Dear Society for Vascular Surgery Members,
Thank you for your tireless commitment to quality and safety in the care of patients with vascular disease, as well as your dedication to Vascular Surgery, and the SVS. As we approach a reflective end to 2024, it has been another fast-paced year filled with challenges, opportunities and milestone achievements, none of which would be possible without the leadership and efforts of over 560 member volunteers serving on over 40 Committees, Task Forces and Writers Groups, and an incredible professional Staff. I am delighted to refresh your memory regarding a few highlights this year.
Hello America, We Are Vascular Surgery
Under the leadership of the Executive Board and Strategic Board, led by Bill Shutze and the Communications and Branding Committee, and an implementation team led by Megan Marcinko, SVS launched its national branding initiative “Highway to Health: Fast Track Your Vessel Health.” In just the first three months, the media airways have been flooded with video, social media, and media interviews, reaching 452 million media impressions, close to 1,000 media placements, and what soon will be over 40 live media interviews! It has been a very successful launch with our PR Firm Partner BRG Communications and this is just the beginning. Phase 1 of the launch has introduced Vascular Surgery to the public including SVS’s new YourVascularHealth.org patient website. In 2025, the focus will shift to Referring Providers and the HC System C-Suite. Please watch your social media apps for SVS Highway to Health messaging!
Back to the Future on Health Policy and Advocacy
It has been another year of challenge and intensive advocacy to protect and preserve physician payment and numerous pieces of legislation protecting both physicians and patients including CMS fee schedules, budget neutrality, inflation adjustments, preauthorization, wellness, and many more issues. SVS is front and center at the table for key discussions and is a highly respected source of expertise on Capitol Hill. Given the forthcoming “Trump 2” administration, it will be more important than ever for the voice of Vascular Surgery to be unified, strong, and show strength through SVS PAC and face to face advocacy efforts. New in September 2025 will be SVS’ inaugural Advocacy & Leadership Conference. We hope you will join us September 14-16 to become a trained leader in health policy and advocacy and march up to the Hill to educate members of Congress and their Staffs, to make our case loud and clear!
Quality and Quality Improvement Defines Our Core
The Core Center of SVS’s reputation and expertise is derived from its focus on best science and quality improvement. The SVS PSO (VQI) is second to none amongst medical specialty registries in moving the needle on Quality. The PSO/VQI achieved its landmark 1 millionth case entered in 2024 and has over 1,200 subscribing institutions contributing data. The 17 Regional Meetings are intently focused on moving the quality improvement bar on selected procedures and disease states. A true milestone this year was the launch of the national Smoking Cessation Initiative, making the PSO/VQI amongst the first data registries to mobilize around prevention and preventive factors in vascular disease.
Another milestone in 2024 was the development and acceptance by CMS of a new Vascular Quality Measure now up for public comment, and if accepted, we will be a new measure developed by vascular surgeons, for vascular surgeons, that qualifies for the CMS MVP payment program. Much thanks to Evan Lipsitz and an incredible Quality and Performance Measures Committee and staff on a wonderful achievement.
In leadership education it is commonly stated that leaders must not just “talk the talk”, but “walk the walk.” If SVS members truly believe in Quality, they need to engage in Quality Improvement, and a fantastic way to “walk the walk” is to encourage health systems to become verified as a Vascular Center of Excellence by the ACS-SVS Vascular Verification program. Launched in 2023, the VVP added 8 new practices in 2024 moving through the Verification Process. Focus in 2025 will be support for the Outpatient Standards Program. All SVS members are encouraged to take their practices through the program.”
Media coverage in the vascular arena became a national issue in 2023, focusing on the appropriateness of vascular care across practice settings. Due to strong response and leadership from SVS, building relationships and educating medical journalists, and the launch of the Branding/PR Initiative, the headlines and stories in 2024 have slowly shifted attention from a small number of outliers in practice, to the standards, guidelines, and quality improvement initiatives that define the vast majority of vascular surgeon practice.
Translation to Transformation in Clinical Practice
Answering a long-standing query and need from SVS members and to address a major gap in credible data, SVS organized a national Compensation Study and program for vascular surgery in 2023. Having worked hard to achieve the requisite 20% of eligible SVS members to privately and confidentially input their financial data, under the leadership of Keith Calligaro and Compensation Taskforce, the first aggregate report of vascular surgery compensation data was accepted for publication in JVS in 2024, soon to be published early 2025.
It was a busy year for development and publication of clinical practice guidelines and in 2024 SVS continued its popular “Translating Guidelines into Practice” Webinar Series, focusing on Varicose Veins. In 2023-2024 hundreds of SVS members heard about the translation of the global chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) guidelines, Best Endovascular vs. Best Surgical Therapy in Patients with Critical Limb Ischemia (Best-CLI) results as well as updated varicose veins clinical practice guidelines. To further this work, the SVS was awarded a $100,000 educational grant from the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) to further these translational efforts and support inclusion of patient perspective. Coming in 2025? An update to the SVS Claudication guidelines!
Emphasizing its ongoing commitment to office and outpatient care in the community, the SVS Section on Outpatient and Office Based Care (SOOVC) has developed an outstanding “Handbook on Outpatient Vascular Care” that was released to SVS members in 2024. The SVS recognizes the value and importance of research to promote data collection, analysis, and new research in the outpatient space. This helps with safety and cost-effectiveness, as well as expanding patients’ access to care.
Rolling With the Changes-Meeting Member Needs and Challenges
- AI
- Unions
- At-Large Members of EB
- Unity/Society Relations
Each month of the year brings new ideas, energy and opportunities, as well as new challenges and threats that make strategy and change a universal constant for the SVS. The pace of change is accelerating and has become its own unique challenge. SVS leadership remains committed to continue evolving the Society to address new opportunities and challenges, which is a challenge in itself, given the need to prioritize finite resources. Every dollar contributed by members through dues, donation, or program support, is an essential lifeline to help SVS continue to embrace new opportunities. The SVS is very fortunate to have a diverse revenue portfolio, relying on member dues for only 14% of its revenue, but each of those dollars is vitally important.
SVS membership continues to grow and diversify with total membership now closing in at 6,400 members. The establishment of the Young Surgeon Section has fostered and accelerated value and engagement for Early Career members and in 2024 SVS has approved a new Senior Section to maintain membership, value and engagement amongst later career members. Much thanks to Enrico Ascher for his leadership in establishing the new Section. The value and strength of SVS Affiliate Membership is substantial, with over 500 vascular physician assistants, nurse practitioners and nurses, and essential, as the SVS sculpts the future of vascular care delivery. In 2024 SVS convened an “APP TF” to discuss future models for integrating the engagement of all APPs working with vascular surgeons in patient care.
Some 5 years ago SVS embarked on a series of assessments and potential governance changes to increase diversity of perspective. In 2024, the last of these governance changes, a change to the structure of the SVS Executive Board, was ratified by the voting membership and implemented. Congratulations to new EB members Chelsea Dorsey, Yazan Duwayri, Katherine Gallagher, Vik Kashyap, and Rob Molnar, who now join the SVS Officers.
If Quality is the CORE of SVS, Education is its Cornerstone.
From all accounts and perspectives, VAM 2024 in Chicago was simply superb and groundbreaking, and many thanks to Andy Schanzer who finished his term as VAM Program Chair. Over 92% of VAM24 attendees rated the educational programming as excellent or good; International attendance doubled in size from 2023 to 2024 at the VAM; and a track specifically designed for the early career surgeon was piloted leading to the highest participation from Young Surgeons of any VAM to date! The VAM also introduced a track specifically designed for the Medical Students/General Surgery Residents, with specific educational programming and networking opportunities, and a Residency Fair with over 150 residency programs represented. We hope to see you all in New Orleans!
Beyond the VAM, the Education Council led by Kellie Brown has continued to develop innovative education opportunities for members:
The 3rd Annual CPVI Hands-On Skills Course had another successful year, featuring 20 trainees able to attend with scholarship support.
SVS launched its new and updated VascuLEARN LMS: Now the home for accessible webinars, microlearnings, and short videos, creating a one-stop online hub for educational content. Over the past three years, 1,365 vascular experts and trainees have taken advantage of these resources.
SVS launched VESAP 5 Learning Mode and VESAP 6, with over 700 SVS members burning through the questions and testing their knowledge.
Coding and Reimbursement remains one of the top non-clinical content areas requested in both the 2021 and 2024 education needs assessment. In addition to the live Coding Course SVS launched three new on-demand foundational videos and created a forum for submitting monthly questions, ensuring your questions are answered. The Coding Course is likely to sell out quickly with the potential of new Lower Extremity Codes coming in 2025, so watch for registration in late Spring!
SVS held its 5th successful Leadership Development Program with 96% of Cohort 5 participants reporting they intended to incorporate changes into their practice following the course. SVS has trained over 140 vascular surgeons in leadership skills over the past five cohorts. Registration for Cohort 6 will be launching this spring.
Finally, SVS will be launching a new wound care curriculum in February 2025. This is a collaborative effort between SVS, SVN, and APMA, and it includes faculty members who are vascular surgeons, vascular nurses, vascular PAs, and podiatrists. The Curriculum will consist of on-demand videos and in-person hands-on workshops held in conjunction with VAM 25, 26, and 27.
Another milestone was hit in our Scholarly journal publishing. Thanks to the leadership of Alan Dardik, staff member Tyler Cosgrove, and our publisher Elsevier, JVS-VS (Vascular Science) has been indexed and will now have an Impact Factor, helping to establish it as the premier journal for Vascular Basic Science research.
Our SVS Foundation led by Joe Mills, and staff Catherine Lampi and Sarah Murphy, is evolving, thriving, and garnering renewed attention through a “lights out” 2024 Gala at the Museum of Science and Industry at VAM where the new James Yao Lectureship was announced. Whether they attended our annual gala, walked for PAD awareness during the Step Challenge, shared their story during the Voices of Vascular campaign or made a charitable contribution, their support has been invaluable in advancing our mission. The Voices of Vascular campaign highlighted the accomplishments of 17 SVS members; step challenge donors came together to fund a NEW Vascular Care for the Underserved grant that will support an innovative project that addresses the unique challenges faced by underserved populations affected by PAD; SVS donors stepped up during Giving Tuesday smashing our fundraising goal, raising more than $34k in 24 hours! As 2024 comes to a close, I encourage you to support the “Celebration of Science” Year-End Campaign.
Finally, SVS member volunteers have pressed forward to sculpt the future with numerous new Task Forces in 2024, including Pediatric Vascular Care, Patient Engagement, Innovation in Vascular Care, Clinical Trials, and the Vascular Board Certification TF which is completing an assessment of progress made over the past 20 years and look to the future of strengthening the Specialty.
Alignment to “True North”
2024 has been a year of significant achievements for the SVS, its Foundation, PSO, and PAC.
We hope you are as proud of these accomplishments as we are, as your staff. As we look forward to 2025, the SVS remains steadfast in its commitment to championing quality and safety in patient care, the best science in the field, and advancing vascular surgery through meaningful collaboration, innovation, and by letting the world know how special you are as vascular surgeons. I extend my sincere gratitude to each member for their invaluable contributions.
On behalf of your dedicated, hard-working staff, we wish you all a joyous holiday season and a prosperous New Year!
Best regards,
Kenneth M. Slaw, PhD, FAAMSE
Executive Director, Society for Vascular Surgery