Thursday, September 30, 2010
Ark. Supreme Court rejects economic credentialing - Healthcare business news from Modern Healthcare
Ark. Supreme Court rejects economic credentialing - Healthcare business news from Modern Healthcare
There are no protections against economic credentialing for Georgia physicians. In fact, economic credentialing is specifically allowed under current law in Georgia.
There are no protections against economic credentialing for Georgia physicians. In fact, economic credentialing is specifically allowed under current law in Georgia.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Congressman Tom Graves (GA9-R) Receives Support From ACS Surgeon's PAC
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| SURGPAC Chair, Dr. Ted Perry and Congressman Tom Graves (GA9-R) Newly elected Congressman Tom Graves representing Georgia's ninth district was an early morning visitor to the offices of Cartersville Surgical Associates to meet with SURGPAC Chairman John T.(Ted) Perry Jr., MD, FACS. Dr. Perry presented Congressman Graves with a generous contribution from the American College of Surgeons Professional Association Surgeon's PAC. U.S. Representative Tom Graves entered Congress in June 2010 after serving seven and half years in the Georgia General Assembly. He represents Georgia’s 9th Congressional District which touches the northern suburbs of metro Atlanta to the northwest corner bordering Alabama and Tennessee. While serving in the Georgia House of Representatives, Tom sponsored legislation to recognize General Surgeons as specialists and supported many initiatives to strengthen patient safety and protect the physician/patient relationship. Learn more about Congressman Tom Graves. |
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
Thursday, September 23, 2010
David V. Feliciano, MD, FACS, Scudder Oration on Trauma
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| David V. Feliciano, MD, FACS |
Dr. Feliciano is the Surgeon-in-Chief, Grady Memorial Hospital 1992-2010 and Professor of Surgery, Emory University School of Medicine. He also serves as Adjunct Professor, Department of Surgery, Uniformed Services, University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD and is Board Certified in General Surgery and Surgical Critical Care.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
D. Scott Lind, MD FACS, will moderate panel at ACS Clinical Congress
To Tweet or Become Extinct?: Why Surgeons Need to Understand Social Networking will be co-moderated by D. Scott Lind, MD FACS of Augusta, GA at the American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress in Washington, D.C. This session is scheduled for Tuesday, October 5 from 2:30 pm until 4:00 pm.
The session description is as follows:
The use of social networking sites, such MySpace, Face book, Twitter, YouTube and other as a means of communication is exploding, particularly among millions of young people. Social networking sites have been increasingly adopted by many online health-related professional and educational services. Social networking may represent an effective way for surgeons to better serve, i.e., to communicate, to educate, to care, for their patients, the public, medical students, residents and the general public. In this session, we will inform surgeons about how surgeons can use social networking and the potential uses and abuses of social networking sites. You can follow this panel discussion now (premeeting) and live (during the panel) on Twitter @ "#ACS2010".
The session description is as follows:
The use of social networking sites, such MySpace, Face book, Twitter, YouTube and other as a means of communication is exploding, particularly among millions of young people. Social networking sites have been increasingly adopted by many online health-related professional and educational services. Social networking may represent an effective way for surgeons to better serve, i.e., to communicate, to educate, to care, for their patients, the public, medical students, residents and the general public. In this session, we will inform surgeons about how surgeons can use social networking and the potential uses and abuses of social networking sites. You can follow this panel discussion now (premeeting) and live (during the panel) on Twitter @ "#ACS2010".
Monday, September 20, 2010
Don’t forget to register to vote by October 4 and vote YES on Amendment 2!
“Yes on Ballot Amendment 2” in the Nov. 2 election
If you are not registered to vote, you still have time.
If you are not registered to vote, you still have time.
The deadline for voter registration is October 4, 2010 to be eligible to vote for trauma funding on November 2. To register to vote in the state of Georgia, you must be a citizen of the United States, a legal resident of Georgia and the county where you vote, and at least 17 ½ years of age to register and 18 to vote. Georgia does not register voters by political party.
Where to Vote
After your county receives your voter registration form, you will receive a precinct card in the mail, which will state the location of your polling place and your local, state, and federal districts. If you do not receive your precinct card within 30 days, contact the Board of Registrar’s office in your county or check the Secretary of State MVP at: http://sos.georgia.gov/mvp.
You must register no later than Oct. 4. Mail-in applications must be postmarked by this deadline.
Be sure to bring an acceptable form of ID with you on Election Day, Nov. 2. They are: a valid state or federal government-issued photo ID; a Georgia driver's license, even if it's expired; a valid employee photo ID from any local, state or federal government; a valid U.S. passport; a valid U.S. military photo ID; valid tribal photo ID.
Please pass this message along to your family, friends and patients.
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
New TV ad for the Trauma Campaign
Please forward this link to the new TV ad for the yes2savelives.com campaign! This ad will begin to air in the Atlanta market on Thursday, September 16, 2010.
Don't forget to go to the Yes2SaveLives website and sign up as supporter and ask all your friends, family, staff and patients to join the campaign.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
GSACS President Dr. Hal Kent and GSACS Member Dr. Gage Ochsner Promote Trauma Amendment
On board for trauma care
9/14/2010 The Brunswick News
Dr. Harold Kent, a surgeon with his practice Georgia Coast Surgical in Brunswick, was recently elected president of the Georgia Society of American College of Surgeons, a group backing the amendment.
"It's about saving lives," Kent said.
In some parts of the state, especially southern Georgia, residents are dangerously far from a trauma center, he said.
Someone with a severe injury has about an hour, according to research, to get to a trauma center to increase the chance of survival by as much as 25 percent, Kent said. "That golden hour is very important."
Most of Georgia's 16 trauma centers, however, are in the northern part of the state, and only four of them provide Level 1 care, the most comprehensive care, offering 24-hour trauma care with a full spectrum of services, from prevention through rehabilitation.
The Brunswick hospital of Southeast Georgia Health System does not have a trauma center. The nearest Level 1 trauma centers are in Savannah and Jacksonville.
Kent said the state needs about 30 trauma centers to meet the needs of the state.
The lack of trauma centers, especially in southern parts of the state, may be a reason that the death rate from trauma in Georgia is 20 percent higher than the national average.
Trauma injuries, a serious injury or shock from an accident or violence, kill more people between the ages of 1 and 44 than any disease or illness, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Unlike a hospital emergency room, a trauma center has a medical staff trained in urgent trauma care, along with the latest technology and life-saving equipment to care for severely injured patients.
The proposed $10 increase in the vehicle tag fee would raise about $80 million a year for a trauma care system in Georgia.
"I look at it like an insurance premium," said Dr. Gage Ochsner, chief of trauma services and surgical critical care at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah.
"For the price of two Happy Meals, you can have access to life-saving treatment," he said.
Ochsner, who served his residency with Kent in the early 1980s at the Naval Hospital in San Diego, said a statewide system would save the lives of 600 to 700 Georgians and prevent permanent disability in as many as 2,000 a year.
Money from the fee would pay for development of a procedure and a call center for routing patients to the nearest available care center, as well encouraging hospitals in deficient areas of the state to create centers by helping with costs.
Providing trauma care, with its staffing, equipment and training, can be expensive for hospitals, Ochsner said.
For example, a Level 1 trauma center requires an operating room dedicated solely to trauma cases, but restricting use of an operating room at a hospital where surgeries are a major source of revenue could be cost-prohibitive.
Also, hospitals face the possibility of increased indigent care costs.
"With trauma patients, they're not really in a state to ask if they have insurance or not. You have to just take care of them," Ochsner said.
Funding from a vehicle tag fee, however, would help with the cost and might be incentive enough to encourage hospitals to provide the service, Ochsner said.
"Over time, the fee (and trauma care system) pays for itself, because you have people who otherwise would have died, surviving and able to pay taxes and contribute to society," Ochsner said.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Surgical Olympics 2010
The winning team for the 2010 Georgia Society of the American College of Surgeons first annual Surgical Olympics was the team from Atlanta Medical Center. Congratulations and prepare to defend your title next year!
The Surgical Olympics event was held Saturday, August 28, 2010 as part of the GSACS Annual Meeting. It was a great event enjoyed by all - and we even spotted some future surgeons working hard on the Operation and iPad games!
Before the Surgical Olympics got started everyone enjoyed a family style barbeque complete with chicken and ribs.
More pictures of the Surgical Olympics and GSACS Meeting will be posted later so check back often.
Don't miss this meeting next year! Make plans now to attend August 27-28, 2011 in Atlanta.
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