I am a perfect candidate for bilateral knee replacement. Just not a willing one. I'm in no hurry to go under the knife, even though pain is a constant companion and I've had to stop playing pickup basketball. I'm bone-on-bone in both knees, my cartilage eroded by 5 combined meniscus repairs and degenerative osteoarthritis. Oh, and did I mention that my right ACL is torn?

I was thrilled to read senior associate editor David Bernard's outstanding report, "The Future of Knee Repair" on page 28 of this issue. The article highlights 3 new surgical techniques that could restore battered knees to like-new condition: meniscus implants, stem cell transplants and custom 3D-printed replacements. Like me, your patients could find these remedies more appealing than traditional joint replacement.

• Get your program. On page 16 of this issue, you'll find a 12-page pullout program for this year's OR Excellence Conference (orexcellence.com), Oct. 12-14 at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point in Bonita Springs, Fla. We've assembled an outstanding lineup of informative sessions and entertaining speakers who will help position your facility for a strong future. Between all the fun and friendship, you'll learn how to post your prices online, how to perfect your central sterile supply department, how to transform your facility into a high-reliability organization, how to avoid an infection control disaster and how to handle an armed intruder.

• A skinny plan lacking outpatient surgery benefits. Last year companies with millions of lower-wage workers tried to exclude inpatient hospital care from their insurance plans. Regulators said this so-called skinny coverage does not comply with Obamacare rules. Now many minimum-value coverage plans offered through healthcare.gov don't cover outpatient surgery in what critics say is a ploy to test the limits of the Affordable Care Act.
  
  Federal regulators issued clarifying rules saying that large-employer plans must provide "substantial coverage of inpatient hospital and physician services" to qualify as minimum value. The debate now is whether "substantial coverage" of "physician services" should include outpatient surgery. Let's hope so.

Christine Reyes

• Responsive web design. Whether you've recently visited outpatientsurgery.net from your desktop computer or mobile device, you've probably noticed how smooth and fluid our website is. It's all thanks to the responsive web design overhaul our interactive media manager, Christine Reyes, gave the site.
  
  "Our newly redesigned and responsive website allows you to access your favorite articles easily on desktops, tablets and smartphones," says Ms. Reyes. "It has a streamlined navigation that converts to mobile navigation depending on your screen size. You still have the same great content, but now with a larger font size and less clutter." OSM