President's Message
Peter O. Newton, MD
SRS President 2018-2019
Your committees are in full swing working on the tasks that keep the organization flourishing. If you would like to be more involved with SRS, please volunteer to serve on committees, applications are now open and can be found on the Member’s Only portal. The full list of committees is listed on the website and provides an excellent summary of the opportunities to volunteer your time, ideas, and passion for advancing the SRS mission.
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Inside this Issue
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Hot Topic Articles
Global Outreach Committee Update
Research Grant Committee Update
Treasurer's Report
Website Committee Update
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In Memoriam
Marc A. Asher, MD
August 15, 1936 -
February 1, 2019 |
Yves Cotrel, MD
April 27, 1925 -
January 29, 2019 |
Donald A. Deinlein, Sr., MD
September 9, 1937 -
January 6, 2019 |
Michael F. Schafer, MD
August 17, 1942 -
October 17, 2018 |
Luther M. Strayer, III, MD
December 21, 1934 -
December 27, 2018 |
Keith D. VandenBrink, MD
July 8, 1935 -
February 26, 2019 |
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Ethics Corner
Jonathan N. Sembrano, MD
Ethics & Professionalism Committee Member
How does a physician avoid unethical self-referral practice when simultaneous practicing within and outside a government health system?
Many spine surgeons have dual employment, wherein they are part-time employees at a government facility, such as the Veterans Affairs (VA) Health Care System, and a non-government facility (private/academic institution). It is not unusual for patients seen at the government facility to be deemed by the surgeon, for one reason or another, to be more appropriately managed at another facility. Oftentimes, the surgeon also feels that his/her other practice site is the best facility to handle this problem. This then brings up the question of whether this type of practice represents abuse of government employment for self-gain.
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Coding Corner
Barton L. Sachs, MD, MBA, CPE
2017-18 Coding Committee Chair
Accurate Clinical Documentation Integrity (CDI) Helps Advance Reportable Clinical Quality and Financial Reimbursement
Why CDI?
Clinical documentation integrity (CDI) and coding are not taught in medical school; therefore many physicians have no idea what CDI means and why it is important to them. But it is! Due to changes in reimbursement, increased scrutiny by third party payers, and most importantly the emphasis on all providers and hospitals to provide measureable quality patient care, CDI programs were developed. Physicians are not taught how to complete inpatient documentation in order to correctly assign codes and physician billing in the past has not required a great deal of specificity.
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Education Committee Update
Burt Yaszay, MD
Education Committee Chair
The Education Committee is charged with providing the education program for the 54th Annual Meeting in Montréal including the Pre-Meeting Course, Half-Day Courses and Lunchtime Symposia. We are excited by the program as it has topics that are both innovative and fundamental and should appeal to all members. We look forward to seeing you there!
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Global Outreach Committee Update
J. Michael Wattenbarger, MD
Global Outreach Committee Chair
Global Outreach serves as a networking community to exchange ideas and strategies related to independent outreach efforts as well as to develop and disseminate educational aids on effective outreach. To that end, the Global Outreach Committee will be hosting a webinar, "Spinal Global Outreach: 101 to Advanced Degree" on effective strategies for global outreach on March 21 at 19:00 ET/18:00 CT.
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Patient Education Committee Update
Mark C. Lee, MD
Patient Education Committee Chair
The Patient Education Committee continues to explore the avenues by which effective information regarding scoliosis and spine deformity may be communicated to the parent and child. In the 2018-2019 term, the committee has placed renewed focus on the use of social media and interactive webinars to distribute information that is contained in our printable pamphlets.
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Website Committee Update
Joshua M. Pahys, MD
Website Committee Chair
The Website Committee has been working through previous initiatives. We continue to monitor the presentation and flow of the website and its impact on our readership through regular analysis using Google Analytics. The committee has drafted a manuscript that will be submitted to Spine Deformity documenting the effect of recent changes to the website. We have worked closely with the Patient Education Committee to publish new videos that will be posted online focusing on adult spinal deformity. Several Website Committee members produced a successful webinar on “Using Social Media in Your Practice.”
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Safety & Value Committee Update
Matthew F. Halsey, MD
Safety & Value Committee Chair
The Safety and Value Committee continues to work toward promoting and disseminating those elements of care in spinal deformity that maximize patient wellness. To that end, the committee is focused on creating a centralized SRS-hosted repository of various elements that promote safety including standardized preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative checklists, standardized care pathways, risk severity score calculators, and papers describing best practices (e.g. interdisciplinary indications conferences).
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Research Grant Committee Update
Ivan Cheng, MD
Research Grant Committee Chair
It is my pleasure to announce that for the Fall cycle, the Research Grant Committee reviewed 11 total submissions and awarded four grants a total of $70,000 in funding. Congratulations to the winners.
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Treasurer's Report
J. Abbott Byrd, III, MD
Treasurer
The Scoliosis Research Society continues on solid financial footing as of December 31, 2018. All in all, from a financial standpoint, 2018 was a good year for the SRS. The SRS Leadership Team is committed to continuing this positive financial trend for the Society as this will ensure our viability well into the future.
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