Physician Practice Part 1: Reputation Management
  • BRACE YOURSELF with Compliance Tools for Medicare’s new DME Requirements
  • Making MIPS Work for Orthopaedics
  • ​Short-staffed. Short-tempered. Short-timer.
  • And more!
Member Benefit: Discover OrthoEvidence
Our members receive complimentary access to OrthoEvidence (OE), which is the global online source for high quality and timely orthopaedic-only evidence-based summaries, pre-appraised by orthopaedic medical experts.
Thank You To Our Corporate Partner:
South Carolina Orthopaedic Association www.scoanet.org
844-234-7800