The Society for Vascular Surgery® Vascular Quality Initiative® (SVS VQI) recently notched yet another milestone when it welcomed its 500th participating center to the registry. Now, with 513 centers, 500,000 procedures, and 3,000 participating physicians entering cases across 12 different vascular procedures, the VQI has experienced significant growth since its inception in 2011.
Education Front and Center at Vascular Annual Meeting
Sharks and giants are getting starring roles at the 2019 Vascular Annual Meeting. Both will be part of featured sessions at the meeting, set for June 12-15 near Washington, D.C.
The water cooler is about to open for conversation.
SVS’ new online water cooler, that is, SVSConnect. Our new online community is the place to be for collaboration, engagement and communication, not to mention enhanced services for our members.
“The Truth About Leadership,” by Barry Posner and James M. Kouzes, describes 10 critical “truths” about leadership. In this latest column highlighting the evidence-based behaviors and attributes that define great leadership, we focus on “The Best Leaders are the Best Learners.”
For many years, vascular/thoracic surgeon Dr. Paul Brown has contributed to foundations for the societies to which he belongs and to other charitable organizations.
SVS actively advocates on behalf of SVS members on issues that affect vascular surgery practices. Sometimes this brings positive outcomes for vascular surgeons, such as last month, when devastating cuts in the pricing for the vascular ultrasound room were avoided.
The Society for Vascular Surgery is moving into the future, both literally and figuratively.
To coordinate quality issues throughout the Society for Vascular Surgery, the SVS has created a new standing council: the SVS Quality Council.
A new study finds that a significant percentage of cancer patients are not getting any care for their lymphedema, leading to a notable treatment gap.
The Chicago-based Society for Vascular Surgery has announced it will relocate its headquarters to Rosemont, Ill., near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, as of March 1, 2019. The SVS is an international, not-for-profit professional medical society, serving specialty-trained vascular surgeons and allied professionals.
Dear Friends: I hope that you had a great Thanksgiving and that you also had an opportunity to review our recent message about making a year-end contribution to the SVS Foundation.
If you haven’t already donated, #GivingTuesday would be the ideal time to do so.
The SVS Foundation is releasing its second new patient information flier – on diabetes and vascular disease – just in time for National Diabetes Month in November.
The turkey has been reduced to sandwiches and a wishbone and the mashed potatoes are just a memory. And between the frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping promotions, you’ve put a dent in your holiday shopping.
Are you an active member or Distinguished Fellow? Let everyone know The SVS Executive Board has announced that all SVS Active Members in good standing will now be considered Fellows of the Society of Vascular Surgery™ (FSVS™).
The Society for Vascular Surgery is creating a private online community, SVSConnect, with a number of resources for SVS members and their peers.
Dr. Norman Rich decided his career path early in life, listening to the doctor who delivered him relay the horrors of the amputations of World War I. “‘Someday, blood vessels will be repaired,’ he told me,” said Dr. Rich of his early mentor, Dr. Otto Utzinger of Ray, Ariz.
The dynamic environment in which vascular surgeons are currently practicing has created abundant opportunities for physicians to move into administrative leadership positions across the spectrum of healthcare. An advanced business degree teaches a surgeon the “language” of health care business.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have found that obese patients were more likely to have longer procedures and to lose more blood than those who were not obese, and obese patients were more likely to have post-operative problems such as renal failure or wound infections.
The EHR and our troubled health care system, Part 1
BY MALACHI G. SHEAHAN III, MD MEDICAL EDITOR, VASCULAR SPECIALIST
Before the end of the year, members will be able to connect in a big -- new -- way: our online community. To emphasize this linking together, we've named this new community SVSConnect.
INSULIN-DEPENDENT PATIENTS MAY HAVE WORSE VASCULAR SURGICAL OUTCOMES
Recent advances in statins and other medications have led some researchers to suggest that surgical treatments for carotid stenosis should be limited to symptomatic patients – primarily those who have already had a stroke or TIA. However, a new study published in the Journal of Vascular Surgery questions whether medical therapy is a sufficient stroke-reduction strategy. In the study, only 35 percent of stroke patients were receiving both statin and antiplatelet agents prior to their event, suggesting that asymptomatic carotid disease is unrecognized in many individuals, noted lead researcher Dr. W. Darrin Clouse of Massachusetts General Hospital. “And the first manifestation of their disease,” he wrote, “could be the occurrence of a stroke.”
BY BETH BALES AND BRYAN KAY
Citing the health and the safety of SVS members, constituents and their patients as its chief concern, the SVS Executive Board on April 9 canceled the 2020 Vascular Annual meeting in Toronto as a live event.
BY BRYAN KAY
For a time, it was an issue increasingly knocking on the door of program directors and section chiefs in hospitals across the country as COVID-19 cases escalated in their areas: the redeployment of vascular surgeons and trainees to other areas of care.
It’s here: 2020 is year four of the Quality Payment Program (QPP), established by the Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (MACRA) in 2015.
ROSEMONT, Ill., April 20, 2020 – Americans’ stress levels are through the roof – from healthcare workers on the front lines to essential service workers to seniors at home to parents coping with upside-down work schedules and e-learning. April marks Stress Awareness Month, making it a fitting time to understand the impact of stress on the body and address stress management techniques to help navigate through difficult times and maintain health in the process.
Looking into job opportunities? Just want to see what’s out there in terms of career moves to another part of the country?
BY PETER CONNOLLY, MD, AND MARK MATTOS, MD
Imagine that you are telling your lay friends about what you do for a living. You have to explain the difference between arteries and veins. And then you find that you need to clarify that you do not, in fact, operate on the heart.
BY BETH BALES
Decades ago, “picture” phones were an idea straight out of science fiction.
As the saying goes, the future is now. FaceTime and Skype are common; similar technology permits doctors to visit patients via telemedicine.
The Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS) and JVS: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders (JVS-VL) have a number of open-source articles available in the April and May issues. A sampling follows.
BY BETH BALES
The Global Vascular Guidelines (GVG), extensively researched and written by an international committee of leading vascular experts, are now available as a pocket guide.
BY BETH BALES AND BRYAN KAY
Citing the health and the safety of SVS members, constituents and their patients as its chief concern, the SVS Executive Board on April 9 canceled the 2020 Vascular Annual meeting in Toronto as a live event.
BY BRYAN KAY
For a time, it was an issue increasingly knocking on the door of program directors and section chiefs in hospitals across the country as COVID-19 cases escalated in their areas: the redeployment of vascular surgeons and trainees to other areas of care.
It’s here: 2020 is year four of the Quality Payment Program (QPP), established by the Medicare Access and Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (MACRA) in 2015.
ROSEMONT, Ill., April 20, 2020 – Americans’ stress levels are through the roof – from healthcare workers on the front lines to essential service workers to seniors at home to parents coping with upside-down work schedules and e-learning. April marks Stress Awareness Month, making it a fitting time to understand the impact of stress on the body and address stress management techniques to help navigate through difficult times and maintain health in the process.
Looking into job opportunities? Just want to see what’s out there in terms of career moves to another part of the country?
BY PETER CONNOLLY, MD, AND MARK MATTOS, MD
Imagine that you are telling your lay friends about what you do for a living. You have to explain the difference between arteries and veins. And then you find that you need to clarify that you do not, in fact, operate on the heart.
BY BETH BALES
Decades ago, “picture” phones were an idea straight out of science fiction.
As the saying goes, the future is now. FaceTime and Skype are common; similar technology permits doctors to visit patients via telemedicine.
The Journal of Vascular Surgery (JVS) and JVS: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders (JVS-VL) have a number of open-source articles available in the April and May issues. A sampling follows.
BY BETH BALES
The Global Vascular Guidelines (GVG), extensively researched and written by an international committee of leading vascular experts, are now available as a pocket guide.