The Society’s 8 in 8 Series offers quick access to important topics in cardiothoracic surgery. Each informative video is narrated by an expert in the field and covers one topic using eight slides in 8 minutes.
Obtaining Medicare claims data to use with the STS National Database data is a top advocacy priority. With this data, clinician-led clinical data registries can facilitate outcomes-based research that improves health care quality and efficiency, as well as provide insight into appropriate Value-based reimbursement. This video examines the importance of registry access to Medicare claims data, current regulatory barriers, and how STS is advocating to improve access.
Presenter:
Alan M. Speir, MD
Chair, STS Council on Health Policy and Relationships
STS-PAC is the only political action committee that exclusively represents cardiothoracic surgery and is the Society’s primary mechanism for influencing the policymaking process. This video defines the role of a political action committee and provides an overview of STS-PAC, including how it’s governed, who can contribute, how contributions are used, and accomplishments made possible through support from STS-PAC.
Presenter:
Keith S. Naunheim, MD
Chair, STS-PAC Board of Advisors
STS Past President
The Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Advanced Model is part of continuing efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to implement voluntary episode payment models. This video discusses the continuum of risk-based payment models, an overview of the BPCI Advanced program, winners and losers in this payment model, and opportunities for savings.
Presenter:
Keith A. Horvath, MD
Association of American Medical Colleges
Grassroots advocacy is ground-up support to advance a common goal. Participation by STS members in grassroots advocacy efforts is fundamental to helping the specialty, as well as improving access to quality care for cardiothoracic surgery patients. This video discusses the basics of grassroots advocacy, why it is important for members at every career level—from residents to experienced surgeons—to get involved, and how to get started with help from the STS Government Relations team.
Presenter:
Seth Wolf
University of Vermont Larner College of Medicine
Risk assessment and stratification, as well as operative and non-operative treatment options for lung resection in patients with marginal pulmonary function
Options for left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation via thoracotomy, and topics including the benefits of different surgical approaches, cannulation strategies, and special considerations for patients with a short/leftward aorta, left internal mammary artery grafts, or mediastinal adhesions.
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is an invaluable tool in lung transplantation. Originally developed to support patients in critical heart or respiratory failure, it often is used as a bridge to organ transplant, during lung transplant surgery, and for severe primary graft dysfunction. This video highlights the essentials of ECMO in lung transplantation with a focus on intraoperative management.
Presenter:
Mauricio Villavicencio, MD, MBA
Massachusetts General Hospital
Right ventricular (RV) failure occurs when the right ventricle does not maintain enough blood flow through the pulmonary circulation to achieve adequate left ventricular filling. This video reviews the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management of RV failure after cardiac surgery.
Presenters:
Nathalie Roy, MD
Harvard University, Boston Children’s Hospital
Hitoshi Hirose MD, PhD
Thomas Jefferson University
Postoperative atrial fibrillation is the most common complication following heart surgery. This video will describe potential inflammatory components that contribute to this problem found in the pericardial space.
Presenter:
Spencer J. Melby, MD
Barnes Jewish Hospital, Washington University in St. Louis
Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) is a bedside tool that increasingly is available in the health care setting. This video will demonstrate how to obtain images easily and how they can help clinicians diagnose and treat postoperative hypotension in critically ill patients.
Presenters:
Jeffrey R. Kangas, MD
Detroit Medical Center
Understanding the dynamics of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) circuit pressure and flow is essential to guide decisions, including how much ECMO blood flow is appropriate during management, weaning, and specific clinical scenarios such as North-South or Harlequin syndrome. This video highlights the circuit-patient management interface for physicians.
Presenters:
Rita Karianna Milewski, MD, PhD, MSEd
University of Pennsylvania
Cardiac surgery is an underappreciated contributor to the opioid crisis, with patients commonly utilizing opioid prescriptions months after their index procedure. This video addresses the historical basis for opioid-based anesthesia and analgesia in cardiac surgery and describes five programmatic strategies to reduce the perioperative use of opioids.
Presenter:
Michael C. Grant, MD, MSE
Johns Hopkins Medicine
