American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons

What American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons does

The American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS), founded in 1942 and headquartered at 8725 West Higgins Road, Suite 555, Chicago, Illinois, is a nonprofit professional medical society serving more than 8,000 foot and ankle surgeons (Fellows, Associates, and Post Graduate Fellow members) in the United States. ACFAS is the only professional society exclusively dedicated to foot, ankle, and related lower extremity surgery, and its Fellows are certified by the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery (ABFAS) — the only certifying board recognized by the Joint Committee on the Recognition of Specialty Boards for foot and ankle surgery.

ACFAS operates a portfolio of education, research, and practice-support products. Educational assets include the Annual Scientific Conference (the flagship event), surgical skills courses (Arthroscopy of the Foot and Ankle, TAR Summit), virtual symposiums, ACFAS OnDemand (recorded sessions), CECH transcripts for continuing-education credit tracking, and the ACFAS Podcast. Research assets include the National Foot and Ankle Registry (NFAR), a clinical data registry with modules for ankle arthritis, ankle fracture, hammer toe, and hallux valgus and dynamic reporting interfaces; the peer-reviewed Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery (JFAS); the open-access FASTRAC journal; research grants (up to $75,000 for Established Investigators, up to $25,000 for New Researchers, co-funded by Arthrex); and a Fellowship Resource program (e.g., a $65,000 annual stipend at Advent Health). Practice resources include coding and reimbursement guidance, a marketing toolbox, a compensation and practice survey, a career center, and patient education via FootHealthFacts.org. Underlying technology is iMIS for membership/event/CECH management and an XLSX/CSV-based EHR integration layer for NFAR.

Revenue is generated through member annual dues (subscription/recurring), Annual Scientific Conference and event registrations (one-time/transactional), JFAS journal subscriptions, ACFAS Store e-commerce, NFAR site participation fees (subscription, with first-year waivers funded by The Podiatry Foundation), and educational grants and fellowships co-sponsored by medical-device partners (Arthrex, Zimmer Biomet, ConMed, Johnson & Johnson, Smith+Nephew). ACFAS Regions — nine regional organizations — serve as resellers of localized education and support. A 170+-volunteer leadership structure across committees, councils, and working groups underpins a community-led, event-driven go-to-market motion anchored on the Annual Scientific Conference, fellowship and student pipeline programs, and the consumer-facing FootHealthFacts.org acquisition channel.

Name

American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons

Legal name

American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons

Website

https://acfas.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1942

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS) is a nonprofit professional medical society founded in 1942 serving 8,000+ U.S. foot and ankle surgeons with continuing education, board certification resources, advocacy, research grants, peer-reviewed journals (JFAS, FASTRAC), and the National Foot and Ankle Registry (NFAR) clinical data platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Chicago

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership dues from physicians (Fellow, Associate, Post Graduate Fellow members), with varying rates based on membership category and status.
2. Annual Scientific Conference and Educational Events: Revenue from registration fees for the Annual Scientific Conference, virtual symposiums, surgical skills courses (arthroscopy, TAR Summit), and other educational programs. Pricing varies by membership status.
3. National Foot and Ankle Registry (NFAR) Participation Fees: Site-based participation fees for the clinical registry, with first-year fees waived for sites supported by ACFAS Regions and The Podiatry Foundation.
4. Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery (JFAS): The official peer-reviewed journal of the college, providing continuing education content and scientific publications.
5. ACFAS Store: Sale of educational materials, resources, and merchandise through the ACFAS Store.
6. Board Certification Resources: Resources and support for members pursuing board certification through the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery (ABFAS).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

ACFAS is a professional medical society serving more than 8,000 foot and ankle surgeons (DPMs). It sells annual membership subscriptions, hosts an Annual Scientific Conference and OnDemand continuing education platform, operates the National Foot and Ankle Registry (NFAR) clinical data registry, publishes peer-reviewed journals (JFAS and FASTRAC), runs surgical skills courses and virtual symposiums, and offers practice management, coding, advocacy, and research grant resources.

Product overview

ACFAS offers a comprehensive professional ecosystem for foot and ankle surgeons through multiple interconnected products and services. The core offerings include the Annual Scientific Conference and ACFAS OnDemand for continuing education, the National Foot and Ankle Registry (NFAR) for clinical outcomes data, JFAS and FASTRAC journals for research dissemination, and CECH Transcripts for licensure tracking. Supporting resources include Practice Management tools, Coding and Reimbursement guidance, a Marketing Toolbox, Career Center, Compensation Surveys, Fellowship Resources, Virtual Symposiums, Surgical Skills Courses, and a Member Directory. The organization also provides grants, advocacy support, and patient education through FootHealthFacts.org. These offerings work together to advance education, research, and practice excellence for over 8,000 member surgeons.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• National Foot and Ankle Registry (NFAR): A groundbreaking clinical data registry designed to empower foot and ankle surgeons with insights into surgical outcomes, drive quality improvement, and support evidence-based decision-making.

Products and services

• ACFAS Membership
• ACFAS Annual Scientific Conference
• ACFAS OnDemand
• National Foot and Ankle Registry (NFAR)
• Journal of Foot and Ankle Surgery (JFAS)
• FASTRAC (Foot & Ankle Surgery Techniques, Reports and Cases)
• Clinical & Scientific Research Grant Program
• ACFAS Chris Mahaffey Leadership Development Program
• ACFAS Podcast
• Virtual Symposium Series
• Surgical Skills Courses
• ACFAS Fellowship Resources
• Career Center
• Compensation and Practice Survey
• Patient Education (FootHealthFacts.org)
• Member Directory

Quantifiable outcome

• 68 of 71 ACFAS fellowship positions filled (96% fill rate) vs. 54 of 80 orthopaedic pathway slots
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Zimmer BiometminorOthersZimmer Biomet provides an educational grant to support the ACFAS Virtual Symposium: Innovative Approaches to Neuropathic Trauma Reconstruction.
• United AirlinesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerUnited Airlines provides discounted travel rates for ACFAS event attendees through a corporate discount program using code ZPV9428727.
• Alliance of Wound Care StakeholderscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACFAS is an active member of the Alliance, contributing to national regulatory advocacy efforts including comments to the White House OMB on federal regulations affecting wound care and podiatric practice. The Alliance submitted formal comments identifying outdated or burdensome regulations.
• Specialty Society Insurance CoalitioncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerACFAS represents podiatric foot and ankle surgeons nationally as a founding member of this coalition focused on insurance-related advocacy.
• Arthrex, ConMed, Johnson & Johnson, Smith+NephewminorOthersMultiple medical device companies provide in-kind educational grants supporting the Arthroscopy of the Foot and Ankle courses, providing equipment and supplies for hands-on laboratory training.
• Council for Registry ManagementcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerA dedicated council governing the National Foot and Ankle Registry (NFAR), responsible for oversight, development, and quality improvement of the registry program.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Arthroscopy Association of North America: AANA is a surgical subspecialty professional society focused on arthroscopic surgery, mirroring ACFAS's surgical-skills-course and registry model in a related but separate subspecialty. It competes directly for arthroscopy-related skills-course attendance and industry sponsorship from the same device companies (Arthrex, Smith+Nephew, ConMed) that fund ACFAS programs.
• American Academy of Dermatology: AAD is a successful, mature specialty college operating the same professional-society playbook — annual meeting, journal, MOC/continuing education, advocacy, registry-like data infrastructure — that ACFAS runs at a smaller scale. It is a useful comparator for membership economics and diversified revenue streams in a single-specialty society.
• American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery: ABFAS is the sole certifying body for foot and ankle surgeons recognized by the Joint Committee on the Recognition of Specialty Boards, and ACFAS Fellow status is gated on ABFAS certification. The two organizations share overlapping missions — credentialing, education, and standards for the specialty — and frequently coordinate on board-certification resources and recertification.
• American Podiatric Medical Association: APMA is the broader national professional society for all Doctors of Podiatric Medicine, while ACFAS focuses specifically on the surgical subspecialty. Both compete and overlap for DPM members, with overlapping education, advocacy, and practice-management offerings, making APMA the closest comparable peer in mission and member base.
• American Osteopathic Academy of Orthopedics: AOAO represents osteopathic orthopaedic surgeons with a similar specialty-society operating model: CME programming, an annual meeting, and advocacy on scope of practice. It overlaps with ACFAS in terms of educational programming and surgical-skills content for foot and ankle orthopaedics, serving as a natural peer for evaluating society operations and member engagement.
• Society for Vascular Surgery: SVS is a surgical subspecialty college that pairs continuing education (Vascular Annual Meeting, on-demand content) with a clinical data registry (Vascular Quality Initiative) — a structural twin of ACFAS's conference-plus-NFAR model. Useful as a peer for understanding how subspecialty societies operate registries, journals, and advocacy at scale.

Broad incumbents

• American College of Surgeons: ACS is the broad "college" professional society for surgeons across all specialties, sharing ACFAS's "College" model — credentialing, advocacy, education, and chapter-based engagement. It is a useful comparable for understanding how larger specialty colleges scale membership, journals, and advocacy infrastructure that ACFAS aspires to within a narrower subspecialty.
• American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: AAOS is the much larger orthopaedic surgery professional society that competes for the same surgeon's CME dollars and conference attendance. ACFAS's surgical-skills courses (Arthroscopy, TAR Summit) and NFAR registry compete head-to-head with AAOS offerings. AAOS's broader scope makes it a larger incumbent but less specialized in foot and ankle outcomes.
• Royal College of Surgeons of England: RCS is the international counterpart to U.S. surgical colleges, governing credentialing, education, and professional standards for surgeons. It offers useful benchmarks for ACFAS's role as a credentialing-aligned specialty society and signals how cross-border specialty society models could inform ACFAS's expansion.

Emerging players

• American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons: AAHKS is a narrower surgical-subspecialty society (hip and knee arthroplasty) running a parallel model of specialty conferences, guidelines, advocacy, and registry-aligned research. Comparable to ACFAS's positioning within foot and ankle surgery and a relevant peer for evaluating subspecialty-society revenue concentration in conferences and industry-supported research.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/acfas
• Facebookfacebook.com/americancollegeoffootandanklesurgeons
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/american-college-of-foot-and-ankle-surgeons

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons