Wilford Gibson, MD, president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, said he’s optimistic for the next generation of surgeons amid headwinds in the specialty.
Fresh off the AAOS 2026 Annual Meeting, Dr. Gibson said he’s seeing a buzz among younger physicians, and he hopes to see more empowerment when it comes to advocacy within the organization.
Dr. Gibson, of Atlantic Orthopedic Specialists in Virginia Beach, Va., discussed his perspective on orthopedics’ top challenges and how the AAOS will support the next generation of surgeons.
Note: This conversation was lightly edited.
Question: What would you say are some of the biggest challenges, some of the biggest curveballs facing this next generation of orthopedic surgeons, and how will the AAOS support them?
Dr. Wilford Gibson: Our next generation is really our future. There’s hope for the organization, and I saw a lot of enthusiasm [at our Annual Meeting]. In one room, I saw about 500 medical students that want to do orthopedics, so that’s very inspirational.
I think some of the challenges are consolidation of insurance companies, consolidation of healthcare delivery systems and decreasing reimbursement. That’s one side of the problem. The other side of the problem is the increasing administrative burden and cost of practice.
We have to advocate for all of our members and all types of practice opportunities, but we require a level playing field. The way you level the playing field is the money. As many other people have said before, if there’s no money, there’s no mission. We support the membership demanding payment reform with positive updates such as the Medicare economic index. We’re looking at site neutral payments where appropriate, and we need to ease that administrative burden on unilateral patient outcome measurement requirements and prior authorization. We need all of our members engaged, and we need to create alliances with our specialty societies and other organizations in the musculoskeletal community.
Q: Can you dive deeper into some of the advocacy work you’re doing when it comes to these challenges?
WG: We’ve got a great team. The director of our Office of Government Relations in Washington, D.C., brought some new people in on the team. They’re now getting ready to show what they can do, and we create opportunities on Capitol Hill. When we find legislation that’s moving, we go in and advocate for it. We look at what’s important for us in the musculoskeletal arena, and our PAC gets some campaigns and tries to elect the people that share our values and our musculoskeletal values in particular. We support both sides of the aisle if they support our issues. And we’re restoring our war chest for the PAC. It had dipped down during the pandemic and with some of the transition and change, but it’s coming back now, stronger than ever.
Q: What strategies do you believe are most important to support physician well being and to avoid burnout?
WG: I think all of us in orthopedics have been as resilient as a person can be. I’ve read orthopedics has the highest suicide rate amongst all surgical specialties, and I learned that at the Annual Meeting. Burnout may be lower-reported in orthopedics, but that may just be our culture that we work hard, deny and don’t say anything. We have some opportunity to support individuals confidentially with programs that return them to practice without the stigma of having reported themselves or having colleagues report that they have troubles with mental health. You may recall the Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act that was passed in 2022. But they need to go further. That’s just the beginning, and we need to reduce the administrative burdens and some unrealistic demands on our practices.
