SANDERS Isaac, MD 
 

Dr. Isaac Sanders, a past-President of the California Radiological Society, passed away, after a prolonged illness, on November 24, 2015 in Rancho Mirage, California. He was born in Bronx, New York on January 10, 1926.
 
Dr. Sanders served as an Army Air Corps sergeant flying B-59's in World War II. During the war, when only 22 years old, he was almost killed suffering a tibial and fibular fracture after a military plane crash requiring metal plating for internal fixation. Thanks to penicillin, the resultant initial infection resolved. However, for the rest of his life, he suffered from neurolytic numbness in his foot, which ultimately led to a disastrous right foot infection and bacterial endocarditis with septic cerebral emboli in 2005. He fought valiantly over the past ten years to overcome the complications resulting from that episode.
 
Dr. Sanders graduated from college at New York University, co-captained the 1949 Eastern Intercollegiate fencing team, winning an NCAA fencing championship, and proceeded to medical school at SUNY Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. After a straight internal medicine internship at the Long Island College of Medicine Hospital in 1956, Dr. Sanders completed a residency in radiology at White Memorial Medical Center in Los Angeles. He proceeded to complete a Fellowship in Musculoskeletal Radiology at the Los Angeles County General Hospital in 1964.
 
In 1965, Dr. Sanders accepted a position as a full time staff member at the White Memorial Medical Center which he maintained for the next 34 years, retiring in 1999. He went on to develop great expertise in the diagnosis and evaluation of congenital heart disease and pediatric radiology. He served as the Chairman of the Department of Radiology at the White Memorial Medical Center from 1983-1999 and as Chief of Staff for an unprecedented 4 years from 1983-1986. He served as the Director of the Radiology Residency Training Program at the White Memorial Medical Center from 1967-1983. In the meantime, Dr. Sanders was the Director of the Comp-Care IPA from 1983-1993 and Chairman of Quality Assurance of the Southern California Healthcare Network from 1993-1999.
 
Additionally, Dr. Sanders was an Instructor in the School of  Radiological Technology at the White Memorial Medical Center from 1964-1983. He carried a faculty appointment at Loma Linda University from 1962-199, rising to an appointment as Professor Emeritus. He was appointed by Dr. Thomas Noguchi, Los Angeles County Coroner, to be in charge of Forensic Radiology from 1970-1983.
 
Dr. Sanders was chosen by the radiology residents at Loma Linda University as its Honored Teacher of the Year 8 times between 1964-1974. He was a Visiting Professor at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in 1972. In honor of Dr. Sanders' dedication to teaching, an Annual Isaac Sanders Lecture was begun by the Los Angeles Radiological Society in 1992 and continues to this day. Moreover, the RSNA Annual Oration in Diagnostic Radiology was named in his honor in 2003.
 
Dr. Sanders' vocal support of women in radiology culminated in his being given an honorary lifetime membership to the Association of Women Radiologists in 1994. He was honored with fellowships in the American College of Radiology, the American College of Physicians, and the American Academy of Pediatrics. He served as a Councilor to the ACR from 1979 to 1994. He served as President of the Los Angeles Radiological Society in 1976 and of the California Radiological Society in 1989. He served on the ACR Council Steering Committee from 1988-1992. He was an ABR Board Examiner in musculoskeletal radiology from 1993-1999 as well as serving as a Trustee for the American Board of Radiology for the same period of time. In 2010, he received the ACR Gold medal, the College's highest honor for distinguished and extraordinary service to the discipline of radiology. In 2013, Ike received the Distinguished Service Award at Loma Linda University.
 
Dr. Sanders' dedication to medicine and radiology can be summarized in his retirement speech to the staff of the White Memorial Medical Center where he concluded, "You have given this dinner thanking me, but I should be thanking you, having given me the honor of being a physician, privilege of being a teacher and researcher, and opportunity to validate my life. Above all, I thank you for the experience of having received and opportunity to have given a great deal of love."
 
Dr. Sanders will be remembered by many as a beloved friend, colleague, humanitarian, teacher and dedicated academician and radiologist.
 
Dr. Sanders is survived by the love of his life, his wife, Muriel.

Respectfully Submitted,
Kenneth W. Chin, MD, FACR, FSIR




Hardship Exemptions for Meaningful Use Under Medicare 
 

Because of a delay in the publication of regulations governing the Medicare meaningful use program, physicians are being urged to preemptively file for a 2015 hardship exemption to avoid penalties in 2016.

Physicians should apply for an exemption under the "extreme and uncontrollable circumstances" category, even if they are uncertain whether they will meet the program requirements this year. Doing so will not preclude physicians from receiving an incentive if they do meet meaningful use requirements, but applying can serve as a safety net in staving off a penalty.

In order to avoid a penalty under the meaningful use program, eligible professionals must attest that they met the requirements for meaningful use stage 2 for a period of 90 consecutive days during calendar year 2015. Unfortunately, however, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) did not publish the updated regulations for stage 2 meaningful use until October 16, 2015. As a result, eligible professionals were not informed of the revised program requirements until fewer than the 90 required days remained in the calendar year.

CMS has stated that it will grant hardship exemptions for 2015 if eligible providers are unable to attest due to the late publishing of the rule. However, under current law, CMS can only grant such exemptions on a case-by-case basis. This means that many eligible professions will be required to apply for exemptions and that CMS will have to act on each application individually. CMS has approved over 85 percent of hardship exemptions in the past.
 
Hardship applications will be available in early 2016 at
http://www.cms.gov/EHRIncentivePrograms.