CHARLESTON, SC, March 6, 2015 – The 15th Annual Minimally Invasive Surgery Symposium (MISS) featured presentations by two members of the SE Healthcare Quality Consulting Board of Directors, Dr. Philip R. Schauer, President and James W. Saxton, Esq. Dr. Schauer also served as Executive Director for the symposium, a role he has held for the last 15 years. The conference, held February 25-28, 2015, in Las Vegas, NV, was attended by world-renowned experts on advanced laparoscopic techniques for managing metabolic disorders, hernia, foregut and diseases of the colon at the symposium.
Dr. Schauer presented “Sleeve Technique – Why Not Just Oversew?” as part of a Metabolic/Bariatric Surgery Session at this year’s MISS. He also took part in a debate, “The Dominant Procedure of the Future – Sleeve vs. Bypass,” one session in a group focused on controversies and new frontiers.
Mr. Saxton presented “Linking Outcomes to Reimbursement While Mitigating Risk,” discussing how bariatric surgery practices should prepare for the post-Affordable Care Act value-based environment, recommending patient experience surveys and providing information on how practices can get ahead.
Dr. Schauer is Director of the Cleveland Clinic Bariatric and Metabolic Institute Surgery and Professor of Surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. He is a past president of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
After receiving his medical degree from the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Dr. Schauer completed his residency in surgery at the University of Texas, where he served as Chief Resident of General Surgery. He then completed a fellowship in laparoscopic surgery at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. Prior to joining Cleveland Clinic in 2004, Dr. Schauer served as Director of Endoscopic Surgery, Director of Bariatric Surgery and Director of the Mark Ravitch/Leon Hirsch Center for Minimally Invasive Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Dr. Schauer’s clinical interests include surgery for severe obesity, minimally invasive surgery (laparoscopic) and gastrointestinal surgery. He has performed more than 4,000 operations for severe obesity. His research interests include the pathophysiology of obesity and related diseases, physiologic effects of laparoscopic surgery on post-operative injury and recovery, and outcomes of laparoscopic management of obesity, gastrointestinal diseases and hernias. He has also participated in the development of new minimally invasive, endoscopic and laparoscopic operations.
Mr. Saxton lectures frequently and is an invited speaker across the country on health care issues, including liability reduction and risk management. He frequently presents to nationally prominent health care organizations, such as the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management and the Physician Insurers Association of America.
Mr. Saxton is an active defense trial lawyer – a practice he has sustained for more than 30 years – representing providers, including hospitals, physicians and retirement communities, in state and federal court and administrative proceedings. He functions as lead trial counsel and supervises trial counsel in professional liability lawsuits nationally. He also counsels clients on safety and quality initiatives and health care captive insurance issues, advising hospitals and medical groups both nationally and internationally on safety, quality and professional liability issues. He creates innovative risk reduction tools, including quality dashboards, and helps to design and establish entire loss control programs for captive insurers, many of which are national in scope.
In addition to his trial practice, Mr. Saxton has published more than 200 articles, several handbooks and seven textbooks including most recently the second edition of the popular text, The Satisfied Patient, Five-Star Customer Service: A Step-by-Step Guide for Physician Practices and Fifteen Policies and Procedures to Reduce Liability for Physician Practices.