ASSH Weekly Member Upd@te
October 30th, 2009
Did You Know?
Hand conditions PDFs are available for download
One Question
Answer this week's One Question
ASSH News
New Product Alert for 2009 Comprehensive Review
Have you volunteered at a medical school this year?
ASSH Courses & Meetings
65th Annual Meeting Call For Abstracts
Electives in Hand Surgery
Mark Your Calendars for the 2010 Course Schedule
Healthcare Reform & News
House Releases Reform Bills; AMA Reviewing Both - from AMA
Health Co-op Compromise Might be Part of Final System Reform Bill - from AMA
FDA and Nation’s Top Pediatric Doctors Meet to Discuss How to Innovate and Study Effectiveness of Pediatric Medical Devices - from AAOS
Did You Know?
Did you know that all the hand conditions posted on the ASSH Website have a PDF version that you can download and give to your patients? The PDF handouts are similar to the information found in the patient education brochures. Just click on one of the hand conditions webpages and scroll to the bottom of the page for the link to the PDF document.
One Question
Do you regularly distribute hand condition education material to your patients? Who supplies you with this material? Answer this week's One Question.
ASSH News
New Product Alert:
2009 Comprehensive Review Now Available in a Jump Drive Format!
Couldn’t attend the 2009 Comprehensive Review Course in person? Get the next best thing by purchasing this new digital product which offers each course presentation with PowerPoint and synched audio presentation. The complete course syllabus with speaker handouts is also included in PDF format. Learn more.
Have You Volunteered at a Medical School This Year?
We Want to Hear from You
Have you given your time volunteering as a lecturer or guest speaker at a medical school this academic year? The Hand Society wants to hear from you. As part of the Lending a Hand program, we are looking for feedback from our members who have helped introduce and promote the hand surgery field to medical students.
Please complete the volunteer survey, and next quarter we’ll list all the institutions that have been visited. If you are planning an upcoming visit to a medical school, Lending a Hand program materials are available on the ASSH Website.
Please contact Lending a Hand chair Anthony Smith, MD with any questions.
ASSH Courses & Meetings
65th Annual Meeting Call For Abstracts
October 7-9 * Boston, MA
Embracing Excellence: Making a Difference
The abstract submission site is now open for you to submit your proposals for Instructional Course Lectures and Symposia at the 65th ASSH Annual Meeting.
Interested in learning more? Download the Call for Instructional Course Lecture Abstracts or the Call for Symposia Abstracts for important policies and procedures.
For more information, or to submit your proposal visit our website.
The deadline to submit is November 16, 2009.
Electives in Hand Surgery
February 5-6, 2010
InterContinental New Orleans Hotel, New Orleans, LA
Jointly Sponsored by: American Society for Surgery of the Hand & American Society of Hand Therapists
Program Chair: Martin I. Boyer, MD, FRCS(C), St. Louis, MO
Online Registration Now Open!
This course will highlight the fundamental anatomical knowledge with which both therapists and surgeons alike should be familiar. Additionally, topics which are infrequently seen in educational forums but are clinically common, including congenital anomalies, non-microvascular soft tissue coverage of the hand, ulnar sided wrist pain and innovations in hand surgery will be covered during this program by experts in their respective fields.
The program will offer concurrent programming on Friday and Saturday morning giving attendees the choice of which topic best meets their needs. Afternoon sessions will bring the entire group together for a general session on a broad topic of interest. As an added bonus this program will offer four product demonstration workshops at no additional cost to registrants. Visit the event site for more information.
Housing for the Electives in Hand Surgery course will be at the InterContinental New Orleans Hotel. A special housing rate of $149/night will be available through December 13, 2009 or until hotel sells out. Reserve a room by calling the central reservations line at (800) 445-6563 (reference “ASSH”) or book online.
The ASSH designates this educational activity for a maximum of 16.00 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Download the course brochure for more information or register online today!
2010 Courses - Mark Your Calendars!
February 5-6, 2010
Electives in Hand Surgery (Jointly Sponsored with the ASHT)
Intercontinental New Orleans - New Orleans, LA
March 13, 2010
AAOS Specialty Day: Wrist and Elbow Update: The Devil is in the Details
New Orleans, LA
May 21-22, 2010
Master Skills Course in Hand and Wrist Trauma
Orthopaedic Learning Center - Rosemont, IL
July 15, 2010
General Orthopaedic Review (Co-Sponsored with the AAOS)
Renaissance Chicago - Chicago, IL
July 16-18, 2010
Comprehensive Review in Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery
Renaissance Chicago - Chicago, IL
August 6-7, 2010
Wrist and Elbow Arthroscopy
Orthopaedic Learning Center - Rosemont, IL
October 6, 2010
28th Annual Adrian E. Flatt Residents and Fellows Conference in Hand Surgery
John B. Hynes Convention Center - Boston, MA
October 7-9, 2010
65th ASSH Annual Meeting: Embracing Excellence-Making a Difference
John B. Hynes Convention Center - Boston, MA
Healthcare Reform & News
House releases reform bills; AMA reviewing both (from AMA)
The U.S. House of Representatives unveiled H.R. 3962, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, earlier today. The bill represents the melding of the three House versions of health system reform legislation and includes a public option in which physician participation is voluntary and payments are based on negotiated rates and the private insurance market.
The House also unveiled H.R. 3961, the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act. This bill would repeal Medicare's sustainable growth rate, or SGR, formula and replace it with a payment system that provides for more predictable updates from Medicare.
The AMA's advocacy staff is in the process of reviewing these bills, which together run more than 2,000 pages. The House is expected to take up both bills next week. House strategy on combining the bills or moving them separately has not yet been finalized.
Health co-op compromise might be part of final system reform bill (from AMA)
Some see health insurance cooperatives as a good alternative to the public plan option, but others are skeptical about the model's viability.
Health insurance cooperatives are being pitched by some on Capitol Hill as a promising way to expand health coverage to the uninsured without giving the federal government too heavy a hand in the process. But some critics say the concept is too lightweight to do much good.
The health system reform bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Oct. 13 does not include a public insurance plan option favored by Democratic leaders and President Obama. Rather, it would implement member-owned health insurance co-ops that would operate at the state level to offer coverage for the uninsured.
At this article's deadline, Democratic leaders were still working on a final Senate bill for floor consideration based on the Finance legislation and a more liberal measure passed by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Although the public option might be incorporated into the final bill, co-ops also might play a role, perhaps as a fallback for states that decide against participating in a federal plan. Full AMA health co-op article.
FDA and Nation’s Top Pediatric Doctors Meet to Discuss How to Innovate and Study Effectiveness of Pediatric Medical Devices (from AAOS)
Innovation in pediatric device and product development has slowed. But, the needs of children all over the world remain, which is why the FDA and leaders in pediatric medicine are together this week to discuss vital next steps.
“We need to talk about the current needs and open the dialogue so that innovation can flow. This kind of collaboration and cross-specialty discussion can only improve care to our young patients and help us gain momentum and support for the critical work ahead,” said Michael Vitale, MD, a national expert in pediatric orthopaedic surgery and a presenter at this week’s summit.
Six specialties of pediatric disorders will come together for this workshop and public summit to answer the question, “How can we best study the safety and effectiveness of devices for pediatric disorders and initiate new innovations?”
Dr. Vitale and several of his pediatric patients are available for interviews to illustrate the need for this innovation and offer insights from the summit.
To learn more about this open summit and workshop, visit www.fdalive.com.