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Rita
E. Shugart, RN, RVT, FSVU has been a member of the ICAVL
Board of Directors since 1995, representing the Society for
Vascular Ultrasound (SVU). She served on the Executive Committee
as Secretary from 1998 - 2003 and as President-Elect from 2003
- 2005. Shugart began her career in vascular ultrasound testing
at the Peripheral Vascular Lab at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill,
North Carolina in 1978 and, since 1980, has been Technical Director
at Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgeons of Greensboro, North
Carolina. Shugart's extensive professional activities include
serving several terms on the SVU Board of Directors, including
a term as President and election to the first class of Fellows.
She is also a Founding Member and former President of the North
Carolina Vascular Technologists and was the Founder and first
President of the North Carolina Vascular Nurses Association.
Shugart is the first non-physician to be elected President of
the ICAVL.
Reflecting
on her goals as she begins her Presidential term, Shugart stated,
"One of my objectives for the organization is to continue
the promotion of initiatives that link ICAVL accreditation to
reimbursement. Fortunately this is an area where my interests
and experience intersect with the current regulatory and legislative
environments, as well as with the ICAVL Board of Directors'
Long Range Plan."
Medicare
carriers in 29 jurisdictions now require facility accreditation
and/or personnel credentialing as a prerequisite for the reimbursement
of noninvasive vascular ultrasound exams. In addition, in the
11 states regulated under the Medicare contract of Noridian
Mutual Insurance Company, accreditation and/or personnel certification
are strongly recommended.
"These
'Pay For Quality' initiatives have been shown to reduce unproductive
and inaccurate diagnostic ultrasound services and their attendant
costs. Expansion of such policies to more Medicare jurisdictions
and also to private payers will add value to each lab's ICAVL
accreditation," Shugart believes.
Additional
information about ICAVL reimbursement activities will appear
in future issues of the Newsletter, and the ICAVL website contains
postings of current Medicare policies at www.intersocietal.org/icavl/reimbursement/terms.htm.
In
this issue of the Newsletter, the ICAVL announces important
new measures related to screening. The first, the Position
Statement on Screening, lists the components that the Board
has determined as necessary for any screening program. These
components also form the basis for the Standards of the two
new Screening Accreditation products currently in development,
one for ICAVL-accredited labs, and one that will be established
under a new division, including a new name and logo for screening-only
companies.
Shugart
expressed excitement about the ICAVL's development of these
new screening programs, stating, "The Screening Committee
[initially under the leadership of Past President, John Gocke,
MD, MPH, RVT, and now with ICAVL Consultant to the Board, Phillip
J. Bendick, PhD, RVT, as Chair] has done an excellent job of
applying, to screening, the ICAVL model of compliance with evidence-based
Standards that has been so successful with the current five
testing sections. Laboratory personnel are encouraged to print
the Position Statement, and to use it as an educational tool
to help patients and their family members objectively evaluate
the screening opportunities that appear regularly in almost
every community. Even those of us not currently involved in
screening activities may find ourselves doing so in the future,
particularly if the 2005 Congress passes the Screening Abdominal
Aortic Aneurysms Very Efficiently (SAAAVE) Act. This legislative
initiative would provide payment for a one-time abdominal aortic
screen for selected Medicare beneficiaries. Accreditation of
your laboratory's screening program, when it becomes available
in early 2006, will demonstrate to the public and to the medical
community your lab's commitment to quality in all of the noninvasive
vascular exams you perform."
In
closing, Shugart stressed that she understands the pressures
accreditation places on the person responsible for completing
the application. "As technical director of a busy lab,
I spend my days just as many of you do -- performing exams,
scheduling add-ons, talking to doctors and compiling QA statistics.
And also like many of you, every three years I have the additional
responsibility of completing our laboratory's accreditation
application. But every day, as I see the positive benefits that
accreditation has had for my own laboratory's staff, physicians,
and most importantly, our patients, I know that the numerous
associated benefits are well worth the relatively small amount
of time and effort."
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