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Orthopaedic Surgeons Work On Congress

While it was pushing for a “doc fix” to delay cuts in Medicare payments to physicians, the PAC of orthopaedic surgeons contributed over $360,000 to Congressional candidates, leadership PACs, and party committees during the first quarter of the year.  

The PAC of the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons  contributed $361,650 to federal candidates during the first quarter. Orthopaedic surgeons deal with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. The surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal trauma, sports injuries, degenerative diseases, infections, tumors and congenital disorders.  

The PAC reported  receipts of $495,670 and disbursements of $368,386 during the first quarter of the year, leaving $1,104,723 cash on hand as of March 31st.  

In 2013, the PAC raised $1.7 million and contributed $1.2 million, with 60% going to Republicans. In 2011-2012, the last full election cycle, the PAC had raised $2.8 million and contributed $2.6 million, with 71% going to Republicans. View their PAC financial profile .  

Many orthopaedic surgeons are concerned about legislative activity on Medicare matters, medical liability reform, and payment fees. The Wall Street Journal reported that in the recently released list of top 2012 Medicare payments in the orthopaedic specialty area, the second and third ranked doctors received a combined payment of $4.39 million. In the listing of the highest-paid two percent of doctors there were 309 orthopaedic providers who were paid a total of $205 million.  

In 2012, the American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons reported spending $1.7 million on lobbying the federal government. In 2013, the association spent $1.6 million on their lobbying expenditures.  

On March 31st, the Senate passed the “doc fix” one year delay in cuts to Medicare payments to physicians.  The House had passed the matter on March 27th.

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