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President’s Message
Hot Topics
In Memoriam
Pat on the Back
Historical Committee Update
Treasurer’s Report
Ethics Corner
Nominating Committee Update
Corporate Relations Committee Update
Long Range Planning Committee Update
IMAST Committee Update
Research Grants Committee Update
Development Committee Update
Global Outreach Committee Update
Coding Corner: Modifier 59
Morbidity & Mortality Committee Update
Save the Dates for SRS 2016 Meetings

President's Message

Greetings to all of our members around the world.

We have just completed an outstanding IMAST meeting in Washington, D.C. Congratulations to Ronald Lehman, Jr., MD and Henry Halm, MD and the IMAST committee for all of their work in making it a success.

Hot Topics Articles

In Memoriam – Klaus Zielke, MD, A Spine Pioneer
Development Committee Report – $360,000 Raised for SRS 50^th Anniversary
M&M Committee Report – Attention to All Members to Send in M&M Data

In Memoriam

Klaus Zielke, MD
1931-2016

It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of Dr. Klaus Zielke, to the SRS membership, who passed away on May 17, 2016.

Pat on the Back

Marinus de Kleuver, MD, PhD

Historical Committee Update

George H. Thompson, MD
SRS Historian

The committee will be conducting videotaped interviews with numerous individuals at the 51^st Annual Meeting & Course in Prague, Czech Republic. This is in an effort to bring our video archives up to date and to add to our collection of interviews with significant influencers in the field of spine deformity.

Treasurer’s Report

J. Abbott Byrd, III, MD
Treasurer

SRS remains in sound financial condition. The data in this report is as of May 31, 2016, and will change by the end of the SRS fiscal year on December 31, 2016, but the information provided yields a glimpse at our financial status almost halfway through the fiscal year.

Ethics Corner

Kamal Ibrahim, MD, FRCS(C), MA
Ethics and Professionalism Committee Chair

Is this an ethical issue? The committee publishes in each issue of the newsletter a case for a possible ethical conflict and invites members to send their comments. John Lubicky,MD, wrote the ethical question for this issue. Please send your comments to [email protected]. The committee will collect all responses, summarize and publish them in the next newsletter.

Nominating Committee Update

John P. Dormans, MD, FACS
Nominating Committee Chair

The nomination period was from December 1, 2015, to March 1, 2016. All SRS members were invited to nominate members for the following positions: Vice-President, three Directors At-Large for the Board of Directors, and a Fellowship Committee member. We received an outstanding number of nominations for these positions and the Committee has subsequently reviewed and considered the large list of qualified candidates.

Corporate Relations Committee Update

John P. Dormans, MD, FACS
Corporate Relations Committee Chair

The committee remains quite active by communicating and meeting regularly with our corporate supporters. Dr. Dormans along with Todd Albert, MD and David Polly, Jr., MD, met with Globus Medical in mid-February to discuss plans to move to Double Diamond Level.

Long Range Planning Committee Update

John P. Dormans, MD, FACS
Long Range Planning Committee Chair

Montreal, Canada was approved as the location for the Annual Meeting & Course in 2019 and contract negotiations are nearly completed. Amsterdam, Netherlands was approved in July as the location for IMAST 2019 and contract negotiations are underway.

IMAST Committee Update

Ronald A. Lehman, Jr., MD
IMAST Committee Chair

We have just concluded our highly successful 23^rd International Meeting on Advanced Spine Techniques (IMAST) held in Washington, D.C. July 13-16, 2016. We had over 870 registrants and 570 delegates attend the meeting, and we have already begun to focus on our 24^th IMAST meeting to be held in Cape Town, South Africa from July 12-15, 2017.

Research Grant Committee Update

Michael K. Rosner, MD
Research Grant Committee Chair

Research and Education remains the principle lifeline of our society.
The Research Grant Committee received 20 grant applications in the spring cycle (April 1, 2016) that were reviewed and considered for funding. The research committee consists of 26 members who each reviewed approximately 6-7 grants for a designated team.

Development Committee Update

Serena S. Hu, MD
Development Committee Chair

The Scoliosis Research Society has long been aware of the strong roots that spine deformity fellowships have provided for spine surgeons worldwide. Many have gone to found spine fellowships, multiplying the impact that these training program have had. The Development Committee is working to memorialize the “Genealogy” of our members.

Global Outreach Committee Update

Ferran Pellisé, MD, PhD
Global Outreach Committee Chair

During 2016, the Global Outreach Committee has worked hard to accomplish the committee charges and develop its main priorities: a GOP Road Map, a new online GOP database and a GOP paper describing one year’s activity at various SRS GOP sites.

Coding Corner: Modifier 59

Matthew D. Hepler, MD
Coding Committee Chair

Introduction

There has been a significant increase in the number, breadth and depth of spine procedures performed in the United States in the last two decades and, concomitant with these trends, an increasingly complex coding system for documentation and billing. This complexity combined with enhanced payor scrutiny has resulted in more audit activity, more claim reviews and denials, and more administrative burden.

Morbidity & Mortality Committee Update

Jose A. Herrera-Soto, MD
Morbidity and Mortality Chair

The Morbidity & Mortality Committee has worked this year to improve the ease of use, utility and relevance of the SRS M&M database. The database is central to the goal of determining the rate of complications associated with the surgical treatment of spinal deformity, and the committee owes a debt of gratitude to the Fellows of SRS, whose enthusiastic participation in submission of their case data has made the database the success that it is.

Save the Dates for 2016 SRS Meetings!

To view future SRS meetings and other spine associations and societies' meeting, visit http://www.srs.org/professionals/conferences-and-meetings/calendar

Mark your calendars for the following future meetings:

September 2016

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Treasurer’s Report

J. Abbott Byrd, III, MD
Treasurer

SRS remains in sound financial condition. The data in this report is as of May 31, 2016, and will change by the end of the SRS fiscal year on December 31, 2016, but the information provided yields a glimpse at our financial status almost halfway through the fiscal year.

The total assets of SRS are $12.3 million which is a 3% increase compared to 2015. Our research endowment is in two main funds. The first is the $4.4 million REO fund which is managed by the Rockefeller group. The second is the $3.7 million fund which SRS took in-house from OREF (OREF Legacy Endowment) and is managed by the Vanguard group. In addition, SRS was scheduled to receive $419,000 from OREF designated giving in June. The SRS has $3.3 million in cash designated for the operating and research budgets as well as $500,000 in other assets.

The SRS has multiple sources of General Operating income including member dues ($423,000 to date and budgeted for $470,000) and other sources. The General Operating income to date is $531,000. The IMAST and Annual Meeting (too early to report numbers), other courses and miscellaneous sources are also usually sources of income. Total income to date is $1.64 million. Another large source of income for SRS is corporate donations which are approximately $2 million per year, much of which is to be realized by December of this year.

SRS has multiple line items of expenses too numerous to list but, to date, our total net income is $371,000 and is budgeted to be $100,000 at the end of December which we should meet.

The research endowment returns are acceptable and as of May 31 were 2.2% for the year. The market has significantly increased since then and it is expected that the next gains reported will be higher.

As you can see from this brief snapshot, SRS is doing quite well thanks to our strong membership as well as the excellent leadership from our Presidential Line and board members. I wish to especially thank Daniel A. Nemec, MBA, CAE, from our management team whose job it is to prepare and monitor the SRS financial statements, which has made my job as Treasurer immeasurably easier.