Aaron Dailuiski, MD
Member, Public Education Committee
Patients routinely look to the internet for information regarding their clinical condition. Although information is plentiful, it is not always accurate. The Public Education Committee, chaired by Steve Lee, MD, has developed a sheet of QR codes. Each QR code or web address directs patients to a mobile friendly PDF version of the public education page written and maintained by ASSH for their clinical condition.
Codes for the top 12 most widely ordered ASSH patient information brochures were added to a single sheet that can be printed and given to patients, providing a written record of the patient’s condition for them to use for additional information in the office or at home. Alternately, the QR codes can be incorporated into electronic medical records and printed in patients’ discharge instructions.
The sheet can be downloaded from the
ASSH website. Please give feedback. We hope to add additional topics and incorporate suggestions as well as more user-friendly addresses and graphics into future versions of the Public Education Sheet if it is widely adopted.
Past President Daniel Nagle, MD and coding expert, Mary LeGrand, are working to customize a precourse for this year’s Annual Meeting that will cover the coding issues most relevant to our membership. Help them identify which coding questions are most significant to the hand and upper extremity surgery community by answering this week’s One-Question Survey:
On a scale of 1 to 3 (1 being the most preferred), please rank which topics would you would like to see covered in our upcoming CPT course:
- E&M--Levels of Service
- CPT vs. Medicare Surgical Package
- Modifiers
- Fractures
- Hand Trauma
- How to avoid audits
- -59 vs. -51
- Other
Look for 68th ASSH Annual Meeting program and registration information in May 2013.
Recently updated coding information is now available in
Global Service Data, 2013 eBook edition, edited by Daniel J. Nagle, MD and John M. Bednar, MD. The eBook format allows for easy navigation, search, bookmarking codes and notes. And with your purchase, you will be able to upload a single book to multiple locations, such as your iPad, work PC, laptop, etc.
Updated with important new coding information for 2013, this eBook is a vital resource for any hand surgery practice, containing commonly used hand surgery codes. It is an invaluable tool for interpreting CPT codes and billing insurance.
May 3-4, 2013 * Chicago, IL
Housing Deadline: March 18
Registration Deadline April 8
Join us for a
dynamic program that will focus on common hand and wrist injuries in elite athletes. This comprehensive course will cover diagnosis, treatment, therapy, dealing with 3rd parties (coaches, trainers, agents, media), and other issues regarding return to play.
This course will take place at the Palmer House Hilton, located in downtown Chicago. This AAA four-diamond rated hotel has been hosting visitors to the Chicago Loop for over 140 years. Today, the Palmer House Hilton continues to thrive in the heart of the theatre and financial district, just steps from the Art Institute, Millennium Park and State Street shopping. Rooms will be available for $184/night. If the room block fills prior to the deadline, the hotel cannot guarantee availability and/or the meeting rate.
Reserve a room online or call (877) 865-5321 and use code HLA to
receive the special ASSH rate of $184/night.
Register by April 2 for the online Self-Assessment Exam, and take advantage of this popular self-study exercise that keeps hand and upper extremity care professionals abreast of new developments and concepts within the specialty.
Our improved online exam enables you to:
- Take the exam up to three times to meet the minimum passing score of 50%
- View larger images for a better test experience
- View video footage for several questions in the test
- Pause the test at any time and save your progress
- See answers immediately after completing the test
- Obtain your CME immediately upon completion, and you can download and print the certificate right away. (CME will appear on your official ASSH transcript within 10 business days of successful test completion.)
It's the same high-quality exam you've come to expect, with faster results and more flexibility for you.
Register now.
Now is your chance to join ASSH leadership! The Hand Society encourages all qualified candidates to submit an application for the position of Research Division Director, term to begin at the 2013 Annual Meeting in San Francisco and last for three years. The Research Division awards as much as $300,000 in grants each year, working toward innovative advances in our field.
The Research Director will have the opportunity to lead a division that includes four committees:
- Clinical Trials and Outcomes Committee
- Research Management Committee
- Traveling Fellows (Bunnell) Committee
- Surgery of the Hand Outcomes Workgroup
The deadline to submit an application is March 27. For more information on the Research Division Director position and to apply online,
visit our Council webpage.
ASSH is now accepting applications for the prestigious Bunnell Fellowship, which provides scholarship funding for a young hand surgeon to pursue an educational or academic goal. Named for the founder and first President of the ASSH, the Sterling Bunnell Traveling Fellowship has
supported many surgeons since its inception in 1982.
If you have been an ASSH Active member for seven years or less, you are eligible to apply for this fellowship. The Bunnell Fellow will be chosen based on the applicant's scholarship, ASSH contributions, and strength of the proposed collaborative project.
Senior Member Jon Kolkin, MD, has shared a report on his experience offering his expertise in hand surgery through Health Volunteers Overseas. Dr. Kolkin collaborated with local doctors in Wenzhou, China for 4 weeks from October 2012 to November 2012.
Click here to learn more about his trip.
For those interested in volunteering with Health Volunteers Overseas, April 1 is the deadline to apply for their AFSH-HVO Young Surgeon Traveling Fellowship. April 21 is the deadline to apply for one of their 2013 Orthopaedics Traveling Fellowships. Four positions are available. For more information about either opportunity,
contact their program department.
This week, the ASSH Physician Listserv has been home to a discussion of the future of stem cell treatments for hand conditions. To share your thoughts on this burgeoning area of research and to read articles shared by your peers, visit the ASSH Physician Listserv archives and scroll down to the thread entitled "Stem Cell Treatment."
If you don't remember your Listserv password, you can
reset your password here.
The ASSH Physician Listserv is a place where members can collaborate on clinical questions, share tips and techniques and interact with other members. To sign up for the Listserv,
visit the Listserv page.
The first bionic hand that allows an amputee to feel what they are touching will be transplanted later this year in a pioneering operation that could introduce a new generation of artificial limbs with sensory perception.
The patient is an unnamed man in his 20s living in Rome who lost the lower part of his arm following an accident, said Silvestro Micera of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.
The wiring of his new bionic hand will be connected to the patient’s nervous system with the hope that the man will be able to control the movements of the hand as well as receiving touch signals from the hand’s skin sensors.
Read more.
Jack Choueka, MD
Michael J. Dunn, MD
Thomas B. Hughes, MD
Jerone T. Landstrom, MD
Marco Rizzo, MD
Jane M. Siegel, MD
David Jeffrey Weil, MD
Have you made your annual donation to the Foundation? Visit
www.afsh.org/donate now to support research, education and outreach in the field of Hand and Upper Extremity Surgery.