Dan Thought You Would Like to Know
One Question
OMeGA 2-Year Fellowship Grants
ASSH Image Library
Thank You to AFSH Donors
President Obama Signs One-Year Delay of Medicare Cut into Law
Judge Rejects Key Part of Obama Health Care Law, Rules Insurance Mandate Unconstitutional - From Chicagotribune.com
Dan Thought You Would Like to Know
This week, Dr. Nagle invited ASSH Immediate-Past President, Robert M. Szabo, MD, to share a few words about the Young Leaders program.
Dear ASSH Members,
Each year, Council invites a group of bright young minds to join us at our winter meeting and participate in a leadership building program. In the past, our Young Leaders have gone on to do great things for the Hand Society, from chairing task forces to becoming Council members, and more.
As this year's chair, I'm proud to say that we have a very promising group gearing up for their meeting at the Central Offices next month.
While there are many "leadership" programs out there, I believe the Hand Society's program creates a unique opportunity for participants, not only to learn, but to actually effect change in our operations.
They are given free range to tackle issues that they feel are important and present their ideas to Council, who frequently takes action. This symbiotic relationship keeps Council members focused on upcoming issues and fresh ideas for recurring issues.
Each Young Leader group to complete the program has brought new perspective and energy with them. This year, in preliminary discussions about their focus, our Young Leaders have been reflecting on how we define our specialty, and also how that definition affects hand surgery education.
I'm looking forward to hearing the results of their work in January, and sharing it with the membership.
Happy Holidays,
Bob Szabo
One Question
Last week, former ASSH President, Richard H. Gelberman, MD, asked the membership for feedback on Flexor Tendon Repair. View the results of the poll.
The Hand Society continues to explore ways to use mobile apps for smartphones to improve the experience members have in relating to and using ASSH resources. This week’s One Question (actually four short ones) is very important to us and will help us understand your current smartphone status and help us determine the kind of platform diversity that exists in the Hand Society.
Mark C. Anderson, CAE
847.384.8300
American Society for Surgery of the Hand
Answer this week's One Question.
OMeGA 2-Year Fellowship Grants
OMeGA is now accepting applications from fellowship programs for two year grants. The two-year fellowship grants support the 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 academic years. Grant recipients will be announced in early March 2011, allowing funded programs to rely upon OMeGA funding for their match applications and selections for the 2012-2013 academic year. The ASSH membership’s suggestion to align grants with the match process was a great one—and stands as testament to what can be accomplished together. This timing works perfectly for all sub-specialty matches except for the shoulder category (which has an early application date in December).
The application period closes on Friday, January 21, 2011 at 5pm CST
This is closer than it sounds given all the holidays in between! Learn more about the fellowship grants and applications. Additional information can also be found at www.omegamedicalgrants.org.
ASSH Image Library
We would like to remind you about an online member benefit from the Hand Society! The ASSH Image Library is a member-only portion of the website that provides an easy method for uploading and sharing surgical case images. The Library is envisioned as a repository for case images, allowing easy search and downloading of other members’ cases. Members can use this tool to improve their personal education image libraries and to share original files with colleagues.
The Image Library has fantastic potential as a teaching resource. We encourage members to submit their own cases and browse through cases other members have already uploaded. Please take advantage of this newest member benefit, which will only increase in value over time with membership participation.
Thank You to AFSH Donors
The Foundation would like to thank the following donors for their generous contributions:
Brent N. Allen, MD
Michael F. Angel, MD
John F. Buckmiller, MD
Richard I. Burton, MD
Daniel A. Caligiuri, MD
Lewis Chamoy, MD
Gary P. Crawford, MD
Steven L. Friedman, MD
Stanley Jaffe
Pamela L. Jones, MD
Mark S. Klug, MD
Paul N. Krop, MD
Charles S. Lane, MD
Benjamin E. Lesin, MD
John D. Lubahn, MD, FACS
Andrew D. Markiewitz, MD
Michael A. McClinton, MD
Frederick V. Minkow, MD
Richard P. Murphy, MD
James E. Popp, MD
Thomas J. Quinlan, PhD
Michael I. Quinn, MD
Scott A. Riley, MD
Amorn N. Salyapongse, MD
Kenneth L. Schiffman, MD
Richard K. Thomas, MD
Donald A. Vichick, MD
Stephen E. Werner, MD
Megan M. Wood, MD
Learn more about the AFSH.
President Obama Signs One-Year Delay of Medicare Cut into Law
On Wednesday, President Obama signed into law a one-year delay of the looming Medicare physician payment cut that would have hurt seniors’ health care. H.R. 4994, the “Medicare and Medicaid Extenders Act of 2010,” will stabilize Medicare physician payments at current rates for 12 months—through the end of 2011—and stop the 25 percent cut that was originally scheduled to take effect on January 1.
Passed by the US House of Representatives and the US Senate last week, the bill includes funds to enable Medicare contractors to reprocess claims for physician services affected by provisions of the Affordable Care Act with a retroactive effective date of January 1, 2010. It also extends a number of payment policies through 2011 that were originally set to expire at the end of this year, including:
- The “floor” on geographic adjustments made for the physician work component of the Medicare payment schedule.
- The five percent payment increase for certain Medicare mental health services.
- An exceptions process for the cap on Medicare outpatient therapy services.
- Payments for the technical component for certain pathology services.
There is a bipartisan agreement that the current system is broken, and AMA will work closely with policymakers on a long-term solution that helps physicians continue to care for seniors now and in the future,” AMA President Cecil B. Wilson, MD, said. “It’s clear that 2011 is the year to finally fix this problem, as the baby boomers begin relying on Medicare this January for their health coverage.”
Read Dr. Wilson’s full statement.
Learn more about H.R. 4994.
Learn how this legislation will impact revenue both by state and per physician.
Read a blog post by AMA President, Cecil B. Wilson, MD, about H.R. 4994.
Judge Rejects Key Part of Obama Health Care Law, Rules Insurance Mandate Unconstitutional - From Chicagotribune.com
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A federal judge declared the foundation of President Barack Obama's health care law unconstitutional Monday, ruling that the government cannot require Americans to purchase insurance. The case is expected to end up at the Supreme Court.
US District Judge Henry E. Hudson wrote that no court had expanded the Commerce Clause of the Constitution to allow the government to regulate a person's decision not to buy a product.
"At its core, this dispute is not simply about regulating the business of insurance — or crafting a scheme of universal health insurance coverage — it's about an individual's right to choose to participate," Hudson wrote.
In his order, he said he will allow the law to remain in effect while appeals are heard, meaning there is unlikely to be any immediate impact on other provisions that have already taken effect. The insurance coverage mandate is not scheduled to begin until 2014.
Read the full article on the Tribune's website.