News & Media

STS News, Fall 2020 — The unplanned, massive shift in knowledge dissemination over the past several months—triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic—has revealed the increasing importance of an innovative learning platform and superior education technology. So in many ways, the long-awaited STS Learning Center is the right system at the right time, offering a reimagined model of education and a reinvented learning experience. This new learning management system, which debuted earlier this summer, will allow the Society to greatly expand and diversify its virtual offerings. “With the new Learning Center, we can deliver a wider breadth of content, both curated and intelligently filtered, to the learner,” said Ara A. Vaporciyan, MD, MHPE, former chair of the STS Workforce on Thoracic Surgery Resident Issues, and currently a director-at-large on the STS Board of Directors and member of the STS Workforce on E-Learning and Educational Innovation. “The recent events related to the pandemic and the changes it has produced means that online learning will take an even greater role in how we train throughout our careers.” STS members may not be attending live meetings and conferences right now, but the need for continued learning with content, activities, and modules that are relevant and easy to access is as important as ever. The Society’s educational programs—always designed to provide the most up-to-date information on research, surgical techniques, and patient management, as well as relevant social, ethical, and political issues—remain intensive, compelling, and high quality; other aspects such as the delivery and the look and feel have changed. The Learning Center leverages the latest education strategies, learning technology, and delivery methods, while offering improved navigation, functionality, and searchability. The result? A personalized, intuitive learner journey and a better overall user experience. “Online education always has been more of a learner-centric model in which the learner identifies the desired content and pace of delivery,” said Dr. Vaporciyan. “The STS Learning Center offers this type of platform—the ability to have information you need, at the level of detail you want, and delivered when you are ready. This is efficient for all involved, especially the learner.” Considered the perfect vehicle to achieve the broader objective of integrating virtual and live education, the new educational platform greatly expands the Society’s ability to host a varied set of content via a wide range of modalities. STS members now can easily view live or recorded webinars, participate in online interactive courses, listen to audio-based content, complete e-learning modules, and review other valuable educational content. The Society also is able to support live activities with completion certificates and online resource pages in a way that was not possible with the previous system. In addition, the Learning Center content is optimized to display on any web-enabled device such as a smart phone or tablet. STS members are able to quickly launch any course from anywhere and easily pick up later with course and video bookmarking. One Platform, Two Purposes Importantly, the STS Learning Center brings together two previous systems—cardiothoracic surgery residency training and surgeon continuing medical education (CME)—into one integrated platform. According to Dr. Vaporciyan, the new Learning Center is like an encyclopedia of cardiothoracic surgical knowledge. “We now all have access to all levels of content. The Learning Center is not just for the early learners or those who are starting their journeys into cardiothoracic surgery, but also for the intermediate learners who crave more advanced content and the established practitioners who want the most up-to-date information and may need to go back and refresh their knowledge on certain subjects,” he said. On the training side, the new Learning Center houses the Thoracic Surgery Curriculum, offering a centralized learning hub that allows program directors and faculty to design and assign packages and courses of content developed from a variety of sources. Trainees also are able to build tailored quizzes from a bank of more than 1,000 knowledge questions that cover all domains of cardiothoracic surgery, track those quizzes over time, and share results with their program directors. This new platform also offers options to organize and deliver content through personalized learning paths or customized packages that are built around specific topics. The learning is trackable through dynamic tests, self-assessments, and evaluations to help learners assess their progress, knowledge, and skills gaps. In addition, the training side of the Learning Center will allow streamlined access with a single sign-on. This updated authentication scheme will permit users to log in with one ID and password to multiple applications, including the Learning Center. Previously, users had different credentials for various platforms, so the single sign-on option is expected to ease the management of usernames and passwords. “With the new Learning Center, we can deliver a wider breadth of content, both curated and intelligently filtered, to the learner.” Ara A. Vaporciyan, MD, MHPE One important content resource now available to trainees and programs throughout the curriculum is the recently released STS Cardiothoracic Surgery E-Book. The first volume, Pearson’s General Thoracic, will be available soon to a wider audience, as will the second volume, Cardiac & Congenital. The new STS e-book is a comprehensive collection of more than 330 interactive chapters featuring photographs, charts, figures, surgical videos, and original medical illustrations (see page 7). “The new platform will allow greater flexibility to merge content from courses and programs with the richer, more detailed content that we are creating through the e-book,” said Dr. Vaporciyan. “This opens up new educational opportunities that previously we were unable to provide.” It’s important to note that CT surgery programs and residents currently have free access to the e-book, but future access may be contingent on program purchase of the Thoracic Surgery Curriculum. CME for Surgeons On the surgeon CME side of the Learning Center is a seamless, cohesive learning environment that will benefit STS members as individual learners. Annual Meeting Online is available here, and the new system also offers many enhanced features in terms of video content, including support for closed captioning, transcripts for learners, and insertion of “test your knowledge” questions right alongside the video content. These capabilities were not available on the previous platform. Also, courses such as the “Robotic Cardiac Surgery: Mitral Valve, Coronary Bypass, and More,” which feature prerecorded, narrated video lectures and demonstrations, as well as live, interactive panel discussions led by world-renowned instructors, have a home in the Learning Center (after purchase). The first session of the Robotic Cardiac Surgery course, Building & Maintaining a Robotic Cardiac Surgery Program, was released in September. Five additional sessions will be available over the next few months. The complete course or individual sessions are available for purchase. A similar program for general thoracic robotic surgery is expected soon. Over the coming months, additional features and activities in the new Learning Center will be introduced and the interface steadily improved to help ensure the best learner experience possible. For more information or to review the Getting Started Guides, visit sts.org/learningcenter.

  STS News, Fall 2020 — Without a COVID vaccine or an end to the pandemic firmly on the horizon, the Society made the difficult decision to forgo an in-person STS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas, next January and, instead, create an all-digital meeting that will educate, inspire, and bring together members of the cardiothoracic surgery team from around the world. “I’ve seen the sessions and features that have been planned, and I think it will be an amazing experience,” said STS President Joseph A. Dearani, MD. “Our surgeon leaders and STS staff are using their intellect and ingenuity to design a meeting that is unlike any other that we’ve seen to date in our specialty.” STS 2021, planned Friday, January 29 to Sunday, January 31, is being built on an existing foundation of excellence, combined with the innovations of both today and tomorrow. In expanding the reach of this event, the Society is creating an immersive digital experience that offers a blend of content and community: Sessions will be a mix of on-demand and broadcast content that will include prerecorded and live elements, panel discussions, attendee chat features, 360-degree videos, networking events, and more. “We are developing sessions that utilize technology and offer enough variety that our attendees will remain engaged without experiencing the ‘virtual fatigue’ that has become common over the past few months,” explained Juan A. Crestanello, MD, chair of the Workforce on Annual Meeting. Each day of the 2.5-day meeting will feel similar to an interactive television broadcast, starting with a brief overview of what attendees can expect and a rundown of what they shouldn’t miss and concluding with a recap and highlights. The meeting will showcase the latest research and practice in all major cardiothoracic surgery disciplines via high-scoring abstracts, invited sessions, and e-posters. Tracks for residents/trainees and non-surgeon members of the health care team also will be available. “STS 2021 will be very inclusive and intentionally laid out to avoid screen and mental fatigue,” said Tom C. Nguyen, MD, a member of the Workforce on Annual Meeting and its Program Task Force. “We are including content and immersion features throughout the meeting that will provide an ongoing storyline and dialog that will keep attendees engaged and offer opportunities for connection and mentorship.” Mara B. Antonoff, MD, co-chair of the Virtual Meeting Task Force agreed that the meeting will be a standout experience. “The combination of preproduced elements and live content will provide attendees with access to cutting-edge research and global expertise in our field. The programmed tracks will be complemented by a wide range of on-demand content, giving trainees and early academicians opportunities to share their best work. We are embracing innovation and making the most out of this situation,” she said. The virtual platform and on-demand content will make it easier than ever for attendees to join whenever from wherever—no matter their time zone or location. But despite an expected record attendance, the meeting will offer opportunities for meaningful engagement and feel very intimate. “We are planning a series of small-group sessions in which experts will interact with participants,” explained Dr. Crestanello. “For example, we’ll have a mitral valve repair expert talk about his or her techniques, offer tips, and answer questions. The immediacy and personal nature of the exchange will be invaluable for many people who never would have had the opportunity to interact with that expert.”   While the exact program schedule is still in the works, Saturday morning will be set aside for Dr. Dearani’s Presidential Address. “It’s not going to be me standing at a podium going through a bunch of PowerPoint slides; it will be a very different experience,” he promised. A cornerstone of the meeting will continue to be STS University, which traditionally has been a hands-on course. Instead of touching, feeling, and conducting various procedures, STS 2021 participants will be brought right into an operating room experience using narrated, immersive videos that display actual operative techniques. In addition, attendees will be able to see who’s in the room, how they are positioned, and what equipment they are using—all without traveling to another hospital. STS 2021 also will include an exhibit hall in a digital platform, where industry representatives will be virtually staffing their booths, while showcasing the latest products and services for cardiothoracic surgery. During the exhibit hall open hours, attendees can participate in video chats with industry, take part in a scavenger hunt for prizes, and attend social and wellness events. Up-to-date information about STS 2021 will be available at sts.org/annualmeeting. Registration is expected to open in November, and early bird rates will be available with additional discounts for STS members.

STS News, Summer 2020 — The past several months have been incredibly trying for health care professionals as COVID-19 continues its spread around the world. Fighting on the front lines, surgeons and other members of the health care team have shouldered a great share of the burden. Despite this global pandemic, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is moving forward with planned Medicare payment cuts of 7%–8% for cardiothoracic surgery, starting on January 1, 2021. These cuts are a result of changes in office and outpatient evaluation and management codes. In addition, CMS is expected to propose a 20% cut in global surgery payments sometime this summer. The last time the specialty dealt with these types of drastic cuts was more than 20 years ago. In 1997, cardiothoracic surgeons came up against a proposal to reduce reimbursement by 27%. This was on top of a decade’s worth of cuts that already included a 60% decrease in reimbursement for coronary artery bypass graft surgery. At that time, the Society responded by creating an advocacy arm and forming an important presence in Washington, DC. This led to the opening of an “official” STS Washington office and the launch of STS-PAC—the only political action committee that exclusively represents cardiothoracic surgery. The Society recognizes that cuts of this magnitude jeopardize not only the financial viability of hospitals and cardiothoracic surgeons' clinical practices, but also patients’ timely access to quality care. In addition, it is expected that surgery will be critical to the post-COVID-19 financial recovery of the health care sector, and hospitals will be counting on increased surgical volumes to bolster their bottom lines. Also, smaller practices that are fighting to stay afloat will not be able to afford another financial hit. More information is available at surgicalcare.org. Follow the Coalition on Twitter @SurgeonsCare and LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/surgical-care-coalition. So, in the face of a pandemic and these most recent proposed cuts, the Society is taking drastic, but necessary action. STS has joined the newly formed Surgical Care Coalition, committing significant resources to the group in an effort to prevent these substantial reimbursement cuts. This alliance of surgical specialty societies is tasked with developing and executing a comprehensive, multifaceted campaign to educate the public and policymakers about the importance and role of surgical services as an essential component of health care. The Coalition also will work to prevent new cuts from being proposed. The strategy will consist of legislative and regulatory advocacy, a public relations campaign, research and data collection on the impact of the cuts, and—potentially—legal action. “Coming together to combat this threat and protect and defend the interests of surgeons around the country, national surgical organizations have coalesced around a campaign to educate the public and policymakers about the value of surgeons and prevent significant reimbursement cuts,” said STS President Joseph A. Dearani, MD, from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. As part of the campaign, the Coalition commissioned a survey of more than 5,000 surgeons from various specialties. The results showed that many surgeons are facing serious financial distress due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, it is expected that the combined impact of the planned CMS cuts and economic fallout from the COVID crisis may cause surgeons and hospitals to face difficult decisions about keeping surgical practices open. The survey also found that even before the CMS cuts: 1 in 3 private practice surgeons were concerned that they may have to close their practices, limiting patient choices and access to care. Nearly half of surgeons who already were experiencing financial difficulties responded by instituting pay cuts for themselves and, in some cases, their employees. While Congress considers COVID-19 relief legislation, the Coalition will take steps to ensure it includes language that prevents CMS from implementing the January pay cuts. “Coming together to combat this threat and protect and defend the interests of surgeons around the country, national surgical organizations have coalesced around a campaign to educate the public and policymakers about the value of surgeons and prevent significant reimbursement cuts.”   Joseph A. Dearani, MD Separately, the Society will continue working with policymakers in Washington who have the ability to make a difference and help them understand how these pending pay cuts will negatively affect the health care system and patients. As was the case in 1997 when cardiothoracic surgeons faced a similar situation, the Society will again call upon its members to engage in this effort. “In the coming weeks and months, we will ask you to take action in support of this campaign,” said Dr. Dearani. “Whether it is responding to surveys, writing to your elected officials or penning an op-ed, your active participation in this campaign is imperative and crucial to its success.” Cardiothoracic surgeons have proven—time and time again—that they can produce exceptional outcomes, even in the direst circumstances. With this in mind, the Society will work diligently to help the specialty continue the critical work of saving patients’ lives. Take Action Now Encourage your legislators to reverse these reimbursement cuts! Even during this difficult time, there are still many ways to get involved virtually. STS can help you with scheduling and provide briefing materials. Schedule a phone call or virtual meeting with your representatives or members of their health care teams to provide details on how these cuts may impact patient care. Become a Key Contact. This program is a great way to stay informed while building relationships and advocating for the specialty. Get access to timely legislative updates and opportunities to engage. Encourage your STS colleagues to become involved. STS members are the heart of our grassroots advocacy efforts. The more participation we have, the greater impact STS can make. Contact advocacy@sts.org for more information and assistance.