The American Society of Breast Surgeons is a professional medical society whose active members are general surgeons who dedicate all or part of their practices to the treatment of breast disease.
As of 2011, the Society has approximately 3000 members from throughout the U.S. and 35 countries around the world. The majority of its members devote 50% or more of their practice to breast surgery. They practice in a variety of settings ranging from urban to rural and from academic institutions to private practice.
The Society was founded in 1995 by a group of general surgeons interested in providing a forum for discussion, education and advancement of the quality of care provided to patients with breast disease.
The Society hosts educational programs that serve the professional needs and interests of its membership, most notably an annual meeting that provides the surgical community with a forum for the presentation and discussion of the latest research and developments. The Society also certifies individual surgeons and accredits facilities in breast ultrasound and in stereotactic breast procedures. In addition, its Mastery of Breast Surgery Program, a voluntary quality improvement initiative, is designed to help surgeons document their clinical performance of breast procedures, as well as their care of breast cancer patients and patients at risk for breast cancer. Participation in the program is recognized by the American Board of Surgery as fulfilling the requirements for Maintenance of Certification (MOC) Part 4 [1] and is also recognized as a qualified 2010 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) Registry for the Perioperative Measures Group. [2] In 2015, the Society launched the breast360.org patient website that provides reliable information on breast disease and breast health. The articles are authored by Society member physicians. [3]
The Society collaborates with other organizations on education, advocacy and regulatory initiatives and members serve as representatives to numerous medical and quality improvement organizations. [4]
The American Society of Breast Surgeons has four categories of membership: Active members including D.O. surgeons board certified by the American Osteopathic Board of Surgery or M.D. surgeons board certified by the American Board of Surgery, [5] Associate members, Affiliate members, and Candidate members. Membership is open to surgeons, non-surgeon physicians involved in the care of patients with breast disease, and non-physician licensed healthcare professionals. In addition to those practicing in the United States, membership in all categories is open to international applicants who meet the requirements.
General surgery is a surgical specialty that focuses on alimentary canal and abdominal contents including the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, liver, pancreas, gallbladder, appendix and bile ducts, and often the thyroid gland. They also deal with diseases involving the skin, breast, soft tissue, trauma, peripheral artery disease and hernias and perform endoscopic as such as gastroscopy, colonoscopy and laparoscopic procedures.
A Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) is a type of advanced practice nurse who administers anesthesia in the United States. CRNAs account for approximately half of the anesthesia providers in the United States and are the main providers (80%) of anesthesia in rural America. Historically, nurse anesthetists have been providing anesthesia care to patients for over 150 years since the American Civil War and the CRNA credential came into existence in 1956. CRNA schools issue a doctorate of nursing anesthesia degree to nurses who have completed a program in anesthesia, which is roughly 3 years in length.
Surgical oncology is the branch of surgery applied to oncology; it focuses on the surgical management of tumors, especially cancerous tumors.
The American College of Cardiology (ACC), based in Washington, D.C., is a nonprofit medical association established in 1949. It bestows credentials upon cardiovascular specialists who meet its qualifications. Education is a core component of the college, which is also active in the formulation of health policy and the support of cardiovascular research.
An oncology nurse is a specialized nurse who cares for cancer patients. These nurses require advanced certifications and clinical experiences in oncology further than the typical baccalaureate nursing program provides. Oncology nursing care can be defined as meeting the various needs of oncology patients during the time of their disease including appropriate screenings and other preventive practices, symptom management, care to retain as much normal functioning as possible, and supportive measures upon end of life.
Reconstructive surgery is surgery performed to restore normal appearance and function to body parts malformed by a disease or medical condition.
In the healthcare industry, pay for performance (P4P), also known as "value-based purchasing", is a payment model that offers financial incentives to physicians, hospitals, medical groups, and other healthcare providers for meeting certain performance measures. Clinical outcomes, such as longer survival, are difficult to measure, so pay for performance systems usually evaluate process quality and efficiency, such as measuring blood pressure, lowering blood pressure, or counseling patients to stop smoking. This model also penalizes health care providers for poor outcomes, medical errors, or increased costs. Integrated delivery systems where insurers and providers share in the cost are intended to help align incentives for value-based care.
Established in 1933, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) is a non-profit organization which represent 24 broad areas of specialty medicine. ABMS is the largest physician-led specialty certification organization in the United States.
The American College of Radiology (ACR), founded in 1923, is a professional medical society representing nearly 40,000 diagnostic radiologists, radiation oncologists, interventional radiologists, nuclear medicine physicians and medical physicists.
A Patient Safety Organization (PSO) is a group, institution, or association that improves medical care by reducing medical errors. Common functions of patient safety organizations are data collection, analysis, reporting, education, funding, and advocacy. A PSO differs from a Federally designed Patient Safety Organization (PSO), which provides health care providers in the U.S. privilege and confidentiality protections for efforts to improve patient safety and the quality of patient care delivery
In the United States, anesthesia can be administered by physician anesthesiologists, an anesthesiologist assistant, or nurse anesthetist.
The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, self-appointed physician-evaluation organization that certifies physicians practicing internal medicine and its subspecialties. The American Board of Internal Medicine is not a membership society, educational institution, or licensing body.
The American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) is a non-profit medical organization dedicated to metabolic and bariatric surgery, and obesity-related diseases and conditions. It was established in 1983, and its stated vision is “to improve the public health and well being of society by lessening the burden of obesity and obesity-related diseases throughout the world.”
The Erlanger Health System, incorporated as the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Hospital Authority, a non-profit, public benefit corporation registered in the State of Tennessee, is a system of hospitals, physicians, and medical services based in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Erlanger's main location, Erlanger Baroness Hospital, is a tertiary referral hospital and Level I Trauma Center serving a 50,000 sq mi (130,000 km2) region of East Tennessee, North Georgia, North Alabama, and western North Carolina. The system provides critical care services to patients within a 150 mi (240 km) radius through six Life Force air ambulance helicopters, which are equipped to perform in-flight surgical procedures and transfusions.
Phlebology is a medical speciality that is concerned with venous issues including the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the veins. A medical specialist in this field is known as a phlebologist. The specialty of phlebology has developed to enable physicians sharing an interest in venous disease and health to share knowledge and experience despite being trained in a variety of backgrounds such as dermatology, vascular surgery, haematology, interventional radiology or general medicine. Diagnostic techniques used include the patient's history and physical examination, venous imaging techniques in particular vascular ultrasound and laboratory evaluation related to venous thromboembolism. The American Medical Association and the American Osteopathic Association have added phlebology to their list of self-designated practice specialties.
The American Board of Dermatology (ABD), located in Newton, Massachusetts, United States, certifies physicians in dermatology, dermatopathology, and pediatric dermatology. Board-certified physicians are known as diplomates. Since its inception in 1932, the ABD has certified over 15,000 physicians. The ABD was one of the original four sponsoring organizations of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS). Dermatologists possess expertise in all aspects of healthy and diseased skin through basic scientific research and clinical care. In addition to the wide range of medical diseases, dermatologists have practices devoted to skin surgery, care of children with skin disease, immunologic diseases of the skin and pathology of the skin. Dermatologists play an important role in the maintenance of the general public health in educating people about sun avoidance, sun protection and the signs of skin cancer.
St. Francis Hospital is a general medical and surgical hospital located in Columbus, Georgia, United States, and is accredited by the Joint Commission.
Health care quality is a level of value provided by any health care resource, as determined by some measurement. As with quality in other fields, it is an assessment of whether something is good enough and whether it is suitable for its purpose. The goal of health care is to provide medical resources of high quality to all who need them; that is, to ensure good quality of life, cure illnesses when possible, to extend life expectancy, and so on. Researchers use a variety of quality measures to attempt to determine health care quality, including counts of a therapy's reduction or lessening of diseases identified by medical diagnosis, a decrease in the number of risk factors which people have following preventive care, or a survey of health indicators in a population who are accessing certain kinds of care.
The Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), formerly known as the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI), is a health care quality improvement incentive program initiated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the United States in 2006. It is an example of a "pay for performance" program which rewards providers financially for reporting healthcare quality data to CMS. PQRS ended in 2016, beginning with the 2018 payment adjustment. The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) replaced this and other CMS quality programs with a new umbrella program called the Quality Payment Program (QPP), under which clinicians formerly reporting under PQRS would instead report quality data under one of two QPP program tracks: the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) or the Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APMs) track.
The American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology is a non-profit organization that provides board certification for practicing obstetricians and gynecologists in the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1927, incorporated in 1930, and is based in Dallas, Texas. It is one of 24 medical boards recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties. ABOG's mission is to define the standards, certify obstetricians and gynecologists, and facilitate continuous learning to advance knowledge, practice, and professionalism in women's health.