Volunteer's Note
Siri Invites You to San Francisco
Call For Annual Meeting Abstracts
Call for 2012 Hand Surgeon-Scientist Award Applications; Deadline Dec. 3
Hand Society History: Founding Members
Listserv Hot Topic: NY Times Article on EMR's and Medicare Bills
Thank You to AFSH Donors
CPT® 2013 Code Changes Announced; New Codes Reflect Care Advancements
4 Reasons Why Doctors Need to Drive Health Care Technology
Volunteer's Note
One of Edward Akelman, MD's strategic plans during his year as ASSH President is to enhance the international profile of the Society.
The ASSH is involved in many international activities, such as sponsoring combined meetings with international hand societies, supporting residents and members who volunteer their time in developing countries, and coordinating travel of International Fellows attending our Annual Meeting. However, these activities are somewhat fragmented and would benefit from a cohesive plan so that our international mission can be more impactful.
As the world becomes flatter, the ASSH cannot be American-centric. We need to cultivate collaborative partnerships with our international colleagues to foster the development of the Hand Surgery specialty in many countries.
I am honored to chair the International Relations Committee, which includes Gregory Bain, MD (Australia), Don LaLonde, MD (Canada), James Chang, MD, Jesse Jupiter, MD, Sanjeev Kakar, MD, David Ruch, MD, Nash Naam, MD and Angie Legaspi of the ASSH staff.
The committee members have been charged to work on four important areas: business, education, research and service. The committee will obtain data from the literature and engage in focus group discussions with stakeholders to develop a vision statement to present to the ASSH Council in December.
We strive to incorporate the enthusiastic support of the ASSH membership to serve, to collaborate, to advance and to advocate for Hand Surgery in all corners of the world.
Kevin C. Chung, MD, MS
Chair, International Relations Committee
Siri Invites You to San Francisco
Click on the image above to view a video in which member Michael Hausman, MD converses with his close personal friend, Siri, about next year's ASSH Annual Meeting in San Francisco, where the theme will be "Education through Technology."
Call For Annual Meeting Abstracts
Submit for consideration your abstract for an Instructional Course Lecture (ICL) or Symposium at the 68th ASSH Annual Meeting, October 7-9, 2013, in San Francisco.
Instructional Course Lectures are 90-minute sessions designed to incorporate didactic learning with interactive discussion between speakers and audience. An Annual Meeting
Symposium is a 45-minute presentation, panel discussion or debate during a general session that typically discusses important issues and emerging trends in the industry.
The ASSH, in partnership with the Plastic Surgery Foundation, is again offering the Hand Surgeon-Scientist Award to recognize a young plastic hand surgeon who has demonstrated success as both a clinician and a researcher to have sufficient protected time to develop a long and productive career in academic surgery.
The award is designed to support young faculty members at teaching institutions with accredited programs in plastic surgery who have demonstrated success in research by receiving extramural research funding – K08 or K23 awards from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The total amount of the award is up to $75,000 per year for up to five years, subject to annual review. This support is intended to provide salary support that will replace income lost from clinical practice because of time spent in research, as well as to help offset the recipient's reduced clinical productivity. Preference is given to fund researchers who are conducting clinical/translational research, with an emphasis on improving clinical care.
Hand Society History: Founding Members
The first meeting of the American Society for Surgery of the Hand, held at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago in January 1946, was attended by 26 of the 35 designated founders. A portion of that group is pictured above.
Left to right: Darrel T. Shaw, MD, Joseph H. Boyes, MD, Lot D. Howard, MD, S. Benjamin Fowler, MD, Sterling Bunnell, MD, Arthur Barsky, MD, Donald D. Slocum, MD, Walter C. Graham, MD, J. William Littler, MD, William Metcalf, MD, Richard H. Mellen, MD, Gilbert Hyroop, MD, Donald R. Pratt, MD, William F. Frackelton, MD and Robert L. Payne Jr., MD.
Not pictured: Harvey S. Allen, MD, Hugh Auchincloss, MD, Julian M. Brunner, MD, Condict W. Cutler, MD, Homer D. Dudley, MD, Alfred W. Farmer, MD, Gerald Gill, MD, Edward Hamlin, MD, Deryl Hart, MD, Sumner L. Koch, MD, William M. Krigsten, MD, Clarence A. Luckey, MD, Henry C. Marble, MD, Michael L. Mason, MD, Joseph I. McDonald, MD, James T. Mills, MD, George S. Phalen, MD, William H. Requarth, MD, Thomas W. Stevenson, MD and George V. Webster, MD.
Listserv Hot Topic: NY Times Article on EMR's and Medicare Bills
A member posted a New York Times article about how EMR/EHR's have contributed to a rise in Medicare bills, and the post sparked a lively discussion among litservers.
If you have already signed up for the ASSH Physician Listserv, you can read the article and contribute to the discussion by visiting the
archives and scrolling down to the thread titled "NY Times on EMR/EHR." If you don't know or remember your Listserv password, you can reset your password
here.
To sign up for the Listserv, visit the
Listserv page.
Thank You to AFSH Donors
Edward Akelman, MD
Morris Button, MD
Manuel F. DaSilva, MD
Leslie P. Dean, MD
Joseph C. DeFiore, Jr., MD
Anthony M. DeLuise, Jr., MD
Julie A. Katarincic, MD
Stephen C. Klasson, MD
Rick F. Papandrea, MD
Kevin M. Rumball, MD
Steven S. Shin, MD
Peter J. Stern, MD
Nicole L. Strauss, MD
Arnold-Peter C. Weiss, MD
Did you know you can support the Foundation (AFSH) through automated monthly payments? Visit www.afsh.org/donate to complete an auto-pay form, or contact afsh@assh.org.
CPT® 2013 Code Changes Announced; New Codes Reflect Care Advancements - from AMAImportant updates to the 2013 Current Procedural Terminology® (CPT®) code set announced last week will allow physicians to report advancements in health care services, including new molecular tests and care coordination.
Reflecting the constant evolution in health care, the 2013 CPT code set has added 186 new codes, deleted 119 outdated ones and revised another 263 codes. The single largest expansion was the result of significant advancements in medical understanding of and testing for the molecular basis of disease, including the Human Genome Project. The 2013 codes include 116 for molecular pathology.
Read more.
By David Lee Scher, MD
The physician's role is drastically changing. More and more physicians are becoming institutional employees. More patient encounters are performed via non-physician providers. The increasing regulatory demands on physicians are consuming an inordinate amount of their time. Stress and burnout are universal to some degree. Both the financial and emotional rewards of practicing medicine have greatly diminished. They are becoming more quality control officers than healthcare providers. However, physicians will never become irrelevant, and their key position regarding healthcare technology needs to be recognized for a number of reasons.
Read more.