15 minute read
Stronger Business Administrators Make a Stronger Practice
Chairs’ Can’t-miss Picks for the Annual Meeting
Each month leading up to the 2020 Annual Meeting, we’re asking AA N leaders tasked with planning the meeting to weigh in on can’t-miss events from their committee or subcommittee, as well as what they, personally, value most about the meeting itself.
Every year, scientific plenary sessions bring the most exciting developments to the thousands of attendees, including the cutting-edge neuroscience, the latest clinical trials across the spectrum of neurological diseases, hot topics in neurology, scientific advances that have already entered our clinical practice, and of course the controversies in neurology! I am always in the front row in those sessions, learning what’s new and am inspired about what’s yet to come! I also highly recommend our Neuroscience in the Clinic (NIC) programming, the Invited Science sessions, and of course everyone’s favorite—the original science presented in scientific platforms and electronic posters. One thing is for sure, there is no shortage of exciting science. Despite my many subspecialty research commitments, over the years the AA N’s Annual Meeting has become my most important conference to attend. I see it as a 'full immersion' experience for a subspecialty-trained stroke neurologist and clinician-scientist like me, where not only I reconnect with the entire spectrum of neurological science but also have the opportunity to engage with my neurology community and participate in activities (such as leadership development, mentorship, and well-being strategies, to name a few) that make our profession so unique and dynamic. I invite all my colleagues and friends to experience these opportunities at the Annual Meeting— and I’m looking forward to seeing you all in Toronto!
Natalia S. Rost, MD, MPH, FAHA , FAA N Chair, AA N Science Committee
Each member of the neurology practice is essential to high-quality patient care. Why not give your business administrators an edge with access to the world’s best neurology resources and education to help them better reduce costs and increase revenue for your practice?
For only $275, AA N member benefits can help your business administrators:
Improve your practice’s efficiency with exclusive access to the 2020 Practice Management webinar series Be the first to know the latest news impacting your practice and the health care landscape with AA N publications including Neurology ® Clinical Practice*, Neurology Today ® , and AANnews ® *
Access member-only resources including quality improvement resources, payment and reform tools, clinical practice guidelines, and online education programs Connect with a network of administrators, neurologists, and neuroscience professionals worldwide
$120 membership will offer the same membership benefits, excluding access to the 2020 Practice Management webinar series, online education programs, and Neurology Today in print.
We know how important strong business administrators are to help a neurology practice stand out from the competition, so view a full listing of exclusive business administrator benefits and sign yours up today at AAN.com/view/CareTeam.
Annual Meeting Gets Physical
Attendees of this spring’s Annual Meeting will have plenty of opportunities to get out and active—for fun and good causes— with a number of physical and wellness activities designed to challenge both body and soul.
Step Challenge Saturday, April 25–Friday, May 1 Join the fun and keep active all week! Simply download the Heka Health App—available for iOS and Android and select the “American Academy of Neurology” on the dropdown menu to compete for prizes with your fellow attendees to see who gets the most total steps in for the week. Even if you are only attending the Annual Meeting for a couple of days, the Step Challenge lets you compete from anywhere, even after you leave the meeting. Steps can be tracked using Garmin, iPhone, Android, Apple watch, or Fitbit. Run/Walk for Brain Research Tuesday, April 28, 6:30 a.m. Start the day in a healthy and philanthropic way. Show your support for brain research while enjoying this early morning run/walk along the beautiful Toronto waterfront. Registration is $50 per participant and all funds go to support research. Add the Run/Walk to your Annual Meeting experience by signing up through Annual Meeting registration. The Run/Walk for Brain Research is sponsored by Eisai, Inc. and Genentech, A Member of the Roche Group.
The Great Neuro Race Thursday, April 30 Pick your favorite category and then hit the streets of Toronto for fun-filled mental and physical team challenges using clues to figure out the next step in the game. Create your own team of up to five friends or let us assign you to a team for enhanced networking opportunities. Choose from film, museums, food, or extreme sports categories. Registration is free to Annual Meeting attendees and on a first-come, first-served basis until spots are filled, after which a waiting list will be created. Email Lydia Campbell at lcampbell @ aan.com to sign up.
Learn more about Annual Meeting physical and wellness activities at AAN.com/PhysicalWellness.
April 25 – May 1 • Toronto, Canada
Wrap up Annual Meeting with Food, Fun, and Laughs with Second City
Celebrate the close of an amazing week with the infamously hilarious Second City Improv while enjoying plenty of delicious food, beverages, and camaraderie on Friday, May 1, from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Each registered Annual Meeting attendee receives a free ticket to the event. Additional guest tickets can be purchased for $50 each at AAN.com/view/AM20. Seating is limited.
14 April 25 – May 1 • Toronto, Canada
Stay Ahead of Change at Policy, Practice, and Performance Experiential Learning Area
Learn how to make your voice heard for you, your patients, and the future of neurology and get answers to some of today’s most pressing practice management related questions at the Policy, Practice, and Performance Experiential Learning Area during the 2020 Annual Meeting in Toronto. Don’t forget to wear green on Tuesday, April 28, to promote Neurology on the Hill during Wear Green Tuesday!
Stop by to: Catch presentations on a variety of topics including ultra-high neurology drug prices, E/M and EEG coding changes, business operations, and more. Visit the Polling Station to tell us what matters most to you—you can make a difference! Find out how you can get involved and initiate your own advocacy efforts. Learn about exciting advocacy programs including Neurology on the Hill, Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum, and the Advocacy Action Center. Get answers from staff and member experts on some of neurology’s most pressing challenges today. Understand how the Axon Registry ® can improve your practice, and if you’ve already been onboarded in Axon, learn how to maximize your enrollment. Get firsthand guidance on AA N resources like guidelines and quality measures. Snap a photo at our selfie station and upload it to social media to promote #AANadvocacy.
Science, Knowledge, and Recognition Intersect at Research Experiential Learning Area continued from cover
Look for:
Research Presentations Enjoy presentations throughout the week on a variety of research topics, such as finding a research mentor, working with the Institutional Review Board, how to include underrepresented populations in research, and more. Look for presentations entirely in Spanish, too.
Scientific Sessions Learn about the latest abstracts in an oral format with the opportunity to ask the researcher questions. Look for sessions on Global Health, Autonomic Disorders, Neuro-rehabilitation, and Pain and Palliative Care. Awards Stop by to see who has won an award—including the recipients of the Mitchell B. Max Award for Neuropathic Pain and Irwin Schatz Award in Autonomic Disorders— on our research award displays and stay to listen to presentations from select award recipients.
Learn more about this and other Experiential Learning Areas at AAN.com/view/ELA.
Don’t Miss National Institutes of Health Day
Tuesday, April 28
Join Walter J. Koroshetz, MD; Richard Benson, MD, PhD; and Clinton B. Wright, MD, MS, along with other partners from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and National Institute on Aging for a full day of programming with updates from each organization.
April 25 – May 1 • Toronto, Canada
Synapse Continues to See Growth, Engagement
Synapse SM Online Communities continued to experience steady growth and engagement over the past year, ending 2019 with 21,181 members—more than half of AA N membership.
As the AA N's exclusive online community, Synapse serves as a platform where members from the Academy’s more than 45 sections, consortiums, and open communities come together to engage in conversation; exchange ideas; and share scientific, practice, and professional insights.
For more information about AA N Sections and Synapse, visit AAN.com/view/sections.
Cascino to Receive President’s Award
Gregory D. Cascino, MD, FAAN, of the Mayo Clinic, has been named recipient of the 2020 AA N President’s Award. Cascino was chosen because of his leadership as chair of the Member Engagement Committee and the Academy’s success in attaining a record number of members, now more than 36,000.
Ko Appointed New Editor-in-Chief of AANnews
President James C. Stevens, MD, FAA N, has appointed Melissa W. Ko, MD, FAA N, to succeed John D. Hixson, MD, as editor-in-chief of AANnews ® , starting in April 2020.
Ko is a five-time participant in the AA N’s Neurology on the Hill and is a 2010 graduate of the Palatucci Advocacy Leadership Forum (PALF), served on the task force for Gender Pay Disparity, and was a member of the Government Relations Committee. She currently serves on the BrainPAC Executive Committee and the Member Engagement Committee. She is a member of the Neuro-ophthalmology/Neuro-otology Section, PALF Graduates Community, and the Women's Issues in Neurology Section, and has been a member of the AA N since 2005. Ko graduated from University of Rochester School of Medicine in 2003 and completed her neurology and fellowship training in neuroophthalmology at the University of Pennsylvania. She recently joined the faculty of the Indiana University School of Medicine as associate professor of neurology and ophthalmology and serves as the director of clinical operations for the Department of Neurology and the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute in Indianapolis, IN. Previously, she was on faculty at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, NY.
Ko
The AA N welcomes Ko to her new role and thanks Hixson for his leadership over the past decade!
2020 Sports Concussion Conference Coming to Minneapolis in July continued from cover
culture, cuisine, seven professional sports teams, and seven major sports arenas, including U.S. Bank Stadium, home to the 2018 Super Bowl and 2019 Final Four.
Attendees can once again expect to find top experts presenting the latest scientific information and best practices for all clinicians, scientists, and care teams involved in the prevention, diagnosis, and management of sport-related concussion at the youth, high school, collegiate, and professional levels. Abstract submissions open later this month at AAN.com/SCC, where additional information and updates on conference programming and registration will be available later this month.
SPORTS CONCUSSION CONFERENCE JULY 17–19, 2020 MINNEAPOLIS, MN
PODCAST
Neurology ®
Podcast: 20 Minutes Pack a Punch! Subscribe and download the latest podcast at Neurology.org/podcast
Know How Benchmarking Quality Measures Affects Your MIPS Payments
The requirements for Quality Payment Program (QPP) Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) are complex. AA N members may not be aware of how CMS has benchmarked quality measure performance and the impact measure benchmarks have on individual payment.
What is benchmarking? Benchmarking is a method of evaluating performance between organizations and individual providers. For MIPS, CMS sets the benchmark annually for every quality measure. Each submission method will have specific benchmarks to meet the requirements. Providers that are reporting on the same measure will have different benchmarks depending on if they are reporting via claims, electronic health record (EHR ) vendor, or Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR) like the Axon Registry ® .
How many points can I earn in the quality component? For the MIPS quality category, providers should be reporting six measures and at least one of these measures should be an outcome measure. If the participant does not use an outcome measure, a high priority measure is required. CMS will award between zero to 10 points for each MIPS measure depending on the participant’s performance. The quality category is weighted as 45 percent of the total MIPS score. Bonus points are given if more outcome or high priority measures are submitted or if end-to-end reporting is used. End-to-end reporting means submitting MIPS data via EHR or registry vendor. For a positive payment adjustment in PY 2020, providers will need to attain over 45 points across all four MIPS categories.
Do Axon Registry measures have MIPS benchmarks? Some Axon Registry measures have benchmarks, but not all do. Points awarded will vary as a result.
How many points can I earn for a benchmarked Axon Registry measure? The points available will vary for each measure. Currently there are multiple Axon Registry measures with benchmark data. A few examples of measures and potential points to be awarded are included below. The decile corresponds with the points awarded for a measure assuming data completeness thresholds are met. If the data completeness threshold is not met zero points are awarded. In 2020, the data completeness threshold for Axon Registry participants requires reporting on 70 percent of the individual clinician’s patients across all payers for the performance period.
Where can I find Axon Registry measure benchmarks? The full list of 2020 quality benchmarks are available at qpp.cms.gov/about/resource-library. The full benchmark files include several scoring examples. CMS has more information on MIPS requirements at qpp.cms.gov.
For more information on how to join the Axon Registry, visit AAN.com/view/Axon or contact registry @ aan.com.
Measure Title Decile 3 Decile 4 Decile 5 Decile 6 Decile 7 Decile 8 Decile 9 Decile 10 Average Performance Rate
Medication Prescribed for Acute Migraine Attack 8.97–39.71 39.72–53.32 53.33–65.61 65.62–75.99 76.0–83.68 83.69–87.4 87.41–91.99 >=92 63.033
Exercise and Appropriate Physical Activity Counseling for Patients with MS Querying About Symptoms of Autonomic Dysfunction for Patients with Parkinson's Disease Parkinson's Disease: Psychiatric Symptoms Assessment for Patients with Parkinson's Disease (QPP #290) 17.25–38.78
0.82–3.59
3.5–9.37 38.79–56.89
Initiate Your Quality Improvement Project Now
Initiating and executing a quality improvement project as a resident can be daunting. Start now by identifying the right quality improvement project to meet your residency program requirements. The AA N has quality improvement resources designed to help both program directors and residents succeed. Visit AAN.com/policy-and-guidelines/quality to learn more about the following resources:
Quality Measures—The AA N has measures for inpatient, outpatient, child, adult, and geriatric neurology populations. With over 100 to choose from covering epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, neuropathy, movement disorders, and more, residents could identify one quality measure to institute and track to drive performance improvement. Patient Reported Outcomes—Implementing a new, validated scale or tool in practice can provide valuable insights into patient priorities and care goals. The AA N has summarized some of the more commonly used freely available tools for neurology.
Quality Toolkit—After identifying a quality measure, residents can learn the basic steps to improvement or focus in on driving improvement in safety, effectiveness, efficiency, and patient-centered care. Program Director Resources—This toolkit draws attention to AA N resources to help program directors meet Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (AC GME) requirements for patient care, practice-based learning and improvement, interpersonal communication, and systems-based practice.
QUALITY TOOLKIT PATIENT REPORTED OUTCOMES PROGRAM DIRECTOR RESOURCES QUALITY MEASURES
Are You Getting Your AANe-news?
Don’t miss the latest news headlines from your Academy! As an exclusive member benefit, you should be receiving AANe-news ™ the second and fourth Wednesday of each month if your email address is on file. If not, be sure to set your email filter to accept mailer @ aan.com as a friendly address. Or update your email address at AAN.com/MemberProfile.
Solo and Small Practice Community Coming to Synapse
Launching this month, physicians, advanced practice providers, and business administrators working in small and solo practice settings will have a Synapse SM online community to call home.
Members of the new Small and Solo Practice Synapse Community will be able to reach out and engage colleagues in similar practice settings, answering a need made clear during visits by the AA N’s Practice Ambassador Program regarding the unique challenges of solo and small practices. Participants now can ask questions and share expertise with colleagues who truly understand the dynamics of the small and solo workplace. And, of course, members can also join other communities of interest to reach an even broader audience. Since its debut in 2016, Synapse has grown to over 50 communities and more than 21,000 members. This member-only benefit allows participants to: Interact with others who share the same specialty and practice interests Share expertise and real-world solutions to practice, patient care, and other issues facing the neurology community Download and share documents in the community’s digital library Provide feedback on section-relevant AA N programs and services Administrators and advanced practice providers can join the Academy to take advantage of this networking opportunity and other relevant benefits. To join or renew these memberships, visit AAN.com/view/CareTeam.
MEM: 18 BUSM Recruitment Ad—Half Page Horizontal> AN Placed in AANnews 8.25 x 5.25 +0.125 bleed, 4C
To join this new online community, visit Synapse.AAN.com/home. For more information, contact practice @ aan.com.
Strengthen your BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR’S knowledge and skills in neurology with special, reduced rate AAN memberships. Sign your team up today at AAN.com/view/careteam.
