May 4, 2002

Atlanta, Georgia

The meeting was called to order by President Sandy McIntosh at 1:03 on Saturday May 4, 2002 at the Holiday Inn Select Cedar Bluff in Knoxville, Tennessee.

The minutes of the 2001 meeting were approved.

The winners of the 2002 election of officers were announced as follows:

 President-elect: David Vassy

 Secretary: George David

 Treasurer: David Gauntt

 Board Representative: John Gibbons

The treasurer's report was distributed to meeting attendees as part of their registration packages and reviewed.

AAPM Fellowship Nomination Update: Last year George David and Dan Bourland were nominated by the SEAAPM for fellowship. George David’s nomination was turned down because of incomplete data and administrative errors and will be submitted again next year. Dan Bourland was elected to AAPM fellowship and will be installed in Montreal. New nominations should be submitted to the chapter president (Chester Ramsey) and the SEAAPM executive committee will act on them.

Partners in Physics: This report was given by Perry Sprawls. Sponsorship of our previous physicist ended as he is now full member. Dr. Sprawls made a motion that the SEAAPM sponsor 3 individuals submitted for sponsorship by the Cuban Medical Physics Society for membership to AAPM. The motion was seconded by Jerry Allison. Dr. Sprawls said that the AAPM has 60 partnerships in total. The cost to the chapter for sponsorship is $92 per sponsored individual. The motion passed.

Lifetime Achievement Awards: Sandy McIntosh reminded the group of the award the chapter gave to Jon Trueblood in 2001. It was pointed out that there are no fixed guidelines for this award. Sandy McIntosh suggested the formation of a committee to suggest awards. George David offered to serve on committee to nominate members. Perry suggested that this would be a proper responsibility of our president. It was decided that we would check old minutes and see if guidelines for this award were voted on previously.

2003 Annual Meeting and Symposium:

Sandy McIntosh has offered to do local arrangements for the 2003 SEAAPM symposium and annual meeting. She led a discussion on our "every other year in Atlanta" policy. She wished to change this for a number of reasons including increasing difficulty contracting with hotels in Atlanta many of which want room guarantees. Traffic is another problem. It was also pointed out that having our meeting in Atlanta does not seem to help draw Atlanta area physicists or physics students. We were also reminded that there had been no nominations for our student paper award in two years. Perry Sprawls thought the old reasons for alternating in Atlanta were no longer valid. Jerry Allison suggested we consider all sites each year including Atlanta. A number of potential locations were discussed for the 2003 meeting including Stone Mountain, Chattanooga, Calloway Gardens, and Birmingham.

Jerry Allison moved to abolish our "Every other year in Atlanta" constraint and to give Sandra McIntosh full chapter authority to negotiate site arrangements meeting for the 2003 symposium and scientific meeting. The motion passed.

2003 Symposium:

Gary Barnes was not in attendance at the business meeting but had previously submitted a suggestion for need for another symposium on mammography. Gary Barnes and Michael Yester who also was not at the business meeting had offered assistance with such a symposium but preferred to have someone else act as directors. It was decided that the executive committee would consult with Gary Barnes and Michael Yester further.

Possible Georgia Radiological Society joint meeting: The programming director of the Georgia Radiological Society (GRS) has invited the SEAAPM to share a half-day of common-interest programs. The GRS annual meeting is already scheduled in Hilton Head in June of 2003. A second proposal was that this meeting be a second meeting for the SEAAPM rather than replacing the usual meeting which usually takes place much earlier in the year. This was not well received. A number of concerns were expressed including the # of members who might come, especially considering that the GRS hotels are generally much more expensive than those selected by the SEAAPM. There were also concerns about the time of year, which is not only later than our normal meeting, time but also more likely to conflict with other physics meetings. It was felt that this would work better if it could be held in April. While there was interest in the concept, there was no clear consensus on how we should respond. Some thought that we might be better able to arrange things for 2004 and that it might help to identify mutual areas of interest. The executive committee will study this further after we receive more information on hotel availability and costs from George David who will be involved in the 2002 GRS program at Hilton Head in June.

APC Reimbursement for Physics Services: As a result of last year’s SEAAPM business meeting discussion and on behalf of the SEAAPM, Sandra McIntosh and Ken Vanek wrote to AAPM President Charlie Coffee about issues regarding ambulatory payment classifications (APC’s). The purpose of the correspondence was to urge the AAPM to go on record with the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) about reimbursement issue concerns. It was felt that the response from President Coffee was more of a "thank-you letter" and did not adequately address issues raised in the SEAAPM letter. Ivan Brezovich stressed that physicists should maintain an active dialog with the government on this subject. It was pointed out that the AAPM now employs one lobbyist, which it did not last year. Ivan Brezovich suggested sending another letter to Charlie Coffee with a copy going to the AAPM lobbyist specifically going over the items not specifically addressed in President Coffee’s response.

During the discussion it was pointed out that no recognition of physicists’ involvement in Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy (IMRT) currently exists. Ivan Brezovich moved that SEAAPM request the AAPM contact the Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) urging restoration/introduction of the recognition of physicist services in radiotherapy including IMRT. The motion passed.

Mark Bruels brought up the importance of local chapters and stated his opinion that the SEAAPM board representative should urge that AAPM fellows and officers be members of their local and/or state chapters. Sandra McIntosh stated that she would like to see all AAPM members be chapter members. She suggested that the SEAAPM board representative urge the AAPM board to consider ways to provide more support to the chapters.

Perry Sprawls made a motion to thank secretary George David for his work on behalf of the chapter and the 2001 symposium and meeting. The motion was seconded and passed.

Educational Support:

David Gauntt informed us that we had only one student registration this year. No one present knew of any graduate medical physics programs in the southeastern region. There is one post-doc in Birmingham and open residency positions in Knoxville. Chet Ramsey suggested providing low-cost registration for students who submit papers. David Gauntt further suggested allowing them to attend our meeting at no cost. Sam Painter suggested providing an extra drink ticket. It was mentioned that medical physics education is a national issue. Chet Ramsey highlighted this by stating that many of his residents leave their residency early because of lucrative job offers.

President Sandra McIntosh thanked symposium director and local arrangement person Chester Ramsey as well as the executive committee for their efforts for the successful 2001 SEAAPM symposium.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:26 PM.

Respectfully submitted

George David, Secretary SEAAPM

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