Chapter Delegates Report
February 2008

February 17, 2008
Hyatt Regency, Newport Beach, California

Overview of the House of Delegates meeting:

• SNM has changed the HOD meeting to be held @ 6:00 pm on the Friday night prior to the start of the annual meeting for June 2008
• The seat on the AMA House of Delegates is at risk due to being based on membership (must have 250+ to have a seat). Therefore, the SNM is encouraging its physicians membership therefore to join or maintain individual memberships in the AMA so that the SNM can maintain a delegate to the AMA
• Hal Anger Foundation donated $6 million to SNM
• HOPPS hospital out patient perspective payment system will have a .5% increase until June 2008
• PET Center of Excellence will set goals:
      -  survey practice guidelines to insure appropriate utilization of services
      -  educational needs of physicians for standardized reports
• Molecular Imaging Center of Excellence has a 5 year plan funded by the $5 million bench to bedside campaign ($4.2 million raised thus far)
• Definition of molecular imaging- visualization, characterization, and measurement of biological processes at the molecular and cellular levels in humans and other living systems
• A public relations agency has been hired, Porter- Novelli with Mike Schick VP, for the rebranding for molecular imaging- we are SNM Advanced Molecular Imaging and Therapy not society of nuclear medicine
• Government relations- DOE funding restored, CMS has imaging on the forefront with bundling as an issue
• World Molecular Imaging Conference will be in Nice, France this summer
• ERF - Education Research foundation gave $430,000 in grants and awards in 2007
• There will be a "Michael J. WelchAward for his contribution to the field of radiopharmaceutical sciences
• Nuclear medicine pay for performance by CMS started August 2007 there must be quality measures in place- working with the AMA consortium nuclear medicine participating by developing thyroid imaging appropriateness criteria
• Technologist training must include SPECT/PET CT in all programs by 2010
• Technologist entry level BS degree by 2015
• Advance practice for Nuclear Medicine will be in place fall of 2008 or spring 2009
• Technologist governance meeting have been consolidated to decrease time prior to the start of the educational meeting
• Travel awards will be given for first time presenters
• SNM Board has restructured committees with 4 main---- radiopharmaceutical, education, healthcare practice and finance=== this will be put to vote prior to the annual meeting
• Committee on Chapters will be chaired by Dr. Mike Middleton from SW Chapter
• SNM President report-384 registered for this meeting
• The ad for Capitol Hill newsletter has been effective- Bush signed bill for $17.5 million for research in nuclear medicine
• Ballot for VP Elect- Dominique Delbeke, M.D. & Gary Dillehay, M.D.
• Treasurers Report SNM an audit was done and no adjustments necessary
• Membership of full members increased by 439 for 2007
• ABNM (American Board of Nuclear Medicine) maintenance of certification in the next 5-10 years there will be re-examination not once in a lifetime exam and some states are now in the process of requiring re-exams this is a board process not SNM
• Capital Campaign Bench to Bedside"
  1. Advocacy: reimbursement and research funding,
  2. Outreach: md's, patient groups, funding agencies, regulators and general public
  3. Education: position SNM as central education repository for molecular imaging
  4. Research: assist new investigators in the field of molecular imaging
  5. Support by corporate pledges with a goal of $5 million; $4 raised with $130,000 from individuals
  6. A 5 year plan now in place
• USP 797 symposium at the annual meeting, this will have an impact on practices

Respectfully submitted,

Deborah Havens, CNMT and Mike Middleton, MD

Return to news