EDUCATION: VAM 2018 a Big Success

The 2018 Vascular Annual Meeting featured nearly 1,800 attendees, just shy of the record; phenomenal science; a wide range of educational programming; and new session formats with overflow attendance.

Organizers consider the meeting a success and are evaluating attendee feedback to make sure next year’s meeting builds on past achievements, said Matthew Eagleton, chair of the SVS Program Committee, which oversees VAM. “We have received a lot of positive feedback,” he said.

SVS Foundation Projects Aim to Improve Community Health

An SVS dream of increasing awareness of and preventing vascular disease is taking root across the country.

Three projects, funded by the first SVS Foundation Community Awareness and Prevention Project Grants, will:

• Provide preventive care to those at risk for diabetic foot infections

• Educate high school students about vascular risk factors and disease so they, in turn, can educate family members

• Add vascular screening to a long-established health screening event in an area with one of the highest rates of diabetes in the country

CAC shows good results in treating incompetent great saphenous veins

TWENTY-FOUR MONTH RESULTS FROM A RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF CYANOACRYLATE CLOSURE VERSUS RADIOFREQUENCY ABLATION FOR THE TREATMENT OF INCOMPETENT GREAT SAPHENOUS VEINS. Journal of Vascular Surgery Venous and Lymphatic Disorders. September 2018

CHICAGO, Illinois, September 2018 – New level I evidence reveals excellent mid-term results for a nonthermal, nontumescent (NTNT) technique to treat saphenous vein reflux for as long as two years after surgery.

LE Bypass and claudicant smokers

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.

VQI: QPP Webinar Materials are Available Online

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.

Membership: For First Time, Membership Applications Received after March 1

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.