ICSES Codman Lecture Preview (5/9)

Dear Colleagues:

The first Codman Lecture at the annual American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons meeting was given in Boston in 2016. Our speaker was Professor Robert Kaplan of Harvard Business School, who spoke on “Value-Based Healthcare Delivery for Orthopedic Surgery.” Professor Kaplan is an expert in accounting and has developed many of the tools now used to determine the value of healthcare treatments. Yet, more than a century earlier, Codman had already grappled with the concept of value-based care, which he called the “End-Result” concept. He not only measured outcomes but also tracked costs, even proposing that patients be refunded for surgeries that failed to achieve the intended result.

In 2024, Dr. William Mallon, Codman’s biographer, presented some of his research to us. He showed how Codman was a man ahead of his time—one who paid a price for his vision of creating value for patients by measuring their outcomes.

Codman was a complex man, but one who has inspired me. At this year’s ICSES meeting in Vancouver, I will present some perspectives relevant to our own time and perhaps draw a contrast between the challenges Codman faced in creating value for patients and those we, as shoulder surgeons, face today. I hope to see you in Vancouver for this great meeting.

Best regards,

Jon "J.P." Warner, MD

Founder, The Codman Shoulder Society