ACS NewsScope
A Weekly News Update from the American College of Surgeons
January 29, 2010
Highlights for the week:
ACS/Pfizer Seek 2010 Volunteerism and Humanitarian Award Nominees
ACS and Pfizer, Inc. are seeking nominations for the 2010 ACS/Pfizer, Inc. Surgical Volunteerism Awards and the Surgical Humanitarian Award. Nominations will be accepted until Friday, February 26. The Surgical Volunteerism Awards recognize surgeons who have contributed significantly to surgical care through organized volunteer activities. These activities include domestic and international work, as well as volunteerism during military service and surgical residency. The Surgical Humanitarian Award, which honors one surgeon annually, is reserved for individuals who have volunteered their time and specialized skills to provide surgical care for underserved populations. Only surgeons who are members of the ACS are eligible for the awards. Additional details, nomination guidelines, and application forms are available at http://web2.facs.org/SurgicalAward/.
Highlights
CMS Coverage Guidelines Tied to Better Outcomes
Implementation of the National Coverage Determination (NCD) for bariatric surgery, issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in 2006, has been linked with improved outcomes based on new study results, report staff from Surgery News, the official newspaper of the American College of Surgeons.
Investigators led by Ninh T. Nguyen, MD, FACS, a surgeon at the University of California Irvine Medical Center, performed a database analysis and found that after the NCD policy was put in place, the volume of gastric banding doubled and the proportion of laparoscopic gastric bypass increased from 60 percent to more than 77 percent. In addition, patients who underwent the surgical procedure after the NCD had a shorter average length-of-stay and lower overall complication rates, with no significant differences in the in-hospital mortality rates. Hospital stays decreased from 3.5 to 3.1 days, and complication rates dropped from 12 percent to 10 percent (Arch. Surg. 2010;145:72-8).
To learn more about the study, go to http://www.facs.org/surgerynews/.
Highlights
Save the Date: 96th Annual Clinical Congress, October 3-7
Plan to attend the premiere educational meeting for surgeons—the American College of Surgeons 96th annual Clinical Congress, October 3-7, in Washington, DC. Choose from 200 sessions to expand your knowledge, including postgraduate didactic and skill acquisition courses and thought-provoking panel sessions. You will witness cutting-edge research presented in the Owen H. Wangensteen Surgical Forum and Scientific Papers sessions, have lunch with preeminent surgeons in the “Meet the Expert” luncheon series, address concerns during the Town Hall Meetings, and much more! For information, visit the ACS Web site at http://www.facs.org/clincon2010/index.html.
Highlights
Medicare Update Webcast Set for February 3
The American College of Surgeons and Economedix will present a Webcast titled “Medicare Update for 2010” at 1 pm EST on February 3. Other 2010 practice management Webcasts are scheduled to take place as follows:
February 17 – Advanced CPT Coding
March 3 – E/M Coding ... From an Auditors Perspective
March 17 – ICD-9 Diagnosis Coding for Doctors and Staff
March 31 - Appealing Third-Party Insurance Claims
Each live Webcast will be held on a Wednesday at 1 pm. EST and will last 60 to 90 minutes. On-Demand audiocasts of the sessions will be available after the live electronic conference.
The standard registration fee per course is $99, which adds up to $2,376 for practices that pay separately for each of the 24 Webcasts offered this year. However, ACS Fellows and their practices may register for the entire series for just $997, and member practices that register by February 15 will save an additional $200 for a final cost of just $797. Also, those registering for the full Webcast series by January 31 will be eligible to win an iPod Touch with a full complement of practice management audiocasts preloaded on the hard drive. To register online, go to http:www.YourMedPractice.com/ACS; to download a faxable registration form, go to http://www.YourMedPractice.com/2010-PMWebcasts.pdf. If you have any questions, contact Economedix by e-mail at rley@economedix.com or by phone at 877-401-9655
Highlights
Abstract Submissions Sought for 2010 Clinical Congress
The American College of Surgeons is seeking abstract submissions for presentation during the 96th Annual Clinical Congress, October 3-7, in Washington, DC. Abstracts for the following programs are being sought: the Owen H. Wangensteen Surgical Forum, Scientific Papers Sessions, Scientific Exhibits (Poster) Sessions, and Video-Based Education. Submissions are subject to committee review and selection, and all accepted abstracts are expected to be presented at the Congress.
For further information regarding Owen H. Wangensteen Surgical Forum (oral presentation) contact Kathryn L. Matousek, 312-202-5336 or kmatousek@facs.org; Scientific Papers Session (oral presentation) contact Beth Brown, 312-202-5325 or ebrown@facs.org; Scientific Exhibits (poster presentation) contact Kay Anthony, 312-202-5385 or kanthony@facs.org; Video-based Education (video presentation) contact Gay Lynn Dykman, 312-202-5262 or gdykman@facs.org.
Highlights
Register Now for 2010 Surgical Investigators Conference
The American College of Surgeons will offer the Tenth Biennial Surgical Investigators Conference March 5-7, 2010, at the Bethesda (MD) North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. The conference is designed to assist surgeon-scientists in obtaining extramural, peer-reviewed grant support for their work and to introduce them to the process, content, style, and people involved in successful grant-writing. The conference will also provide the opportunity to interact with National Institutes of Health representatives.
The fee for the conference is $1,825 USD. This fee includes all related conference materials, meals, breaks, receptions, and lodging for two nights. Confirmation is contingent upon payment of the course fee and is subject to availability. Preference is given to surgeon members of the College. The deadline for registration is January 22, 2010. Space is still available, but those who register soon will be able to attend preferred breakout sessions.
Find additional information, online registration, and an application form by visiting http://www.facs.org/cqi/src/surginvconf.html. For questions, contact mfitzgerald@facs.org or call 312-202-5319.
Highlights
ACS Insurance Trustees Authorize Premium Discounts
Trustees of the American College of Surgeons Insurance Trust authorized New York Life Insurance Company to discount premiums on the ACS-endorsed Life and Disability insurance plans.
Because of favorable claim experience, the trustees also accepted a proposal from New York Life to offer new, lower premium rates for the ACS-endorsed 10- and 20-Year Level Term Life Insurance Plans. The new competitive rates apply to new applicants only.
For plan descriptions, rates, and application forms, visit http://www.acs-insurance.com/ or call the plan administrator at 800-433-1672.
Highlights
Report: ERs Treated 3.5 Million Motor Crash Victims in 2006
Approximately 3.5 million motor vehicle accident (MVA) victims were treated in emergency departments in 2006 for injuries ranging from scrapes and bruises to life-threatening trauma, according to the January 2010 News and Numbers, a statistical brief from the Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb84.pdf).
Nearly 44,000 people died in 2006 as a result of motor vehicle traffic accidents, and approximately 8,000 of the victims died in the emergency department. Roughly 85 percent, or 3 million, of the crash victims were treated and released. Some 321,000 were admitted or transferred to another acute care hospital for inpatient care. Also included in the federal agency’s analysis:
- MVA-related Emergency Department visits resulted in admission to the hospital for care about half as often as non-MVA-related emergency visits. More than half (58 percent) were covered by private payers, compared to 34 percent of non-MVA-related visits.
- Sprains accounted for 44 percent of the injuries treated; superficial injuries such as scrapes, accounted for 35 percent; open wounds, 10 percent; and head injuries accounted for five percent of the motor vehicle injuries. More serious injuries such as internal injury of the thorax, abdomen, and pelvis were considerably less common (2.6 percent).
The report uses statistics from the 2007 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of hospital inpatient stays that is representative of inpatient stays in all short-term, non-federal hospitals. The data are drawn from hospitals, which process 90 percent of all discharges in the United States, and include all patients, regardless of insurance type or whether the patient was uninsured.
Highlights
New Treatment Guidelines Available for Brain Metastases
The American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological Surgeons have released the first national formal evidence-based, multidisciplinary treatment guidelines for patients with brain metastases. A 20-member panel worked with the McMaster Evidence-based Practice Center, reviewing the literature and reaching a multidisciplinary consensus for treatments. The panel, led by Steven Kalkanis, MD, co-director of the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, MI, analyzed 25,000 studies and utilized 400 of them to create the guidelines.
The new brain metastases guidelines include:
- A range of therapeutic options
- Existing evidence used to guide decision-making and its limitations
- Range of practice diversity and demographic factors that influence clinical decisions
- Impact of expert reviews of published clinical evidence.
The new guidelines will be published soon in a special issue of the Journal of Neuro-Oncology. For more information, check the Journal of Neuro-Oncology Web site, where you can sign up to receive Table of Contents alerts, http://www.springer.com/medicine/oncology/journal/11060.
Highlights
NewsScope
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The American College of Surgeons is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization dedicated to the study, training, and practice of surgery. ACS NewsScope is a weekly news service for Fellows of the American College of Surgeons and other interested individuals provided by the ACS Division of Integrated Communications staff.
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by the American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL 60611-3211
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