A letter from the SVS Foundation Chair

Because …

That’s the simple – yet multifaceted — theme for our SVS Foundation Annual Report (just released and available at vsweb.org/ SVSF_Annual_Report_ 2018) and for our annual Giving Campaign.

The word resonates. It links the “why” with the “how” and also reflects the busy and productive past few years.

For example, after expanding our mission last year to include disease prevention and patient awareness and education, we have awarded our first Community Awareness and Prevention Grants.

Dues Statements Distributed

Membership dues statements for 2019 were sent to all members at the beginning of October. Members should pay their dues by Dec. 31 to ensure they continue to receive all the benefits of SVS membership. The pluses are numerous and outlined on page 10.

Visit vascular.org/invoices or call the SVS Membership Department, 312-334-2313, to pay dues.

Donate to SVS Foundation While Paying Dues; Read Foundation Annual Report

Membership in the Society for Vascular Surgery is a valuable resource at all stages of your career. You receive:

Community and professional standing

In an effort to alter specific policies in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ (CMS) CY 2019 Medicare Fee Schedule Proposed Rules, Society for Vascular Surgery leaders have submitted a 20-page comment letter with recommendations to CMS.

CMS released the combined Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) /Quality Payment Program (QPP) proposed rule in July. Comments were due in mid-September; the final rule is expected on or around November 1, 2018.

Society for Vascular Surgery journal publishes quick, new test to assess the odds

SVS: Compression may promote, but not cause, iliac DVT LEFT ILIAC VEIN COMPRESSION IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH INFRAINGUINAL DVT BUT IS ASSOCIATED WITH ILIAC VEIN INVOLVEMENT. Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders, November 2018.

CHICAGO, Illinois, November 2018 – A recent study of a large series of patients with iliofemoral deep venous thrombosis (DVT) from Nanchang University suggests that, in general, compression itself is not the precipitating factor in iliac DVT; rather, it is the promoter of iliac DVT should infra-inguinal thrombosis occur.

Increase could benefit vascular research

WASHINGTON, DC – As a result of the advocacy efforts of the SVS and other health specialties, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) will receive an 8.8 percent funding increase for 2019 from a Defense, Labor, HHS (Health and Human Services) and Education Appropriations bill that was passed by Congress and signed by President Donald Trump Sept. 28.

Active SVS members in good standing are now eligible to add the initials FSVS™ after their names to designate themselves as Fellows of the Society for Vascular Surgery.

Distinguished Fellows will be able to use the designation DFSVS™. Learn more about the Distinguished Fellows honor

NHLBI has extended the combined number of years of K training support from six to eight years for the K08 and K23 grants.  This means that for clinician scientists with K08 or K23 awards they can stay on a K12 or KL2 program for up to three years and then request a five year individual K award.  This is geared for clinicians who received institutional K training, and it is to help support transition from training to independent investigators.

PREOPERATIVE RISK SCORE TO PREDICT MORTALITY AFTER REPAIR OF RUPTURED ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSMS, Journal of Vascular Surgery, October 2018.

CHICAGO, Illinois, Sept. 25, 2018 –An accurate new scoring tool using only pre-operative metrics can predict whether patients with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm are likely to survive surgery. The condition is often a quick killer, and many patients don’t make it to the operating room, while others die after surgery.