More evidence that lower extremity bypass may be a poor choice for claudicants who smoke

ACTIVE SMOKING IN CLAUDICANTS UNDERGOING LOWER EXTREMITY BYPASS PREDICTS DECREASED GRAFT PATENCY AND WORSE OVERALL SURVIVAL. Journal of Vascular Surgery, September 2018.

CHICAGO, Illinois, September 2018 – New research in the Journal of Vascular Surgery reports that even though smokers who undergo lower extremity bypass for claudication are healthier and around eight years younger than nonsmokers, their surgical outcomes are less successful.

Materials from the February webinar on the Quality Payment Program, including how surgeons can still avoid reimbursement penalties for 2017, are now available online.

The materials will also inform surgeons and their staff how to:

• Get started with 2018 reporting

• The increased requirements to avoid penalties and obtain bonus payments

• The MIPS (Merit-based Incentive Payment System) reporting requirements to maximize reimbursement based on their 2018 data.

It’s already April. In years past, that meant the SVS membership application process was closed for the year.

But for 2018, SVS has moved to a new system, with membership applications reviewed quarterly.

Yearly deadlines are March 1, June 1, Sept. 1 and Dec. 1 – four chances a year to become a member of the world’s premier vascular care organization. The first group of applicants were informed of their status early in April.

SVS Updates 2008 GuidelinesA cardiology colleague once invited Keith Calligaro, MD, to speak at a cardiology conference. As he was about to take the podium, the moderator asked the audience, “Can you believe that Dr. Calligaro has questioned whether cardiologists should be allowed to perform peripheral vascular procedures?”

After three years of work, research and study, vascular experts from around the world have released a new, far-reaching global guideline on the management of chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI), formerly known as critical limb ischemia. SVS members are urged to review the guideline and submit comments. 

The E. Stanley Crawford Critical Issues Forum – marking 25 years under that name this year – is a mainstay of the Vascular Annual Meeting.

But who was E. Stanley Crawford?

Up to 28 AAPA Credits Possible

Physician assistants want to showcase how important PAs are to the vascular team, and learn more about vascular disease and medical management at the same time.

That’s the intent of the afternoon of programming from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday, June 21, at the Vascular Annual Meeting. “It’s for PAs, by PAs,” said Erin Hanlon, who, with Ricardo Morales co-leads the new PA section of the Society for Vascular Surgery. The section was created in late 2017, and more than 135 PAs have applied to join it.

At VAM, FeedbackDrives Programming

Physician burnout, fiscal challenges, lifelong learning and additional courses on hemodialysis: those all will be featured in this year’s Vascular Annual Meeting.

And all were suggested by SVS members and past VAM participants, said Dr. Kellie Brown, MD, chair of the Postgraduate Education Committee. This committee creates programming for all of the “invited sessions” at the Vascular Annual Meeting: postgraduate courses, workshops, non-sponsored breakfast sessions and concurrent sessions.

From JVS-VL: Public Funding of EVA Reduces Costs

Publicly funded endovenous ablation has reduced the rates of high ligation and stripping, which in turn has reduced costs to the Canadian health system by approximately $42,000 a year.

Between billing, coding, keeping electronic medical records up to date and … oh yes, … actual surgery, vascular surgeons increasingly report feeling overwhelmed and burned out.

In fact, vascular surgeons and trauma surgeons occupy some of the top rungs among the surgical subspecialties at risk for burnout, according to a 2009 study on the topic.