June 1997 AAOS Report

AMA, Committee on Diversity report to board

• Michael Ile, an American Medical Association (AMA) attorney, discussed the tactics of the federal government in investigating teaching hospitals for possible fraud. The AMA objects to the government retroactively applying today's standards in judging billings done years earlier. Ile disclosed that the AMA planned to sue the U.S. Justice Department and Inspector General of Health and Human Services to stop the tactics.
• Board-member Edward Anthony Rankin, MD, reported that the Academy's Committee on Diversity held its first meeting in April. The committee, which will develop a three-year program, discussed a number of activities including identifying the barriers women and minorities face when entering the orthopaedic profession and developing strategies to overcome the barriers. The committee also discussed developing mentoring programs for minority medical students modeled after the Ruth Jackson Orthopaedic Society 's mentoring program for women.