August 2006 | Vol. 24, No. 8

President's Message

by Melissa A. Vickery, LPN-B, RVT

SVU helping its members

August is here and the end of summer approaches, I hope that all of you have had an opportunity to enjoy some down time amidst your busy schedules. As I was preparing this message I thought about the many areas that SVU is involved in on behalf of its membership and I would like to highlight some of them for you. In addition to the day to day activities, the following are some highlights:

• The Coalition for Quality in Ultrasound (CQU), of which SVU is a charter member, continues to meet to discuss various legislative and regulatory issues affecting the ultrasound community. CQU has provided a strong information exchange opportunity, especially in the initiative to require technologist/sonographer credentialing and/or lab accreditation for ultrasound reimbursement in all state Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs).
• SVU continues to send representatives to mult-society Conferences; recently I attended the SDMS “Sonography Advanced Practice Consensus Conference” in July in the Washington, DC, area. And in October I will be attending the SDMS Board meeting in Denver. This type of interaction with like ultrasound groups is important for SVU and its membership to determine where we can participate with other societies for the betterment of our Society and our patients.
• SVU continues to be an active participant in the National Aneurysm Alliance (NAA), a group of medical professional organizations, patient advocates, individuals and medical technology manufactures dedicated to reducing the number of Americans who die from ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysms. The NAA supported the Screening of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Very Efficiently (SAAAVE) Act which was included in the Deficient Reduction Act of 2005 and will become effective January 1, 2007.
• SVU also participates in the Access to Medical Imaging Coalition (AMIC) that is a broad group of patient advocacy groups, medical manufacturers and vascular ultrasound providers formed to fight the drastic reimbursement cuts proposed for vascular ultrasound in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently presented a Certificate of Appreciation to SVU for its dedicated work on the Fistula First Coalition. The certificate was signed by the CMS Administrator and presented to CMS for its outstanding contributions as a member of the Fistula First Coalition. Representing SVU on this coalition are Bill Schroedter, Anne Jones, Dr. Cliff Sales, and Bill Zang; our thanks to all of them for sharing their time and talents.
• SVU is a charter member of the Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD) Coalition sponsored by the Vascular Disease Foundation (VDF). Member Judy Fried is SVU’s representative to this coalition. In September the PAD Coalition will launch a public awareness campaign to increase public and healthcare provider’s awareness of PAD. Watch for it in the news.
• SVU has been in the forefront in providing physician review courses for the new Physician Vascular Interpretation (PVI) Exam offered by ARDMS. SVU, in addition to providing vascular ultrasound interpretation courses and the Annual Conference, provided a RPVI Exam Review Course in March 2006 in Cincinnati, OH, and will have another in Dallas, TX, in September. Check out the SVU website (www.svunet.org) for more detailed information.
• Since 2002 SVU has issued 18 Vascular Ultrasound Professional Performance Guidelines that are posted on the public SVU website, available to members and non-members. Member Michel Comeaux is the Chair of the Guidelines Committee, and she and her dedicated committee members have worked hard to provide important vascular testing guidelines to all.
• SVU now has 51 Fellows with the addition of three more members at the 2006 Annual Conference in Philadelphia. A list of the SVU Fellows can be found on our website.

As you can tell, the staff of SVU and our volunteer members have been busy with the details of the highlights provided above, in addition to helping members and nonmembers on a daily basis. SVU continues to be a Society of energy and purpose. Thanks for your ongoing support of SVU.

Annual Conference

Plans continue for our Society’s 30th Anniversary, June 7-9, 2007 in Baltimore. Activities and highlights of our past 30 years will be incorporated into this celebration, and we look forward to your participation. The 30th SVU Annual Conference will be held again along with concurrent meetings of three other participating organizations, the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS), the Peripheral Vascular Surgery Society (PVSS), and the Society for Medicine and Biology (SVMB). For the first time, the Society for Vascular Nurses (SVN) will also be joining this group of vascular organizations. Plan now to join us in Baltimore next June at the 2007 Vascular Annual Meeting and SVU’s 30th Annual Conference. Watch the website and the monthly e-Spectrum newsletter for more details.

Advocacy

The SVU Government Relations Committee, Chaired by Bill Schroedter, is monitoring closely the proposed drastic changes to Medicare reimbursement for vascular studies in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, which is to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2007. SVU will continue to inform the membership of our efforts on the DRA and communicate to you how you can assist SVU and your profession in this process. The Government Relations Fund, which is based on volunteer contributions by members, is used to assist in paying for SVU’s ongoing legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts in addressing these issues. In addition, a significant portion of SVU’s annual budget is devoted to government relations efforts on behalf of the vascular ultrasound profession.

Membership

As you can see, participation as a member of SVU is important to your profession and ongoing education. SVU has implemented many changes to provide the membership with timely information, educational opportunities and professional support. I continue to urge current members to share the information they obtain from our Society, and encourage those they work with who are not members to join the Society. SVU has not wavered from its stated Mission, we continue to seek out additional opportunities to provide better service and information to our members and the patient’s that we serve.

In closing, SVU is going strong; but we need continued input and support from our membership to address the changes that are occurring about us. I welcome your comments and participation.

My best to all.