Coding: Increasing complexity and lost RVUs—a drop in the ocean?

A vascular surgery team at Audie L. Murphy VA Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, uncovers “staggeringly low” numbers of correctly coded billing for three commonly performed vascular procedures, raising concerns over cases with more complex coding. Not long after…
U.S. Aortic Research Consortium maps out F/BEVAR preoperative risk factors for one-year mortality in complex AAAs, TAAAs

A series of preoperative risk factors—including currently smoking, chronic kidney disease (CKD), congestive heart failure (CHF), aneurysm size greater than 7cm, more advanced age (75 or over), Crawford extent I–III thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs), known chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD),…
The utility of renal stenting in hemodialysis patients: One in five found to come off dialysis after being stented

A fifth of patients among a chronic kidney disease (CKD) cohort on hemodialysis—a rare subset pulled from a large repository of national data—were able to come off the treatment following renal artery stenting, a team of researchers from the University…
SAVS makes travel scholarship applications call for 2024 meeting

The Southern Association for Vascular Surgery (SAVS) has put out a call for applications from medical students and general surgery residents for 20 travel scholarships now available to attend the 2024 SAVS annual meeting. Applicants must be either a medical…

