title: Impacting policy change for orthopaedic trauma.
abstract: Traumatic injury, which remains the leading cause of death for Americans aged 1 to 44 years, costs the United States over $400 billion because of loss of productivity and medical services each year. Yet, over the last few decades, there has been decreased funding for trauma centers. The 2010 Affordable Care Act is just the start of health care reform, and Congress will continue to create and change policies directly impacting medical care. In this article, we evaluate how orthopaedic trauma surgeons can have a lasting impact on the nation's health care policy through organizations and advocacy on the local, state, and federal levels.
authors.affiliation: *Vanderbilt Orthopaedic Institute Center for Health Policy, Nashville, TN; and †Department of Orthopaedics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.forename: Hassan R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Mir
authors.forename: A Alex
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Jahangir
authors.forename: Samir
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mehta
authors.forename: Manish K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Sethi
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008119:Lobbying; D009985:Orthopedics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D058991:Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012955:Societies, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014194:Traumatology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States