HOSPITALS WITH MORE UNINSURED PATIENTS HAVE HIGHER FAILURE TO RESCUE RATES FOR OPEN AORTIC SURGERY

“Effects of Hospital Safety-Net Burden and Hospital Volume on Failure to Rescue After Open Abdominal Aortic Surgery,” Journal of Vascular Surgery, August, 2017.

CHICAGO, Illinois, August, 2017 – As Congress debates funding Medicaid and the uninsured, a new vascular study finds that hospitals with a high ratio of those two patient groups are less able to save patients who develop serious surgical complications.

Eat like an Italian (minus the pizza)

Nutrition Tips for Better Vascular Health

CHICAGO, Illinois, July 24, 2017 – Mediterranean cuisine has gotten a lot of attention for its potential impact on cardiovascular health. In fact, newer research in the Moli-Sani Study has added to the mounting evidence that certain food choices of Italians who live in the Molise region correlated with 37 percent fewer deaths during the research than those who didn’t make those choices.

This month’s leadership spotlight is on Joseph L. Mills, MD, FACS, Professor and Chief of Vascular Surgery and Endovascular Therapy at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. Dr. Mills has been President of the Peripheral Vascular Surgery Society (now VESS), Western Vascular Society, and the Association of Program Directors in Vascular Surgery (APDVS). He has a strong interest in education and is a past-chair of the Vascular Surgery Board (VSB) of the American Board of Surgery (ABS), and a member of the Surgery Residency Review Committee (RRC) of the Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education. We discussed his approach to leadership from the viewpoint of the Kouzes/Posner trait of ‘Encouraging the Heart.’

Two disability insurance plans offered to SVS members The famous Lloyd’s of London has insured hands (the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards), legs (Betty Grable and others), chest hair (Welsh crooner Tom Jones), nose (Jimmy Durante), tongues (Gene Simmons of Kiss and others), voice (Bruce Springsteen), even beards (Macy’s Santa). It insured the Titanic, issued the first motor vehicle policy and covers Richard Branson’s private spaceship.

New evidence suggests that minimally invasive methods to ablate superficial venous reflux in patients with end-stage venous insufficiency are as effective as traditional open venous stripping.

That is the conclusion of a research study reported in the July issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery Venous and Lymphatic Disorders. The report is available for free online through August.

Students and surgeons will soon have a valuable new learning tool, with the anticipated summer release of VESAP4. The new edition of VESAP will come just in time for the September board qualifying, certification and recertification exams.

This fourth edition of the Vascular Education Self-Assessment Program has many improvements and new features to make it even more useful and user-friendly, including:

The Independent Payment Advisory Board, created by the 2010 Affordable Care Act to control Medicare spending, threatens the ability of Congress to ensure access to needed health care, say SVS advocacy staff and members.

And with the board’s duties likely to be triggered this year, the result could be $1.5 billion in Medicare cuts in 2019, with steeper cuts predicted for 2022 and 2024.

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[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_large","fid":"1328","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","style":"width: 275px; height: 254px; border-width: 2px; border-style: solid; margin: 2px; float: right;","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]Dr. Herbert Dardik has been honored at this year’s Vascular Annual Meeting with the Society’s highest honor, the Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Society for Vascular Surgery appreciates the time, commitment and energy of hundreds of volunteers who staff the Society’s committees and councils. These individuals plan the Vascular Annual Meeting, interact with federal lawmakers and leaders on legislative issues important to vascular surgeons, develop and update clinical practice guidelines, hammer out coding issues, even preserve our history. These activities barely scratch the surface of the responsibilities of those who work to fulfill the Society’s mission of advancing excellence and innovation in vascular health.