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.

I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Ronald Dalman, the Walter C. and Elsa R. Chidester Professor and Chief of Vascular Surgery at Stanford University. We focused on one of the five “practices” routinely embraced by successful leaders described by Kouzes and Posner in their book “The Leadership Challenge”: “challenging the process” and the courage to question the status quo and thoughtfully test new paradigms.

VC: Tell me about your leadership style when it comes to implementing change. How do you prepare yourself for the potential risks associated with such change?

Ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms risk scores, based on four variables, allows accurate prediction of 30-day mortality after repair, according to a study published in October’s Journal of Vascular Surgery. The risk factors, which authors say can be readily assessed in the emergency room, include age of 76-plus; confidence interval of 1.47-4.97; P=.011); creatinine concentration of more than 2.0 mg/dl; and systolic blood pressure ever less than 70 mm Hf.

Why should vascular surgeons or their coding staff attend the SVS Coding and Reimbursement Workshop? The short answer is: reimbursement, risk and red tape. Or, as workshop instructor Sean Roddy, MD, puts it: “Maximize your appropriate reimbursement, limit your risk of audit and avoid red tape.”

The Society for Vascular Surgery has translated the updated guidelines on abdominal aortic aneurysms into Spanish, aimed at the large population of Spanish-speaking vascular surgeons.

The translated guideline — a pilot project to gauge interest in such work — already is available. The SVS International Relations and Document Oversight committees collaborated on the translation.

Wellness checks aren’t just for physical health. They’re for fiscal health as well.

SVS members might want to do such an assessment of their disability insurance coverage: Are plans paid for with pre-tax or after-tax dollars? Is the rate locked in? Members just might be significantly under-insured.

SVS offers individual disability plans with three companies – Principal Life Insurance Company, Standard Life and Lloyd’s – through its Affinity Program of expanded benefits.

Proposed Rules Include Substantial Cuts to Vascular Labs

After reviewing proposals from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Society for Vascular Surgery has drafted comments to mitigate potentially substantial negative effects on SVS members.