President's Message
Dear Colleagues,
Though summer is in full swing, I find myself looking ahead to our Regional Meeting in Napa this fall, with an engaging lineup of both traditional and novel scientific sessions that includes a networking luncheon, TED-style talks, practical pearls, and a Tumor Board including member-submitted cases. Look for details at www.mohscollege.org/regionalmeeting.
Just prior to the Regional Meeting, the Board of Directors will meet to discuss the progress of the strategic plan. In order to inform our priorities, we will be sending out the next ACMS Member Survey very soon. It is critical that every member completes the survey, since your responses will guide our activities and expenditures over the next couple years.
I look forward to sharing some of the Board decisions and survey highlights at the meeting, in conversation, and in future monthly messages. Many opportunities still exist to contribute to the ACMS, and I am specifically seeking a member to serve in a new position as our ACMS CLIA Advisory Committee representative.
Read more President’s Message
ACMS Happenings
2015 Annual Meeting Highlights
By Eva Hurst, MD, FACMS
Mohs College members gathered in the shadow of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas from April 30 through May 3 for the 47th annual ACMS meeting, held at the Marriott Rivercenter on the bustling and beautiful Riverwalk. Dr. Jerry Brewer and colleagues put together a great scientific program, combining long-time favorite oncology and reconstructive sessions with some new information designed to make everyday life easier for us and our patients.
Read more Annual Meeting Highlights
2015 Regional Meeting registration now open
The 2015 ACMS Regional Meeting will be held from November 13-15 at the Silverado Resort and Spa in beautiful Napa, CA. Members are invited to take part in an informative, collaborative and fun educational program. Visit www.mohscollege.org/regionalmeeting for full details and to register.
- Invitation letters from the President and Scientific Program Committee Chair
- Program overview
- Registration and reservations links
- Resort and transportation information
- Details on the pre-conference hands-on skin flap workshop open to all members
- Reasons to extend your stay and explore the Napa Valley
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2016 Annual Meeting Call for Abstracts
Dear Colleagues:
We invite you to submit an abstract for consideration of an oral or poster presentation at the ACMS 48th Annual Meeting taking place April 28 – May 1, 2016 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel in Orlando. The 2016 Annual Meeting will include two categories of abstracts, Scientific and Rapid Pearls. The deadline for abstract submissions is Wednesday, January 13, 2016. In addition to abstract submissions, fellows-in-training are invited to submit a case for the Clinicopathologic Case Competition. These case submissions must be received by March 1, 2016.
Click below to read more and visit www.mohscollege.org/annualmeeting for details.
Read more 2016 Annual Meeting Call for Abstracts
Call for CLIAC Nominations
Dear Mohs College Colleague,
Do you have a special interest in CLIA and laboratory medicine? Are you willing to serve in an advisory capacity to various federal agencies? Please consider applying to serve on the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC), which meets twice per year in Atlanta at the CDC for a total of 4 days per year. The advisor receives a stipend of $250 per day and expenses. The deadline for receipt of materials is September 15, 2015.
Read more Call for CLIAC Nominations
Surgeon Finder Updated; Review Your Profile
A revamped version of the Surgeon Finder tool is now live on both www.mohscollege.org and www.skincancermohssurgery.org. This search tool allows members, potential patients and others seeking information on skin cancer treatment to search for an ACMS member in a specified area. Please search for yourself using this feature and let us know via email if you experience any issues. You have control over what information appears in search results. Simply log in to your member profile,
Read more Surgeon Finder Updated; Review Your Profile
Advocacy Update
The Future of Medicare: The New Alphabet Soup
By Todd V. Cartee, MD
On April 16, the house of medicine scored a major victory with the repeal of the SGR formula. MACRA also restored surgical global periods which were due to be eliminated. MACRA, however, contains numerous additional policy initiatives that further the shift from a fee-for-service to a value-driven reimbursement system. To help our membership understand and negotiate these unchartered waters, the ACMS works with Hart Health Strategies, a healthcare lobbying firm in Washington, DC. I interviewed Hart Health’s Emily Graham about these issues and what steps Mohs surgeons should be taking.
Read more The Future of Medicare
Hot Topic
Translational Research at the Annual Meeting
By Sarah Arron, MD, PhD, FACMS
The interaction between skin cancer surgeons and our basic research colleagues can lead to exciting innovations in our field. The recent ACMS Annual Meeting in San Antonio was rich with translational research. While much of the work presented was exploratory in nature, these pilot projects give our members a taste of what innovations are on the horizon and keep us on the cutting edge of our field.
Read more Translational Research at the Annual Meeting
Viewpoints
Reflections from the AMA Resident and Fellows Section Annual Meeting
By Garrett Lowe, MD and Karen L. Connolly, MD
 The American Medical Association (AMA) held its annual meeting of the Resident and Fellows Section (RFS) June 4-6 in Chicago, Illinois. During that meeting, Dr. Garrett Lowe (delegate), and Dr. Karen Connolly (alternate delegate) attended as representatives of the ACMS in the RFS to participate in discussions and vote on AMA RFS governance and policy. During informal and formal discussions, we found that many of our peers in different specialty areas face similar struggles as we foresee for the specialty of Mohs surgery.
Read more Reflections from the AMA-RFS Annual Meeting
Survey Response Requested
Practices for Local Anesthetics
The following survey is being shared at the request of an ACMS member in good standing for the purposes of research/data collection, and has been reviewed and approved for distribution by the Executive Committee of the ACMS Board of Directors. Please review and respond. You participation is greatly appreciated.
Survey on practices and preferences for local anesthesia
This survey will be closing soon.
Subject: Practices and preferences in the use of local anesthesia. Data collected will be used as evidence to show certain specifics of local anesthetic use by dermatologic surgeons, particularly pertaining to epinephrine. Take the survey
Read more Surveys
ACMS and Mohs in the Media
Dr. Christopher Miller helped a Mississippi news anchor ease her fears and get back in front of the camera: Behind the scenes of Karen Abernathy’s skin cancer surgery
According to Drs. Steven Wang and Ellen Marmur, don't believe the hype about sunscreen ingredients being harmful: The Health Magazine story “What You Must Know About the Chemicals in Your Sunscreen.”
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In Memoriam
Patrick Walsh, MD
Remembrance by Stanley Miller, MD, FACMS
 Patrick Walsh, a Mohs surgeon who trained with Ramsey Mellette, passed away Friday, May 1, 2015, at the age of 61. After many years on the faculty at the University of Colorado School of Medicine in dermatology and medical oncology, Pat was in private practice in Fort Worth from January 2002 until his passing. He was also Clinical Associate Professor of Dermatology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.
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The Occasional Reader
By David P. Clark, MD, FACMS
Modern summertimes have become crammed full of activities: vacation experiences, home maintenance, and more have made any thought that summer might provide a restful break from a busy surgical practice the stuff of ancient myth. Josef Pieper, in his classic book Leisure: The Basis of Culture, suggests true leisure “pierce[s] the canopy” of work that forms over our lives. This kind of leisure is, “stillness, contemplation, receptivity, worship, wonder, mystery, and grace.” So, what follows are my suggestions intended to entice readers of this column to find some “real” leisure by reading a good book.
Read more Occasional Reader
Save the Date
ACMS Job Board
The ACMS offers members and non-members the ability to post open Mohs surgeon or histotech positions free of charge. These listings are available at any time to ACMS members and are shared via this newsletter in April, August and December each year.
See Latest ACMS Job Board Postings
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