A new study shows that a high volume arthroscopy center can achieve cost savings by switching from the standard in-flow only pump to in-flow/out-flow pump, according to a DePuy news release.

Marc Philippon, MD, managing partner at The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo., and director of hip research at The Steadman Philippon Research Institute, recently chaired the 7th Annual Vail Hip Arthroscopy Symposium.

The guidelines that refer to physician and coding staff associated with CPT code 29880 and 29881 changed when chondroplasty is performed with a meniscectomy, meaning the change for 2012 is with the meniscectomy CPT codes — not with the chondroplasty CPT codes, according to an AAOS Now report.

American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine announced they will hold their first hands-on skills course for residents and post-resident fellows.

Here are 18 statistics about orthopedic surgeon subspecialty areas of practice based on data from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons' 2010 Orthopaedic Surgeon Census.

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1. 39.6 percent of surgeons identified arthroscopy as their area of practice
2. 39 percent identified as adult knee
3. 38 percent identified as sports medicine
4. 29.1 percent identified as adult hip
5. 17.8 percent identified as total joint replacement
6. 17.3 percent identified as hand
7. 16.5 percent identified as shoulder and elbow
8. 12.3 percent identified as adult spine
9. 11.4 percent identified as foot and ankle
10. 10.7 percent identified as trauma
11. 6.5 percent identified as no specialty
12. 4.8 percent identified as non-operative practitioners
13. 4.2 percent identified as pediatric orthopedics
14. 3.3 percent identified as disability or legal orthopedics
15. 2.8 percent identified as pediatric spine
16. 1.9 percent identified as other specialty
17. 1.2 percent identified as rehabilitation/prosthetics/orthotics
18. 0.9 percent identified as orthopedic oncology

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CONMED has announced it will launch several new sports medicine devices over the next week, according to a company news release.

Robert Marx, MD, an orthopedic sports medicine physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery, recently published an article on performing surgery for small medial meniscocapsular separations to treat chronic medial-side knee pain, particularly in young female athletes. Several articles in the literature show female athletes are more likely to incur knee injuries than male athletes, possibly due to a difference in their biomechanics.

Simionix, a company that provides medical education and simulation training, has purchased ARTHRO VR, a virtual reality arthroscopic training simulator, from Spain-based GMV, according to a company news release.

The Accreditation Association of Ambulatory Health Care Institute for Quality Improvement recently released the data from a survey on performing knee arthroscopy in surgery centers. The survey gathered data from 40 organizations that perform more than 11,000 procedures annually.

Researchers from The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colo., have traveled to Paris for the International Society for Hip Arthroscopy meeting to present their research into the causes, prevention and treatment of hip disorders, according to a practice news release.