Congresswoman Eshoo Visits Stanford Radiology

Posted 2:11 PM, November 17, 2008, by jaruiz

On October 23rd, Anna Eshoo, democratic representative for California's 14th congressional district, visited the Department of Radiology to learn more about the vital role that radiologists play in health care and what makes Stanford Radiology the leader in the field. Congresswoman Eshoo has represented Stanford and the surrounding area for over 15 years. She is also a member of the Health Care Subcommittee and one of the founders of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB).

Chief Resident Pat Auveek Basu, MD, MBA, met Congresswoman Eshoo and cultivated her interest in Stanford Radiology while he was a Fellow last summer in Washington D.C. as part of the J.T. Rutherford Government Relations Fellowship sponsored by the American College of Radiology (ACR) (to read more, please access http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2008/09/dr_basu_complet_1.html).

Recently, Dr. Basu invited Congresswoman Eshoo to visit our Department. He described the three goals for her visit as follows:

"1. Congresswoman Eshoo has been a champion of patient and physician issues since she took office. We wanted to give her a glimpse of what we, as radiologists, do; how we provide cutting-edge care; and how we make a paramount impact on health care that often occurs behind the scenes.

2. In particular, we are very proud of our Department of Radiology here at Stanford and as constituents, we wanted to show her some of our exciting developments. While our field is famous for recent advances in MRI, high-resolution CT, and new minimally invasive techniques, we are pioneering further breakthroughs in diagnosis and treatment. As she saw at our new outpatient imaging facility, Stanford Medicine Outpatient Imaging Center on Sherman Avenue, we are also leaders in the patient-centered radiology movement. Traditionally, radiologists have been physician consultants or "doctor's doctors," which is still the most important function we serve. However, in order to give quicker and more accurate results to patients, radiologists are returning to a more face-to-face role with patients.

3. As healthcare costs soar, medical imaging has been one of the areas that is being called into question due to its rapid growth. However, like the transition from typewriters to computers or from VHS to DVD, our profession embodies a true progression to better, improved care. Given that our specialist consultations don't occur in front of patients or leaders such as Congresswoman Eshoo, our radiologists have erroneously been lumped in with some efforts to cut physician services. However, we have replaced invasive surgeries, made earlier diagnoses, decreased prolonged hospital stays, and, quite frankly, have rendered many medical services obsolete. As an extension of the two points above, we wanted to remind Congresswoman Eshoo that our practice model does not self-refer patients and, thus, has little control over the recent growth in imaging. Furthermore, while most of this growth is a move in the right direction, we certainly agree that inappropriate and self-referred imaging is a misuse of resources, and it needs to be eliminated."

Highlights from Congresswoman Eshoo's two-hour visit include the following:

--She spoke briefly to several residents and fellows about her views on health care, education, and technology. A couple of resident physicians described why they chose radiology as their medical specialty. She fielded questions from residents and graduate students on issues of healthcare reform and research.

--She briefly saw the Breast Imaging Section and then visited Interventional Radiology where she saw a stent placement and chemoembolization procedure. She was so interested in seeing this live that she changed into scrubs!

--Drs. Glazer and Basu facilitated a lengthy, productive discussion on the challenges radiologists and their patients face and how government can improve the system for both. Congresswoman Eshoo was knowledgeable and genuinely interested in these issues.
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--Finally, Drs. Glazer, Atlas, Van Dalsem, and Basu gave Congresswoman Eshoo a tour of Stanford Medicine Imaging Center on Sherman Avenue. They showed her 3D images of neuroradiology MRAs, cardiac CTs (3D), breast MRIs, and a 3D body case. She asked questions about patient-centered radiology, the role of screening, and how our expertise can be brought to more parts of the country. She was so interested that her visit ran over the allotted time.

--Overall, her visit was a great success, and it was just as valuable for us to meet her as it was for her to get a glimpse of our profession.

In her correspondence after her visit, Congresswoman Eshoo remarked that "[t]he visit was fantastic and the info. invaluable--I was very impressed. Thanks so much. We could have spent all day with you!" and that she would "continue to do everything in support of medical imaging research, as well as working for the necessary resources and reforms to give patients and doctors access to effective technologies that improve quality and reduce costs of care."