Newswise — Barry D. Pressman, MD, FACR, Chairman of the S. Mark Taper Foundation Imaging Center and Chief of the Section of Neuroradiology and Head and Neck Radiology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has been appointed to the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee (MCAC) " 2007. Selected by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, MCAC members are authorities in a wide variety of scientific, clinical, and other related fields. The committee consists of 100 appointed members. Dr. Pressman will serve as a voting member for a two-year term.
The MCAC panel of experts convenes to review and discuss specific clinical and scientific issues and advise CMS on whether medical items and services are reasonable and necessary under Medicare law. Members supplement the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) internal expertise to ensure consideration of an unbiased and contemporary consideration of "state of the art" technology and science.
Pressman will serve on a panel of MCAC members to review and evaluate medical literature as well as technical assessments; examine data and information on the effectiveness and appropriateness of medical items or services that are covered or eligible for coverage under Medicare; develop technical advice, to be reviewed and ratified by MCAC, to assist CMS in determining reasonable and necessary applications of medical services and technology; and develop recommendations about specific issues of Medicare coverage and/or to review and comment upon proposed or existing Medicare coverage policies.
Pressman is a member of the Board of Chancellors of the American College of Radiology, a member of the American Society of Neuroradiology Radiology and the American Society of Pediatric Neuroradiology as well as a number of other professional organizations. He is a past president of the California Radiological Society and of the Western Neuroradiology Society Additionally he serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American College of Radiology, and he is a peer reviewer for the American Journal of Roentgenology and for the American Journal of Neuroradiology.
Pressman earned his medical degree from Harvard Medical School. After a surgical internship at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston, he completed a diagnostic radiology residency at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York and a neuroradiology fellowship at George Washington University Hospital where he published many original papers for CT.
The first of seven hospitals in California whose nurses have been honored with the prestigious Magnet designation, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is one of the largest nonprofit academic medical centers in the Western United States. For 18 consecutive years, it has been named Los Angeles' most preferred hospital for all health needs in an independent survey of area residents. Cedars-Sinai is internationally renowned for its diagnostic and treatment capabilities and its broad spectrum of programs and services, as well as breakthroughs in biomedical research and superlative medical education. It ranks among the top 10 non-university hospitals in the nation for its research activities and is fully accredited by the Association for the Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs, Inc. (AAHRPP). Additional information is available at http://www.cedars-sinai.edu.
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