Winter, 2011
From
Your Chapter President
This is the President’s column for the first issue of The Cardiologist for 2011. So, before I say anything else, let me wish all of the cardiology community of New York State a happy and a healthy New Year. The column for the Winter issue has traditionally offered an opportunity to review the events of the past year and look ahead and prognosticate about what is in store for the next twelve months.
From the standpoint of
the New York State Chapter, we look forward to an exciting year,
particularly in the educational sphere. We recently completed our final
CME event of the year a discussion of the Management of Decompensated
Heart Failure, given by Dr. Marc Klapholz at University Hospital, Stony
Brook. In the coming year, we look forward to a series of excellent and
informative CME events, highlighted by our annual meeting to be held in
Rochester, September 24, 2011. This year we are making a special effort to
attract the participation of our young trainees and their program
directors, and will be holding special events and lectures concerning
practical aspects of cardiology for fellows-in-training. I will be
forwarding more information as we approach the meeting
date.
On the national political front, the salient event of the year affecting the entire house of medicine is the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. How this will affect the practice of cardiology can only be speculated upon at this point, but certain aspects are clear: over the coming years, 40-45 million individuals currently uninsured will obtain insurance, and will gain increased access to the health care system. This will certainly strain the capacity of our current cardiology work force (with a median age of 57) to continue to deliver topflight care. New, innovative approaches to the organization of cardiology care will be necessary. Secondly, to pay for this expansion of the insured pool, CMS will be seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in savings from current Medicare expense patterns. After listening to lectures by Dr. Don Berwick (Director of CMS) at the recent ACC Legislative Conference, it is clear that the Administration hopes to obtain these savings by reducing “unnecessary” care, particularly at the subspecialty level. Since cardiology expenses represent the largest slice of the Medicare pie, we can expect to see further pressure from CMS to rein in costs—I’m certain that we will be increasingly asked to justify every test and procedure we perform or recommend.
The opening salvos in
this campaign are reflected by two developments. First is the ongoing
investigation of a cardiologist in Maryland, who has been accused of
performing unnecessary angioplasties. Not only has this led to state-wide
initiative to demand certification of all interventional labs, but has
also prompted an unprecedented Congressional investigation of this
individual’s practice! The second is the attention given to the current
JAMA article stating that up to 25% of ICD implantations are
inappropriate. What is striking is that a highly specialized, complex
article analyzing ICD use patterns—not normally a focus of interest
outside the electrophysiology community--was immediately seized upon and
given tremendous play in national media because it highlighted potential
overuse of cardiology
services.
Andrew VanTosh, MD,
FACC
Election of ACC
Governors
William E. Boden, MD, FACC and Smadar Kort, MD,
FACC have been elected to serve as ACC Governors from New York State. Dr.
Boden will serve as the Upstate Governor and Dr. Kort will serve as the
Downstate Governor. Their one-year terms as governors-elect will begin in
April, 2011 followed by their three year terms as Governors.
William E. Boden, MD, FACC
Dr. Boden is Professor of Medicine and Preventive
Medicine at the State University of New York at Buffalo Schools of
Medicine and Public Health. He is Director of Cardiovascular Services at
Kaleida Health System in Western New York; Clinical Chief, Division of
Cardiovascular Medicine for the University at Buffalo, and is Chief of
Cardiology at Buffalo General and Millard Fillmore Hospitals in Buffalo.
He received his M.D. degree from State University of New York, Upstate
Medical Center in 1974. Dr. Boden performed his Internal Medicine training
at Boston University Medical Center (1974-1977) and went on to complete
his fellowship training in Cardiology at Tufts University School of
Medicine in Boston, Massachusetts. Since 1979, Dr. Boden has held
university appointments at Brown University, Wayne State University, Tufts
New England Medical Center, Boston University, and the University of
Connecticut and currently at the State University of New York in
Buffalo.
Dr. Boden has been involved in clinical research
investigator activities as the project director, study chairman and
co-chairman for multicenter clinical trials. He has served as a principal
investigator, steering committee member and consultant for numerous
clinical research grant activities funded by the Department of Veterans
Affairs, the NIH, and industry. He was study chairman for the VANQWISH
trial of non-Q-wave MI, study co-chairman/lead investigator for the
COURAGE Trial and is the study co-chairman of the NIH-funded AIM-HIGH
trial evaluating the long-term role of combination dyslipidemic therapy
(niacin and statin vs statin) in CAD patients with low
HDL-cholesterol.
Dr. Boden has been actively involved in multiple
professional societies and hospital/university committees. As the Clinical
Chief in a busy private practice/full-time academic hospital environment,
Dr. Boden has played an important role in advocating the development of
creative relationships between the hospital system and the community-based
physicians to align interests and partnerships that foster strategic
growth of cardiac services. He has worked in committee liaison activities
between several Western New York payers and the hospital system to define
creative approaches to more efficient quality care and delivery and has
been active in developing a pilot program to enhance physician
reimbursement for achieving quality improvement metrics. He has also
served as a District 7 Councilor of the New York State Chapter since
2008.
Dr. Boden has lectured widely and written over 350 peer-reviewed publications, original articles, books, chapters and abstracts. He has been selected as one of the Best Doctors in America continuously since 2003. He is a member of several professional Cardiology organizations and editorial boards of Am J Cardiology, JACCand Clinical Cardiology and as a reviewer for many peer-review journals including New England Journal of Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, the Lancet, Circulation, JAMA and Am Heart J, among others.
Smadar Kort, MD, FACC
Dr. Kort has been practicing cardiology in the New
York State for over 10 year. She is Professor of Medicine at Stony Brook
University Medical Center and has been serving as Director of Non-Invasive
Cardiac Imaging and Director of Echocardiography at Stony Brook University
Medical Center since 2005. She received her medical degree from Sackler
School of Medicine in Israel and completed her internship and residency in
internal medicine at The New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center. Dr.
Kort completed her fellowship in cardiovascular disease at The New York
Hospital-Cornell Medical Center and advanced fellowship in
echocardiography at NYU Medical Center.
At the national level, Dr. Kort is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the American Society of Echocardiography, as well as the ACC representative on the Board of Directors of the Joint Review Committee for Diagnostic Medical Sonography. She served on the Echo Committee of the ACC and was the ACC representative to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Quality Hospital Incentive Program Advisory Panel. She is currently the Chair of the Membership Steering Committee of the American Society of Echocardiology and is serving as a member of numerous other national committees.
At the state level, Dr. Kort is a member of the Continuing Medical Education, the Nominating and the Advocacy committees of the New York State Chapter. She has completed two terms of serving as the District 2 Councilor of the New York State Chapter and is currently leading the Long Island Echo Society. She has been active in advocacy for the ACC and has represented the New York State Chapter at the most recent Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C.
At SUNY Stony Brook, Dr. Kort is a Course Director for the 2nd Year Cardiovascular System Course and is a member of the Committee on Academic Standing, as well as a member of the Cardiovascular Fellowship Program Committee.
Additionally, Dr. Kort is a member of numerous
Editorial Boards, is an abstract grader for major national annual
scientific sessions and frequently presents at national and international
conferences. Dr. Kort is Board Certified in Cardiology and
Echocardiography. She has been a FACC since 2001.
Vote: New York State Chapter
Elections
Once again this year, the election of Councilors and
Secretary-Treasurer of the New York State Chapter, American College of
Cardiology is being conducted via e-mail. The slate of candidates was
emailed to members in early January. Please return your completed ballot
via email to nweiner@nycms.org no
later than February 18, 2011. If you have any questions, please contact
the New York State Chapter at 212.686.0228 or e-mail nweiner@nycms.org.
2011 Arvilla Berger Lecture
Christine Seidman,
MD
Christine Seidman, MD, has been invited to deliver
the Thirty-Eighth Annual Arvilla Berger lecture. The title of Dr.
Seidman’s lecture is, The Genetics of Cardiomyopathy:
From Mutation to Mechanism. Dr. Seidman is Thomas W. Smith Professor of
Medicine and Genetics, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's
Hospital Investigator; and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Director,
Cardiovascular Genetics Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital. The lecture
will be presented at the University of Rochester Medical Center on
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 8:00 a.m.
Please contact the New York State Chapter office at
212.686.0228 for additional information.
President Signs Bill to Remove Physicians from "Red
Flag" Rule
Legislation had
been passed in both the Senate and the House (S.3987) to amend the Fair
Credit Reporting Act regarding the applicability of identity-theft
guidelines to physicians.
This Act would have required physicians to adopt
identity-theft compliance programs by December 31, 2010. S.3987 or The "Red Flag Program Clarification Act of 2010" is
legislation that limits the type of creditor that must comply with the
"red flags" rule. The President's signature on this legislation will
prevent enforcement of the rule against physicians, dentists, attorneys
and other professionals. The bill was sent to the White House where the
President signed it prior to the January 1, 2011
deadline.
Physician
Peer Reviewers Needed
The
Empire State Medical, Scientific and Educational Foundation, Inc. (ESMSEF)
is in need of physician reviewers who are board certified and in active
practice. There is a particularly urgent need for cardiologists,
nephrologists, urologists and orthopedists. The reviews are retrospective in nature and are time
sensitive. Generally approximately ten days are allotted for each
physician review. Reviews may be sent to your home or office or may
be performed in the offices of the Medical Society of the State of New
York (MSSNY) in Westbury (Long Island) or Camillus (west of
Syracuse). Reimbursement for cases sent to your home or office is
$100 per hour; reimbursement for cases reviewed in the MSSNY offices is
$120 per hour. Issues to be reviewed include medical necessity,
diagnosis assignment and/or quality of care
issues.
ESMSEF is a subsidiary MSSNY and has
been performing independent medical peer review since 1984. The
Foundation currently has several review contracts in New York State as
well as Connecticut.
If you are interested in participating in peer review, please contact Jane Steinman, Physician Reviewer Coordinator at 1-800-437-2237 or email at jsteinman@esmsef.com to request an application. You may also download the application from the Medical Society website at www.mssny.org.
Upcoming Meetings
The Thirty-Eighth
Annual
Arvilla Berger
Lecture
THE GENETICS OF CARDIOMYOPATHY:
FROM MUTATION TO
MECHANISM
Christine
Seidman, MD
Tuesday,
March 22, 2011
University
of Rochester Medical
Center
Rochester,
New York
ACC.
11
Sunday,
April 3 - Tuesday, April 5,
2011
New
Orleans, Louisiana
CARDIOLOGY AT
MOHONK
Saturday,
April 9, 2011
Mohonk
Mountain House
New Paltz,
New York
REIMBURSEMENT & CODING SEMINAR FOR
CARDIOLOGY
Tuesday,
April 12, 2011
Holiday Inn
– International Airport
Hotel
Buffalo,
New York
FOURTH ANNUAL CARDIAC
CARE ASSOCIATE SYMPOSIUM 2011
Friday,
June 3, 2011
New York
Athletic Club
New York
City
83rd ANNUAL
SCIENTIFIC SESSION
THE NEW YORK
CARDIOLOGICAL SOCIETY
21st ANNUAL
MEETING
NEW YORK STATE
CHAPTER, ACC
Saturday,
September 24, 2011
Radisson
Hotel Rochester Riverside
Rochester,
New York