Vascular Society of New Jersey

News
A Monthly Communiqué for the Vascular Society of New Jersey - April 2004

From the President….Clifford Sales, MD
It is an honor for me to assume the Presidency of the Vascular Society of New Jersey at this stage. The Society, in many respects, has been revived under the direction of our immediate past-President, Rocco Ciocca. What had simply been a society dedicated to semi-annual functions has, under his leadership, emerged as a practical vehicle for Vascular Surgeons to be heard and promoted.
The development of the Society’s monthly newsletter is one very small, yet visible, way in which the society has progressed. Witness the recent Annual Meeting—clearly one of the better meetings in years in terms of quality, attendance and sponsor support—as a very apparent display of the Society’s viability and renewed energy.
I hope to pick up and run with what Dr. Ciocca has provided for us. The Society MUST function to promote Vascular Surgeons as the champions of the management of Vascular Disease. We are the group most uniquely qualified to care for the entire patient and offer the full range of diagnostic and therapeutic options. That message must be delivered loud and clear to the citizens of our state. This approach must be coupled with the realization of the importance of our role in the “bigger picture” of total patient care and working with our colleagues in other disciplines to deliver the highest quality of care possible where each specialist brings to the table their expertise.
I look forward to serving as YOUR President over the ensuing year. I strongly encourage you to contact me with issues of importance to us as a society. My e-mail address is CMSDAD@COMCAST.NET. Thank you.

Congratulations to the New
VSNJ Board of Directors
Elected at the Spring Conference

President  . . . . . . . . . Clifford M. Sales, MD
President Elect  . . . . . . Peter J. Pappas, MD
Secretary  . . . . . . . . . Gary G. Nackman, MD
Treasurer  . . . . . . . . . Steven M. Hertz, MD
Director . . . . . . . . . . Joseph P. Costabile, MD
Director . . . . . . . . . . Jonathon Levison, MD
Immediate Past President . . Rocco G. Ciocca, MD

Congratulations to the Winning
Abstract Presentation
"Factors Impacting Functional Health and Resource Utilization
Following AAA Repair by Open and Endovascular Techniques"
Primary Author:
Todd R. Vogel, MD, MPH,
UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine

Senate Committee Acts on Liability Reform
Following a hasty trip through the lower house, A-50, the long debated medical liability reform bill, was released by the Senate Health, Human Services, and Senior Citizens Committee on March 22. While physicians groups including the Medical Society of New Jersey and the New Jersey Association of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons called the bill a “good first step,” their testimony reflected a consensus that the issue will no doubt need to be revisited in the near future. The bill contains many of the provisions of last year’s Senate tort reform bill, but stronger tort reforms such as limiting noneconomic damages and strengthening the State’s statute of limitations have been removed.
The debate on the need for these reforms now shifts to a 17 member task force with physicians represented by two members, hospitals by two, dentists by one, lawyers by two, malpractice insurers by one, managed care by one, and health care consumers by four. Ex officio members include the Commissioners of Health and Senior Services, Human Services, and Banking and Insurance, as well as the Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts. The task force is to issue a report no later than 24 months from its initial meeting.
The committee amended both bills in several ways including:

Extending equal penalties to plaintiff’s who falsely object to an affidavit of noninvolvement as previous reprints include for falsely filing said affidavit;
Applying the modernized remittitur provision immediately upon the effective date of the bill (previous version would only apply to cases not yet filed);
Removal of staffing requirements in the Good Samaritan provision (previous language negated protections if “a general hospital has not adequately staffed its emergency department”);
Removal of required “tail coverage” so long as renewal coverage includes the premium retroactive date;

An increase from in a health care professionals annual surcharge from $50 to $75 and a decrease in funds available to hospitals from $8 million to $6.9 million.

Thanks to the Sponsors/Exhibitors
of the VSNJ Spring Conference
Abbott Laboratories
Aventis
Baxter BioSurgery
Cardio Medical Products
Certified Financial Services
Cook, Inc.
Ethicon, Inc.
Genentech, Inc.
Healthcare Business Planning Group
LeMaitre Vascular, Inc.
NJ Pure
Organogenesis
Otsuka America Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Scanlan International, Inc.
State of the Art Medical Products, Inc. (SOTA)

Notice to New Jersey Physicians
from the State Board of Medical Examiners
The New Jersey Health Care Consumer Information Act, P.L. 2003, c.96, will become effective June 23, 2004. The statute requires an electronic profile to be developed for each physician and podiatrist in the state with certain information also being made available to the public.
You will soon receive mailings from the Division of Consumer Affairs, on behalf of the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners, advising you about what information is to be included in the profile. You will be asked to verify information already known to the Division and to fill in fields of information required by the statute. You may choose to provide certain additional information about yourself or your practice that you would like made known to your patients and to the public. Examples of such information would include whether your office or facility is barrier-free for people with physical disabilities, whether you serve on medical school faculties, and whether languages other than English are spoken in your office.
We are encouraging physicians to complete the profile online and will give you a log-on ID and password that will ensure the confidentiality of the information you provide. Please watch your mail.

To save important resources (time and money), we are building an email address list of members. The monthly report, and other important communications, can then be easily and efficiently emailed to the organization. Please provide your name and email address.

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