Editorial: Proceedings of the 2020 American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) Annual Meeting

It was my distinct honor to be the 2020 American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) Annual Meeting Program Chair in this unprecedented year filled with adversity and challenges unlike any in our lifetime. First and foremost, I would like to extend our sincere gratitude and appreciation to those who have served on the front-line providing care for patients during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic of 2020 and extend our sincere condolences to the families of those who have lost their lives due to COVID.

Immediately after the 2019 AAHKS annual meeting concluded the program committee began planning for the 2020 Annual Meeting. However, early in 2020 as COVID-19 reached the United States and the pandemic ensued, it became clear holding the 2020 meeting in Dallas in the same format as we have performed the prior decades would be nearly impossible. AAHKS formed an Annual Meeting Contingency Planning Committee, which undertook the responsibility of monitoring the evolution of the pandemic and working with the City of Dallas, our host venue the Hilton Anatole, the AAHKS Board of Directors and the Program Committee to determine the viability of having the annual meeting. The Contingency Planning Committee’s primary considerations were to provide the best possible format for exchange of orthopedic hip and knee research and education while allowing the members to attend and interact safely in the format of their choosing. The AAHKS executive leadership sought advice from a number of qualified individuals, including Keyur S. Vyas, MD, an infectious disease specialist who notably served as a consultant providing counsel to AAHKS as we navigated the complex issues during the COVID pandemic. After thoughtful and careful consideration, the decision was made to deliver the AAHKS annual meeting in a hybrid format, containing both live in-person and virtual format. For those who attended live in-person, rigorous on-site safety protocols were enacted that included contactless check-in and registration and daily temperature and symptom screening checks, while social distancing and masks were required in all common areas as per the recommended Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. We would like to offer our sincere appreciation to the City of Dallas, Texas, and our host venue, the Hilton Anatole, for their support and cooperation in successfully enacting these comprehensive and robust safety measures, maintaining the health and safety of our AAHKS members and meeting staff. Some unfortunate yet necessary modifications to the 2020 AAHKS Annual Meeting were the omission of the popular premeeting courses such as the resident didactic and cadaver laboratory courses, the business course, and the team members’ course, as well as our inability to host international guest societies due to the worldwide travel restriction during the pandemic.

Despite the modifications and concessions made due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 AAHKS Annual Meeting was a tremendous success in the novel hybrid format. The robust and collegial interaction between the moderator and in-person and virtual speakers that occurred in real time during the question and answer sessions was a highlight of the meeting. A special thanks is extended to our audiovisual production partner, One Smooth Stone, as their execution and production of the complex hybrid format was seamless and truly remarkable. Those who attended virtually at their home were able to see the presentation content and podium presenter live in real time (Fig. 1) and were also able to send in questions answered by the live in-person moderator and combined in-person and virtual speakers. Special thanks to Jay Parvizi, MD and Greg Polkowski, MD for shouldering the responsibility and burden of moderating the online questions for the duration of the meeting.