May 15, 2015

Staff and faculty members in the OHSU School of Medicine's Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Knight Cardiovascular Institute won a first place national award during the 23rd annual United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) Transplant Management Forum in April. The winning abstract, titled "Cost Modeling and Global Reimbursement Analysis in the Medical Group: Establishing the Reimbursement to Cost Ratio for the Heart Transplant Surgery Practice," focused on costs and managed care reimbursement around heart transplant care provided by the division.

There were more than 600 registered participants and nearly 60 abstract presentations submitted in five categories during the UNOS Forum. This was the first time OHSU entered an abstract at the conference. OHSU completed against Stanford University, University of North Carolina, and Perfusix USA to win the award.

Congratulations to Scott Kihoi, manager, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, who led the multidisciplinary team behind this honor:

• Rosalie Blaeuer, accounting specialist, Department of Surgery
• Leasa Keene, PAS supervisor, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
• Kate Kenemer, client service analyst, University Medical Group
• Jennifer Merrill, fiscal coordinator, Department of Surgery
• Howard K. Song, M.D., Ph.D., professor of surgery, OHSU School of Medicine
• Fred Tibayan, M.D., assistant professor of surgery, OHSU School of Medicine
• Mark Valadez, manager, Division of Solid Organ Transplant 

Pictured (left to right): Kihoi, Blaeuer and Valadez with the award-winning abstract.