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Medicare cuts expected March 1
A two percent across-the-board cut to Medicare, which is part of sequestration along with defense and discretionary domestic programs, will be triggered on March 1 if Congress fails to act again to delay or prevent it. On January 1, this…
Physician Compare website redesign planned during 2013
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) plans to launch a redesigned Physician Compare website in March 2013. The new website will feature enhanced search functionality and support public reporting of quality data. In early 2014, CMS will begin…
Error in Carotid Angiography Codes
It has come to the attention of the SVS Health Policy Committee that there appears to be an error in the 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for the new carotid angiography codes. (Codes 36222-36226). The 2013 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule…
Stroke Research Priorities – NINDS report now available
The final report of the Stroke Research Priorities Meeting is now available on the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) public website. This report is the result of an NINDS effort to identify the highest priorities for stroke…
IVC Filter Study Task Force Overview: December 2012 (copy 1)
In 2010, the FDA issued a safety communication on retrievable Inferior Vena Cava (IVC) filters, which are frequently used in patients at risk for pulmonary embolism when anticoagulant therapy cannot be used or is ineffective. Since 2005, the FDA has…
New journal now available: JSV: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders
SVS members received a new journal, Journal of Vascular Surgery: Venous and Lymphatic Disorders. Published four times a year by SVS and the American Venous Forum, this new journal includes basic scientific research, case reports, venous images, techniques, review articles,…
Stem Cell Program at VRIC
Vascular surgeons interested in how to build a stem cell program should plan to attend the upcoming 27th Annual Vascular Research Initiatives Conference (VRIC). Designed to encourage interaction and collaboration between vascular surgeon investigators and scientists from other vascular biology-related…
Get the JVS iPAD app
The Journal of Vascular Surgery iPad app is now available. To download, go to the App Store via your iPad and search Journal of Vascular Surgery or JVS. Enter your current jvascsurg.org username and password to access JVS content. If…
‘Hablamos Espa?ol’ – Dealing with a language barrier
As a vascular surgeon in Southern California for the last 13 years, I am no stranger to the challenges of treating the non-English-speaking patient. The move from Brazil to New York and then to California made my native Portuguese develop…
How cultural differences influence your patients
Culture is comprised of values, convictions, and practices that have developed over time within ethnic, religious, or geographically distinct societies or groups and have been transmitted over generations. These traits have enormous impact on how patients behave during stressful states…