On June 28, the Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference doctrine, which for 40 years has required judges to defer to agencies' reasonable interpretations of "ambiguous" federal laws falling within the agencies’ field of expertise.
Isabelle Opitz, MD, the director of the Department of Thoracic Surgery at University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, and an associate professor for thoracic surgery at the University of Zurich, as well as the chair of the Lung Cancer Center in Zurich, talks with Dr. Thomas Varghese about her international career path, spanning Germany, France, and Switzerland, in this episode of Same Surgeon, Different Light.
*Please note, this article was updated on September 5, 2024:
*After STS submitted letters to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the United States Preventive Services Task Force, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) responded, stating they cannot reconsider the National Coverage Determination (NCD) at this time. Following this, STS, the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer, and the American College of Radiology (ACR) met with CMS and had a productive conversation about the steps that need to occur, and the data needed to reconsider the NCD. USPSTF has also responded, indicating that this issue will be considered at their Topic Prioritization Workshop in the fall.
On June 21, 2024, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, The American College of Radiology®, and the GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer submitted joint letters to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the US Preventive Services Taskforce that include recommendations to improve existing lung cancer screening eligibility requirements.
The organizations formally requested reconsideration of the National Coverage Determination (NCD) for screening lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography and asked to eliminate the exclusion criteria of current smokers or people who have quit smoking within the last 15 years and the upper age limit. This would align the NCD with the updated American Cancer Society and the National Comprehensive Care Network evidence-based guidelines.
Removing these criteria would significantly increase the number of high-risk individuals eligible for screening from 14.2 million to 19.2 million. Annual lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography in high-risk patients significantly reduces lung cancer deaths and may help identify cancers at an early, treatable, and curable stage.
If you have questions about STS’s lung cancer screening advocacy efforts, contact Haley Brown, senior manager, political affairs and advocacy.
During this year's STS Advocacy Leadership Summit held May 21-22 in Washington, DC, 14 STS leaders supported issues critical to the cardiothoracic specialty. The key areas the group focused on included:
In this episode, Dr. Thomas Varghese joins Dr. Yolonda Colson, chief of the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, and professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School, for an insightful conversation on the advancement of women in cardiothoracic surgery. Dr. Colson shares her origin story - "from farm to field" - as an accomplished surgeon and scientist. What does it take to become a consistently high performer? Dr. Colson advises, "Stay focused on your purpose stay open to new opportunities."
The STS Workshop on Robotic Cardiac Surgery held May 9-10 in Peachtree Corners, Ga., offered 80 surgeons from across the country two days of hands-on team training for mitral valve repair, coronary bypass, and other surgery procedures in a cardiac robotics simulation environment.
Workshop attendees gained insight into building a robotics program, as well as improving the effectiveness of their program.
Here are the top five benefits that surgeon attendees received from the experience:
1. Innovation: Attendees trained in robotic mitral valve procedures and robotic coronary revascularization using the latest techniques and technology. Multiple operating bays fitted with surgical robots allowed participants to sit at the console to control the robots.
2. Training: The program offered a variety of educational activities for surgeons, including real-world simulations, case videos, faculty discussions, emphasized patient selection, perioperative management and postoperative care, and operative techniques.
3. Collaboration: The workshop was designed for both beginner robotic surgical teams who are looking for fundamental information and guidance on how to build a program, as well as advanced robotic surgical teams already practicing cardiac surgery robotics and are looking to continually improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their program.
4. Access to luminary experts in the field: The workshop was led by world-renowned robotic heart surgeons. The surgeons who served as faculty not only mastered the use of robotics in cardiac surgery, but they also helped define it.
5. Networking: Robotic Cardiac Surgery Workshop attendees connected with surgeons from across the country who are on the cutting edge of robotic cardiac surgery.
Feedback on the conference was overwhelmingly positive. Here are a few highlights:
"The best presentation was the one on preoperative criteria and assessment for robotic mitral valve patients."
"The session content was helpful for those thinking about starting a robotic mitral valve program."
"The presentations given by early-stage faculty on difficult cases where they had to convert to open were very helpful."
"Dr. Joanna Chikwe's session on complications of mitral valve repairs was wonderful. I loved this presentation."
"The most valuable sessions were those that offered peer-to-peer interaction with the experienced surgeons, including the hands-on lab."
"I think the courses being part lecture and part hands-on gave the background and data to support what we are doing in the lab. Even more hands-on time would be great, as well."
ProHealth Heart and Vascular Care in Waukesha, Wis., embarked on a multidisciplinary initiative to reduce ventilation times for isolated Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting patients at Waukesha Memorial Hospital. The goals: Reduce the risk of patient harm associated with mechanical ventilation and achieve significant improvements in teamwork and safety culture.
In the realm of cardiovascular care, ensuring adherence to quality metrics is paramount for achieving better patient outcomes. But having a lot of data is not enough. Every healthcare professional who plays a role on an integrated patient care team needs to be aware of the data available to them, understand what it means, and act on that understanding. And that’s a challenge that exists across the health system.
In this episode of Same Surgeon, Different Light, your host, Dr. David T. Cooke, talks with Dr. Ikenna Okereke, vice chair of the department of surgery at Henry Ford Health, and Dr. Mark Henderson, professor of medicine and vice chair of education at UC Davis Health, about the role of education in medical workforce diversity.
As Congress enters an election year, legislative activities typically slow down. Yet lawmakers already are beginning to lay the important groundwork for fiscal year 2025 appropriations. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons continues to advocate for our most critical federal programs, including one increasing funding for lung cancer research.
