AANS and CNS Unveil 2013 Legislative Agenda
Today, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) released its 2013 legislative agenda, which includes action items such as abolishing the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), alleviating the medical liability crisis, expanding support of quality resident training and education, and championing an improved Medicare reimbursement system. A few […]
PQRS Penalties: You Must Report in 2013 to Avoid a 1.5 Percent Cut in 2015
According to a new study by The Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute, “more than 80 percent of Medicare providers will face penalties for failing to meet quality thresholds if current performance trends continue.” As this statistic suggests, the authors of the study say it “spells trouble for providers as the bonus program is converted to […]
Exciting and Emotional Swearing In Day for the 113th Congress
Thursday, January 3, 2013, proved to be a very exciting Swearing In Day for the 113th Congress, as this was the moment marking Senator Mark Kirk’s (R-IL) triumphant and emotional return to Washington, D.C. after suffering a stroke last January. At 11:30 a.m., cheered on by over 100 colleagues from the U.S. Senate, U.S. House, […]
CNS Spotlight: 2013 Winter Congress Quarterly Released
The Congress Quarterly (cnsq) is the official newsmagazine of the CNS and is designed to reflect the changing nature of neurosurgery and foster discussion about the core being of the neurosurgeon, which is that of leadership, strength, innovation and the relentless pursuit to improve the care and quality of life of patients. Each issue explores […]
Neurosurgeons Urge Congress to Prevent Sequestration Cuts
Today, organized neurosurgery joined the AMA and other groups in sending a letter to urge Congress to reach a bipartisan agreement to prevent budget sequestration cuts that would threaten critical health programs. So if you are not familiar with this topic, you might be asking yourself what’s this all about. Well, as we have reported before, […]
HHS Office of Inspector General Issues Opinion Regarding On-Call Payments to Physicians
In recent years, issues have arisen as to whether hospitals could make payments to physicians for providing on-call coverage for the hospital’s emergency department as such payments might violate the anti-kickback statute. Well, it seems the ambiguity surrounding this idea has recently been cleared up by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of […]
AANS Spotlight – Neurosurgeons and Neurocritical Care
The AANS Neurosurgeon is official socioeconomic publication of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons which features information and analysis for contemporary neurosurgical practice. It focuses on issues related to legislation, workforce and practice management as they affect the specialty of neurosurgery. In today’s post we are spotlighting a piece by Robert E. Harbaugh, MD, FAANS, FACS, […]
CNS Spotlight – Lots in Store for the CNS Annual Meeting in Chicago
This week, we are blogging from Chicago where the 2012 Congress of Neurological Surgeons annual meeting is being held. The meeting is where neurosurgeons convene to explore the most significant breakthroughs over the past year as well as look at what is happening today that will affect our field’s future through various presentations, seminars, workshops, […]
AANS/CNS Spine Section’s Rapid Response to Coverage Policy
From time to time you will see us promote items on Neurosurgery Blog in order to spotlight some great things which are born out of the many members who work on behalf of organized neurosurgery. For our post today we would like to bring your attention to the following article which originally appeared in the […]
Mark Levin, Jeff the “Brain Surgeon” and the Big Lie
It’s easy to understand why we have to write a post like this since information travels far and wide (often repeating itself many times over) in today’s digital world — even if that information is totally false. As such, we are once again bringing up the Mark Levin topic because the audio file from this […]