Dear OTA Membership:

On behalf of the entire OTA Leadership, we hope that your visit to New Orleans was educationally and socially gratifying. The OTA Specialty Day was well attended, and the program reviewed a wide variety of topics emphasizing practice based fracture management, the 2009 Annual Meeting Highlights, trauma advocacy, and pediatric emergencies. In addition, Dr. Lewis Zirkle discussed the recent Haitian disaster, and our continued commitment to international relief efforts.

The OTA Board of Directors and Committee Chairs are already hard at work. This year’s goals include, among others, continued work on the fellowships program, a new ‘Member Service Project’ team to review and implement new member programs, and a formal review of our governance, relief programs, and long-term educational programming. Despite the dismal economic growth last year, we have been able to fully fund our research and education initiatives, and we continue to maintain strong relationships with our industry partners.

As the year progresses, we hope you will find a new and updated web page full of helpful information. An informational ‘member benefits campaign’ is being developed to better outline the benefits of membership to your organization. We hope to offer better access to questions related to coding, billing, community trauma development, online pre-operative planning templates, and even practice improvement modules.

We anticipate a busy year full of trauma research, education, and member service improvement. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any suggestions or concerns, as together we will continue to grow and develop our wonderful organization.

Sincerely,

Tim Bray, MD
OTA President