Meeting Minutes

Feb. 17, 2005 Executive Committee Meeting

Present: Dr. Edward Melian, Dr. Abraham Dachman, Dr. Carl Kalbhen, Dr. Nandita Guha-Thakurta, Dr. Jay Korach, Dr. Margaret Stull, Dr. Ellen Mendelson, Dr. Edward Michals, Dr. Davide Bova, Dr. Thomas Anderson, Dr. Gary Dillehay, Dr. Kate Feinstein, Dr. Michael Racenstein, Dr. Aruna Vade, Dr. Kathleen Ward and Mr. Merle Hedland.

The meeting was called to order at 4:20 PM at The 500 Club of Rush University Medical Center.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The minutes from the January 20, 2005 meeting were approved.

RESIDENT SECTION REPORT:
Dr. Guha-Thakurta stated that tonight’s Resident Section will be given by Dr. John Salantri of Evanston Northwestern Healthcare who will speak on Cardiac MRI and CT. Dr. Salantri’s talk will be sponsored by Berlex for $500, and Berlex will be acknowledged during the dinner for their generous contribution. The Resident Physician Section elections will take place one month earlier than usual this year, during the March meeting, so that the resident officers can be chosen prior to the ACR meeting in April. It was decided to make this change to a March election cycle permanent.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT:
Dr. Melian was pleased to report that Dr. Leonard Berlin will be the recipient of the Distinguished Service Award this year, honoring his many years of dedication to and achievements within radiology and organized medicine, including his involvement with the CRS which encompassed previously serving as President. Dr. Berlin will receive this honor at the April meeting, and his son, Dr. Jonathan Berlin, will present him with the award. Dr. Melian also stated that tonight’s Radiation Oncology session will be sponsored by MedImmune, who will also be acknowledged during the dinner for their generous support.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE REPORT:
Dr. Dachman gave the list of speakers for tonight’s Breakout Sessions, with five sessions occurring instead of the usual four. Radiation Oncology will utilize the Board Room for their session. Dr. Dachman will also be tonight’s Featured Speaker. He has continued work on the speaker schedule for the 2005-2006 CRS season, with three of the six sessions having a Featured Speaker lined up. In October 2005, Dr. Robert Pugatch will speak on a thoracic radiology topic. Dr. Emanual Kanal will speak on MRI Safety in November 2005, and Dr. N. Reed Dunnick will speak on genitourinary imaging in January 2006.

SECRETARY/TREASURER’S REPORT
Dr. Kalbhen gave the Financial Report for January 2005, and the Society’s finances remain strong. The current corporate sponsorship levels of $300 (speaking time given during the Resident Section) and $500 (additionally get the company name in the minutes, on the program and projected during the dinner) seem appropriate, but the $5000 level (also get a one year banner ad on the main page of website) may be too expensive based upon perceived level of corporate interest. As the website does get approximately 400 unique hits per week, this information will be disseminated to potential sponsors to more accurately gauge interest. The $5000 sponsorship level may or may not need to be adjusted. Dr. Kalbhen also reported that he approached Bank One about handling the Society’s accounts. In contrast to Harris Bank which the CRS has utilized for many years, Bank One does not charge Analysis Fees for small business accounts with monthly transaction numbers similar to those incurred by the CRS. This will be investigated further.

ILLINOIS RADIOLOGICAL SOCIETY REPORT:
The possibility of holding an Illinois Radiological Society Meeting and Educational Symposium in conjunction with the March 2006 CRS Meeting was again discussed at some length. Given the limited time available to plan such an event and find a suitable site, as well as the current absence of a single individual willing to serve as its Program Chair, the discussion focused on the more modest goal of having the IRS Steven M. Pinsky Resident Paper Presentations take place during the regularly scheduled March 2006 CRS meeting. This was universally thought by the Executive Committee to be a worthwhile endeavor which should be relatively easy to accomplish in the available time frame. As Dr. Richard Mintzer, the current IRS President and a strong proponent of having a combined IRS/CRS meeting, was not able to attend tonight’s Executive Committee meeting, a final decision on how to proceed will be deferred until Dr. Mintzer can be consulted directly. The IRS has also hired a lobbyist who has been giving weekly reports on Illinois state legislation action that could affect radiology. The initial response from members of the Executive Committee has been very favorable.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT:
The Nominating Committee will meet immediately following tonight’s Executive Committee meeting, and they will recommend a slate of officers for 2005-2006 at the March 2005 meeting.

FELLOWSHIP COMMITTEE:
Dr. Dillehay stated that the ACR fellowship application forms are due to the ACR by May, and none have yet been received this year. He was pleased to report that six Illinois radiologists will be made new Fellows at this year’s ACR meeting in April.

OLD BUSINESS:
Drs. Mendelson and Racenstein are in the process of finalizing a meeting date with Blue Cross/Blue Shield to discuss and hopefully reverse their denial of reimbursement for breast MRI when performed for the purpose of local cancer staging. This meeting will hopefully take place in early March.

NEW BUSINESS:
Dr. Anderson relayed a request that he received to allow the Breakout Sessions, and perhaps also the Featured Speaker Sessions, to be recorded by residents with audio and/or video equipment for their own educational purposes. While the intent of this request was not thought to be controversial, the potential distraction to the speakers and their audience, as well as the possible unauthorized dissemination of their lecture materials, were thought to outweigh the benefits. It was therefore decided not to allow any CRS sessions to be recorded.

Having no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 5:20 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

Carl Kalbhen, MD
Secretary/Treasurer

Dinner was served to 63 people. Following dinner and a short business meeting, Dr. Kate Feinstein introduced Dr. Abraham Dachman who gave a talk entitled, “Virtual Colonoscopy: When Will Prime Time Arrive?”.

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