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I’m just a bill: An overview of health-related committees on Capitol Hill
In the U.S., the legislative process is complex. Among the most important in this process are congressional committees, which play a pivotal role in shaping policy concepts, drafting legislative proposals and shepherding them through the path to becoming law. These…
Budget neutrality and code valuation basics
So, what is budget neutrality and how does it affect physician payment? The Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) is a resource-based relative value scale (RVS) payment system, where relative value units (RVUs) are based on resource costs associated with physician…
Government Grand Rounds: How SVS members can contribute to actively support advocacy efforts
While advocacy consistently maintains a top spot among the list of priorities for SVS members, there remains a degree of uncertainty among many in the vascular surgery community regarding how to actively support SVS advocacy-related programs, the spectrum of available…
Amplifying advocacy: SVS tool for vascular influence on the federal stage
In the dynamic arena of healthcare advocacy, the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) stands as a champion, harnessing the power of amplification to thrust the voices of vascular surgeons into the forefront of federal decision-making. Over the past year, the…
CMS: Proposed reduced conversion factor would cut vascular surgeon reimbursements
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in mid-July released two payment-related proposed rules—the highly-anticipated calendar year (CY) 2024 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule (MPFS) and the Medicare Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center…
Empowering vascular surgery to promote five pivotal healthcare bills before Congress
Welcome back to Government Grand Rounds, a campaign aimed at expanding vascular surgeons’ understanding of—and comfort with—the SVS’ many advocacy tools. In the dynamic landscape of healthcare, the promotion of positive change and the advancement of our profession require more…
Congress considers incremental steps towards Medicare payment reform
There is no doubt that the Medicare payment system needs reform. At this moment, the SVS is aiming to inspire reform through all facets of effective advocacy. This takes place incrementally by raising Congressional awareness of the issues that physicians…
VAM 2023: SVS descends on Capitol Hill
Nearly 50 SVS members took advantage of VAM’s location near Washington, D.C., visiting Capitol Hill Tuesday to discuss legislation related to vascular surgery with members of Congress and their staffs. The meetings were constituent-driven, with members talking with elected officials…
Advance: Navigating the policy and political processes on Capitol Hill
The underlying processes associated with advocacy—whether legislative, regulatory or political—are arduous and complex. As a result, measures of “success” are often characterized by progress within the process, or in other words, to advance a given initiative even if additional work…
Government Grand Rounds: Educating through advocacy
Since the initial launch of the Cancer Moonshot in 2016, the cancer community has made tangible progress towards ambitious goals, including accelerating scientific discovery in cancer, fostering greater collaboration and improving data-sharing. Just last year, U.S. President Joe Biden announced…