American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Disclosure Policy Fails to Accurately Inform Its Members of Potential Conflicts of Interest.

The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) disclosure policy is designed to ensure that members involved in education or policy development remain free of outside influence. Although mandatory for these members, it is voluntary for the rest of the AAOS membership. To determine surgeon compliance with disclosure policy, we conducted a study in which we compared surgeon-consultants' disclosures as posted on 6 major orthopedic companies' websites in 2011 with those surgeons' disclosures as listed in AAOS disclosure program records. We found that 549 AAOS members were identified by at least 1 company as having received consulting payments. Overall, 44% of AAOS members did not comply with disclosure policy, or their information was not available on the AAOS website (range, 37%-61%). This study demonstrated that AAOS's policy of mandatory disclosure for select members and voluntary disclosure for all other members is ineffective. The AAOS disclosure program and the potential consequences of noncompliance need to be reevaluated by the organization if it wants its program to succeed.