For the first time in the history of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), we now invite our partners in the lab to become members of the SCAI. We work together, play together, and now learn together as colleagues and partners in bringing the best to our patients in the cath lab. The opportunity is unparalleled in all of interventional cardiology education, representation, and interaction.  I would like to personally invite all cath lab nurses, technologists, and LPNs and others to go to the website, see your benefits, and join today. Ask your physicians about the role the SCAI has played in their professional lives. I think you’ll be amazed and enhance your professional life by joining the SCAI.
— Mort Kern, MD

SCAI CVP Member Benefits

• Advocacy on YOUR Behalf
• Education & Tuition Discounts
• Cath Lab Standards & Tools
• Publications to Keep You Ahead of the Curve
• Networking
• Participation on SCAI Committees
• Patient & Public Awareness
• Career Development

Advocacy on YOUR Behalf

SCAI is The Voice of Interventional Cardiology. The Society works daily with legislators, regulators and administrators at all levels of government and the private sector to improve the legislative and regulatory environment, and to ensure patient access to appropriate, quality care.

For example, SCAI:

• Serves as the primary leader in securing new codes and establishing national reimbursement valuations for new interventional cardiology cardiovascular services and procedures.
• Obtains and expands coverage for new and existing interventions. For example, SCAI was successful in convincing a local Medicare carrier to expand indications for percutaneous ventricular assist devices.
• Protects the existing valuations for Interventional Cardiology’s core procedures. For example, SCAI successfully persuaded the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) NOT to implement threatened 20 percent Medicare payment cuts for diagnostic cardiac catheterization procedures in 2012.
• Looks out for the best interests of the entire cath lab team. For example, SCAI fought efforts in California to restrict the Registered Cardiovascular Invasive Specialists (RCIS) scope of practice.
• Engages in the advancement of quality. For example, SCAI obtained improvements in all-cause re-admission and mortality measures for PCI.
• Continually educates legislators and regulators about the value and intensity of interventional cardiology procedures. For example, SCAI played a key role in influencing CMS’s 2010, and again in 2014, decisions to recognize the increased intensity and risk for invasive and interventional cardiology servicesresulting in an increase in the malpractice component of the Medicare physician payment rates for these services.
• Monitors annual utilization of all core intervention cardiology procedures, which led to setting the record straight on the number of PCI procedures performed annually (it is half the number previously — and erroneously — reported by AHA and thus less of a target for budget cutters).
• Works at the state level to counter threats to your ability to determine the best possible care for your patients.

Education & Tuition Discounts

• CE/CEU Credits Based Upon Your Needs
Maintain your license or certification and progress in the industry and in the field of cardiovascular and/or endovascular interventions by receiving CEU or CE credits from our educational programs.

• SCAI Annual Scientific Sessions
CVP Members receive a tuition discount for interventional cardiology’s annual meeting, SCAI Annual Scientific Sessions.

• Featuring a Heart-Team approach throughout, no other interventional cardiology meeting integrates cath lab professionals into its main program as does SCAI Scientific Sessions. In addition to Heart-Team sessions interspersed throughout the program, SCAI Scientific Sessions features its Cath Lab Leadership Boot Camp, a track focused on quality in the cath lab, and a separate comprehensive workshop specifically designed for CVP leaders. Take into consideration the networking opportunities available with the meeting’s intimate, interactive networking environment and SCAI Scientific Sessions is the must-attend meeting for the whole cath lab!

• SCAI Annual Coding & Payment Policy Update

Your cath lab can’t afford to miss this annual web-based educational program designed to prepare you and your billing staff for changes coming interventional cardiology coding. In 2014, this program will cover several last minute changes related to new TMVR codes, CMS’ New Specialty Designation for Interventional Cardiology, and more. Best yet, this webinar is FREE for SCAI members!

• SCAI Cath Lab Leadership Boot Camp
Cath lab managers and administrators confront a bevy of administrative issues, juggle rapidly evolving technology, and address conflicts among an array of stakeholders. While most cath lab leaders bring a wealth of clinical experiences to their positions, there has been no defined career path or training program. THE SOLUTION? SCAI’s Cath Lab Leadership Boot Camp at SCAI 2014 is a unique educational experience designed specifically to address the challenges and goals faced by cath lab leaders.

• FREE Access to SCAI’s e-Learning Library
Looking for learning and CME opportunities online based upon your busy schedule? CVP members receive FREE access to SCAI’s e-Learning Library as a complement to our live meetings and courses. Topics range from quality in the cath lab to transradial interventions to TAVR.

• MORE!
In recent years, SCAI had led the way in education for emerging therapies including standalone courses on CTO, Transradial Interventions, Neurorescue and more. All programs have had a Heart-Team component to them and member discounts on tuition.

Cath Lab Standards & Tools

• Setting Standards for Quality
SCAI has authored, co-authored or endorsed more than 30 official clinical documents (clinical guidelines, consensus statements, training standards, and performance measures) in the very recent past, ensuring that those documents reflect your voice and your expert judgment as to the what constitutes best practices in invasive/interventional cardiology.

• SCAI Quality Improvement Toolkit (SCAI QIT)
Quality is Job #1 and SCAI QIT is SCAI’s newest program to show that your profession is committed to providing the highest quality care. SCAI QIT was designed to give you the tools to promote and demonstrate continuous quality improvement (CQI) in the cath lab. Featured tools focus on: guidelines, inventory management, peer review conferences, data collection, random case selection, pre-procedure checklists, national database participation, and much more. To date, nearly 250 cath labs have enrolled in the SCAI QIT program, each with an SCAI-trained Quality Champion leading the way.

Publications to Keep You Ahead of the Curve
• Online Subscription to Catheterization & Cardiovascular Interventions (CCI)

• SCAI News & Highlights Newsletter
SCAI News & Highlights is the official newsletter of SCAI, offering valuable updates on clinical, educational, advocacy, and quality-of-care issues in interventional cardiology, as well as news on SCAI activities and initiatives on a quarterly basis.

• SCAI This Week e-Brief

An exclusive member benefit, SCAI This Week provides critical weekly email updates on topics including:

• The latest on SCAI activities
• Breaking research results and SCAI response
• Important reimbursement, legislative and policy news
• Device and drug recalls
• And more!

Additional Benefits

• Networking
From access to its online membership directory, numerous leadership opportunities, and its soon-to-be-launched member community, SCAI is THE place to interact shoulder-to-shoulder with your peers in invasive and interventional cardiology.

• Participation on SCAI Committees
Get involved in shaping the future of the profession by serving on one of SCAI’s committees. This is a great professional development opportunity to connect and engage with colleagues who share your passions and face similar challenges.

• Patient & Public Awareness
SCAI’s robust media relations initiatives provide balance and perspective on breaking news stories, while SCAI’s regional public education programs and patient-education website SecondsCount.org, provide invaluable information to help patients be better informed partners in their care.

• Career Development
Participation in SCAI offers the opportunity to initiate, enhance and strengthen your leadership skills, which will correlate directly to your career development.