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Table of Contents
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| Letter from the Editor |
Spring has arrived, and the first item on the ACR agenda will be the ACR annual meeting at the Washington Hilton from Sunday, April 24th to Tuesday, April 26th. There is still time to register and attend — please see click here for details. Both in-person and virtual attendance options are available; but, Councilors and Alternate Councilors who attend virtually will not be able to vote, so please keep that in mind. Sadly, Capitol Hill Day has been canceled for the foreseeable future. Due to redoubled security measures for Members of Congress, large group visits to the Capitol now require onerous and time-consuming security screening procedures. These measures are not covid-related and therefore may endure. As a result, 2022 Capitol Hill Day is canceled and the ACR will investigate other methods of contact for the 2023 Annual Meeting.
In time for the Elections Manual for the Annual Meeting, the BOC has set forth new requirements for BOC/CSC leadership and candidates. The BOC has listened to membership who have wanted greater transparency with regard to the practice type and ownership of members in leadership. As such, they have required the following:
“Ensure that disclosure information for the Board of Chancellors (BOC) and Council Steering Committee (CSC) includes ownership of the practice/department/institution with which the BOC and CSC member is affiliated, and any other affiliation with groups that may own/operate radiology enterprises.”
This will also apply to current-year candidates running for those positions at the Annual Meeting. In short, if members would like to know who owns a BOC or CSC member’s practice, this knowledge will be available from a member’s ACR profile or the Elections Manual. The information will be on ACR websites, including Engage, but only visible after a member has logged in. Dr. Fleishon sent an email to all ACR members regarding this, if you would like more details. |
Juan Batlle, MD
Secretary, FRS
juancarlos98@gmail.com |
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| Meet Your 2021 – 2022 FRS Executive Committee |
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President
Rajendra Kedar, MD, FACR |
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President Elect
Chintan Desai, MD, FACR
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Treasurer
Laura Vallow, MD |
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Secretary
Juan Batlle, MD |
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| FRS President’s Message |
ACR 2022 Annual meeting I want to thank and welcome members, councilors, residents and medical students who are going to attend ACR Annual Meeting this month from April 24-26 in Washington DC. The FRS is sponsoring several residents to attend meeting and it should be great for them to see value of the ACR and the importance of getting involved with college and state chapter. There are several good educational sessions focusing on advocacy, economics, health policy, and culture of wellness and succeeding in an uncertain future. If you cannot attend in person, hopefully you will be able to attend virtually. We have a chapter focus program and dinner planned for attendees. If not this year, plan to attend future meeting. Click Here
FRS Annual MeetingThis year’s FRS & FRBMA annual meeting will be held at the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island from July 15-17. We have an exciting program with theme on “The Evolution of Radiology: Then, Now, and the Future”. Our program kicks off with fun activity of a 5K Run and walk on Friday morning. The highlight is going to be an interactive Radiology practice session based on current structure of various radiology practices. Audience will have a chance to interact with faculty. We will have nationally recognized faculty covering a variety of topics including: AI, Productivity, Structure, Wellness, and Management in Radiology. Please register and book your hotel rooms as soon as you can as this is the most popular FRS meeting site. Click HereSignificant increase in Radiology Employed Non-Physician providersThe Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute study found that between 2017 and 2019 the number of non-physician providers (NPPs, which includes nurse practitioners and physician assistants) employed by radiology-only practices increased by 18%. This increase was associated with more NPPs employed per practice, as well as, an 11% increase in the number of practices employing them. This was based on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services databases of doctors and clinicians who participated in Medicare. Radiology practices were defined as practices in which all affiliated physicians were radiologists. The study found that radiology practices were more likely to employ NPPs when they employed more than 50 radiologists. These practices also had above-average IR specialization. The study found that each 1% increase in interventional radiologists as a share of all radiologists in a practice was associated with a 453% increase in the odds that the practice employs one or more NPP(s). Although there have been strong concerns raised by younger radiologists regarding the hiring of NPP in a recent ACR survey, earlier-career radiologists were more likely to hire NPPs. Click Here
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Very Respectfully,
Raj Kedar, MD, FACR
President, Florida Radiological Society
Professor of Radiology, University of South Florida – Morsani College of Medicine
Director- Body Imaging Education and Fellowship
Chief -Dept of Radiology, Tampa General Hospital |
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Past President
Douglas Hornsby, MD
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| FRBMA President’s Message |
Our IT Renovation Journey
Up until about 10 years ago I thought of the IT department the way I think of an electric utility. I wanted to be able to turn on the switch and everything should work. I’m sure it’s complicated; but, I didn’t really need to know all the behind the scenes stuff and I don’t think that way anymore.
About 10 years ago our general insurance broker recommended that we get cybersecurity insurance. I think our first annual premium was $8,000. The broker discussed the internal and external threats that could result in a breach and/or theft of our data. The broker also pointed out the developing Federal and State laws that put, among other things, the financial responsibility from a data breach on the company that was breached, not the breaching entity. The company’s responsibility for data breach fall mostly in three categories: 1. Legal defense against an injured party, 2. Court ordered damages or damages settled through an arbitration and paid to an injured party, and 3. The requirement to provide credit reporting to the breached party. Interestingly, the credit reporting requirement could result in the highest cost.
Credit reporting can be expensive because if you sustain a data breach then any patient account that either was breached or you cannot rule out that it was breached, requires the employer to provide monthly credit reporting for up to two years. If credit reporting cost $5 per account, per month and you had 500,000 unique patient records that were either breached or you could not rule out whether or not they were breached, then your reporting cost could exceed $30,000,000.
Back then I thought the risks were quite low; but, given the potential for such high liabilities we bought the insurance. Premiums went up each year and over the last several years it became very apparent this was a real risk. Even though premium increases for cybersecurity were outpacing all our other insurance products, I never considered not insuring this risk.
At the beginning of 2020 our broker informed us that the insurance carrier was requiring either compliance with a full security audit in order to obtain coverage for the next renewal, or if the full audit requirements are not met; but, a defined minimum level of compliance is met and the insured has a written detailed plan to meet full compliance by January 1, 2022, then carrier would renew us for 2021. We hired an IT consultant and he used the carrier provided audit plan to test our system. Our hope was that we were already in compliance. What an eye opener. We had dozens of projects just to meet the minimum levels and then dozens more to get to full compliance.
We knew we could not meet full compliance by the end of 2020; but, we set a goal to be fully compliant before the end 2021. We decided to hire a local IT consultant for the longer term project. During the course of this project we hired a Chief Information Officer, replaced or upgraded nearly every piece of our IT hardware, added dual authentication, built all the documentation from the ground up, installed new tools to detect malware and ransomware, migrated to Microsoft 360, replaced every desktop computer, redesigned our backup storage mechanics utilizing cloud based technologies and created an employee training program. We have not yet implemented employee testing as it’s not required but we plan to implement that this year. Employee testing is a process where you send employees phony e-mails generated by the consultant or the IT department that look almost fully legitimate; but, they are not real in some detectable way. The e-mail will have a link or a downloadable file that could penetrate the system if the employee were to click on it. If the employee clicks on the link or downloads the file it sends a visual message to their computer screen that they corrupted the system. It’s harmless of course but it’s a training reinforcement tool to keep employees vigilant when reviewing e-mails.
A bit about the consultants. The first consultant was part of a national healthcare consulting firm that performed the audit and they were very helpful and reasonably priced at $10,000. If you have never done an audit on your system then I would recommend that you perform one. Do not have your IT staff pick the auditor. The auditor should report to the board. A national company with no local attachments I believe worked out well. I will not share the national company’s name here; but, I would be willing to discuss this with anyone that is interested. We considered using the first consultant for the renovation of the IT department; but, ultimately decided to go with a more local company. I would also be willing to discuss that decision making process if anyone is interested.
Our organization learned from this process. Cybersecurity is not absolute. It’s definitely is not a utility. The goal is more about reducing risk than eliminating risk. You are also only as protected as your weakest link; so, the whole organization must understand their role. You need owner buy in because it’s not only expensive; but, everyone’s behaviors must change including the radiologists. Everyone will spend more time than they use to when interacting with the IT system. And ultimately, the more you learn about all the cybersecurity threats we face the more you realize that your attention is needed in this department. Outside consultative staff, to provide at least some degree of oversight, is essential.
I think this is an important element in the overall help of the group. If you are thinking about going down this path, I would be glad to share more of what I learned in this process. Feel free to send me an e-mail. |
John Detelich, CPA, MBA, CEO
President, FRBMA
jdetelich@radassociates.com |
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| Legislative Update |
The Legislature has been called into Special Session April 19th through the 22nd to pass a new Congressional map as the Governor vetoed the map that the legislature sent to him. At the moment, this is the only issue that is in the call.
There has been discussion of other issues being added, for example property insurance, but at this time, reapportionment of the Congressional districts is all that is on the agenda.
The Governor has not yet received the budget. How members vote on the map may affect if their projects survive the veto pen.
Campaigns are well underway.
Please reach out to me if you have any questions or suggestions. |
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| Martin Northup Resident Leadership Award |
H. Martin Northup Resident Leadership Award – A scholarship opportunity for Florida Diagnostic Radiology, Radiation Oncology and Medical Physicist 2nd year Residents or graduate students.
Martin Northup was very committed to radiology resident education and advancement. To eternally honor and remember him, the board of the FRS Foundation has established a special award bearing his name, the “H Martin Northup Resident Leadership Award.” Each year, this award will be given to a 2nd year Florida radiology resident who will be a 3rd year at the time of the fellowship to support the cost of 2-night hotel accommodations and tax for attending the FRS annual summer meeting. The resident will have an officer mentor and will attend all functions including the board meeting. The goal is to develop future leaders in Radiology and develop promising residents to assume greater roles in the society, such as President of the Resident and Fellow’s Section.
The award recipient will be chosen for the 2022 Annual Meeting in Amelia Island, Florida, July 15-17, 2022 by the Scholarships and Grants committee based on a competitive application process.
Please click here to download an application. Return your completed application to lroger@edusymp.com by May 16, 2022 in order to be considered for this award.
Thank you,
Jeffrey Stone, M.D., FACR
President, FRS Educational Foundation |
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| 2022 Annual Meeting of the FRS & FRBMA |
Please join the Florida Radiological Society and the Florida Radiology Business Management Association for the 2022 Annual Meeting at The Ritz-Carlton Amelia in Amelia Island, Florida July 15-17, 2022. The meeting will focus on “The Evolution of Radiology: Then, Now, and the Future” and will feature lectures by faculty who are leaders in the practice of radiology. We look forward to seeing you in July.
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| Job Posting Opportunities |
Florida Radiological Society is pleased to introduce the opportunity for interested parties to advertise for potential jobs in our monthly FRS Ebrief bulletin.
Advertisement pricing is as follows:
Ebrief Job Posting pricing:
3 months ($100 monthly)
6 months ($90 monthly)
12 months ($80 monthly)
Please contact Lorraine Roger, our Society Administrator for further information on how to advertise in our monthly publication.
Phone: (813) 806-1070
Fax: (813) 806-1071
Email: lroger@flrad.org
We feel that this will provide a valuable service to both our members and our Florida community of Radiology.
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Available Positions
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| FRS Member In Focus |
I’m a Radiologist who specializes in Breast Imaging and currently practices in Orlando. I’m a Florida girl at heart as I grew up in Tampa and completed my education and training all in Florida! I earned my college and medical degree at University of Florida in Gainesville. I subsequently returned to Tampa to complete my radiology residency at University of South Florida followed by a fellowship in Breast Imaging at Moffitt Cancer Center. I truly enjoyed my training at USF & Moffitt and look back on those years fondly. One of the reasons I enjoyed training there is we had a decent number of female residents and attendings in our program that allowed for camaraderie and mentorship.
After completing fellowship, I joined AdventHealth Medical Group Radiology – Central Florida Division in 2017. I will be approaching my 5-year work anniversary with our group this July. It has been a truly enjoyable work experience. Our sub-specialized radiology group allows me to practice breast full time and participate in resident education. It’s always rewarding to mentor residents, especially female residents who pursue an interest in radiology since there is a lower proportion of women in the field – hopefully that will increase over time!
On a personal level, I recently got married this past December. My husband and I love to travel, hike, cook and discover new food spots/cuisine. We’re looking forward to our first real trip abroad since the pandemic started in Ireland this May! Cheers!
Leena Kamat, MD
leena.kamat.md@adventhealth.com |
To promote Diversity, inclusion, and representation, we will feature one FRS member in the “Member in Focus” column in the monthly Ebrief.
Please let us know if you know of someone for this column.
Raj Kedar, MD, FACR
President, FRS |
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| Become a PAC Member Today |
Attention FRBMA Members! Please support the cause. We encourage you to be PAC members and supporters; you do not have to belong to the FRS. Donations can be made online through our PAC website www.FLRADPAC.org. Thank you for your donation: Dr. Mergo
It is critical that we support both our Florida PAC and RADPAC in order to bolster our voice in Tallahassee and Washington, respectively. Please join FRS lobbyist Alison Dudley in her special appeal for all Florida radiologists to become Florida PAC members. If you would like to help FRS defend radiology against untoward legislation and introduce bills that have a positive impact on our practices, we need your financial support to re-elect our friends in the state House and Senate. The FRS can also show you simplified ways on how to sign up your radiology group. Contact Lorraine Roger at lroger@flrad.org or contact Alison Dudley at alisondudley@dudleyandassociates.com for more information. |
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Telephone (813) 806-1070 • Fax (813) 806-1071
5620 W. Sligh Avenue • Tampa, Florida 33634
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| The E-Brief is an exclusive member benefit of Florida Radiological Society, delivering monthly member, chapter and industry news. Please do not reply to this automatic e-mail. For comments or questions about the E-Brief, please contact lroger@flrad.org. |
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