S. 1042, the “Consistency, Accuracy, Responsibility and Excellence in Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy” or CARE bill passed the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension (HELP) Committee; this was an important milestone in the SDMS’ effort to pass this major legislation.

The bill passed with one amendment that removed Section H, “Delivery of and Payment for Services” from the bill to accommodate the Senate Finance Committee who have jurisdiction over federal payment programs including Medicare and Medicaid. In recent weeks, the Senate Finance Committee has expressed interest in the bill’s provisions because of the potential cost savings from a reduction in repeated studies.

During the past month, the SDMS has coordinated Capitol Hill visits by members of the Government Relations Committee, initiated a “Call to Action” to SDMS’ Oklahoma members and worked with key HELP Committee staff to address questions or concerns that arose during the process.

Doppler Waveforms: At the Heart of the Matter
Phillip J. Bendick, PhD, RVT

This session includes the effects of poor cardiac output on Doppler spectral waveforms in peripheral arteries, congestive heart failure on the findings of peripheral and abdominal venous duplex examinations, aortic valvular disease on Doppler spectral waveforms in peripheral arteries, and the appropriate peripheral vascular examination techniques for the patient with significant heart disease.

To view this presentation:

• SDMS Members (One Vascular Technology [VT] CME credit available - requires SDMS member login) http://www.sdms.org/members/3362/

Inflammation can manifest itself in similar sonographic findings regardless of which organ is inflamed. Edema of connective tissues and inflammatory hyperemia in and around the inflamed organ are two of these findings. The purpose of this lecture is to show the importance of connective tissue edema and hyperemia as sonographic findings in inflammatory conditions. Findings in a wide spectrum of different inflammatory conditions will be covered. The belief that abnormal thickening and increased echogenicity of fat and loose connective tissues with color Doppler and duplex sonographic evidence of inflammatory hyperemia are demonstrable in most acute inflammatory conditions, and what this could indicate, will also be discussed.

To view this presentation:

• SDMS Members (One Abdomen [AB] CME credit available - requires SDMS member login) http://www.sdms.org/members/3363/

To view the presentations, you will need a computer with speakers or headphones, Internet access, a web browser with Adobe Flash Player (and Adobe Reader to view the transcript) installed.

A tutorial on using the online presentation interface available at: http://www.sdms.org/seminar/tutorial/tutorial.htm

A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page is also available at: http://www.sdms.org/members/3354/3354faq.asp

Attendees:
Registration for the 2008 SDMS Annual Conference will open in May, 2008. For registration deadlines, pricing and other information that will help you plan your trip to Connecticut this fall, please visit:
http://www.sdms.org/meetings/quickinfo.asp.

Vendors:
Check out our exhibitor and sponsorship opportunities still available at http://www.sdms.org/meetings/resources/2008EP.pdf.

As part of SDMS’ ongoing efforts to provide quality continuing medical education (CME) and educational products to its members, we are recruiting members for several projects. We need authors who can share their experience and expertise in their sonography specialty area(s) or on sonography professional topics such as professional responsibility, ethics, and medical-legal issues.

We are looking for SDMS members interested in helping with the revision of the SDMS’ National Certification Examination Review (NCER) series. NCER authors should have excellent subject matter expertise, editing skills, and overall writing skills. NCER authors earn an honorarium for their work on these popular registry study aids.

We are also expanding our free online CME activities for our members. If you have PowerPoint^® presentations on any sonography-related subject that you would like to share with other SDMS members, you could earn extra money by working with SDMS to convert them into interactive online CME activities, complete with SDMS CME credits. As an author of a SDMS-approved CME activity, you will also receive extra ‘author’ CME credit(s)!

5. SDMS Welcomes New Staff Member

The SDMS is pleased to announce that a new programmer, Charles Lowenberg, has joined the SDMS staff. Charles is a 1998 graduate of the University of Texas at El Paso with a Bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems. Since graduating he has worked for TXU/Capgemini, Software Architects, and most recently, Matria Healthcare where he received their "Commitment to Excellence Award." Recipients of this award are chosen by their peers for going above and beyond what was expected. Charles will be working with the SDMS IT Department on a wide variety of SDMS programming projects.

6. New Product Now Available

Musculoskeletal Ultrasound for the Extremities
Randy E Moore, DC RDMS
This straightforward MSK scan protocols is designed to "shorten the learning curve" to developing great scanning technique in the rapidly growing musculoskeletal application, and implement into a practice. The book is clinically oriented with patient and probe position photos, sample ultrasound images, and corresponding full color anatomic diagrams. The perquisite to identifying pathology for treatment by injection is knowing how to accurately visualize normal musculoskeletal anatomy. This 110-page book demonstrates the unique sonographic signature of muscles, tendons ligaments, bursae, cartilage, and peripheral nerves. It also includes protocols for the shoulder, elbow, wrist, knee, ankle and foot, sample reports and brief pathology sections.

CME credits: pending
Item #: 8040
Member Price: $44.95
Non-member Price: $49.95

7. SDMS Sonography Puzzles

SDMS Sonography Puzzles are a series of online crossword and word search puzzles that sonography educators can incorporate into their educational programs or can be used by students and sonographers just for fun. The puzzles are interactive and a fun way to learn sonography-related terminology.

A new puzzle will be added each month and announced in SDMS Sound News. The puzzles may feature a broad or specific topic theme (e.g., anatomy or kidney anatomy). The interactive puzzles can be completed online (using Adobe's free Flash player) or you can print the puzzle for later use.

This month's puzzle, titled "Vascular Terms" was submitted by Sandie Mazur of Chicago, IL.

The News & Notes column includes links to web-based news articles of interest to sonographers. The articles do not necessarily represent the opinions or policies of the SDMS. To submit articles, send the URL to webmaster@sdms.org.