Cost Post – Impact of Insurance Precertification on Neurosurgery Practice and Health Care Delivery
Pre-authorization, prior authorization or precertification is a tool insurance companies use to limit the amount of services they provide for their customers. In essence, it’s a simple way to reduce costs by delaying or not approving planned, non-emergency (elective) surgery for patients who need it. The inefficiency and lack of transparency associated with prior authorization […]
Cross Post – Bipartisan Payment System Improvements Mean More Physician Participation and Better Patient Care
Since we are smack dab in the middle of our focus-month on physician regulatory relief, we wanted to highlight an opinion piece published by The Hill featuring the Alliance of Specialty Medicine and neurosurgery’s own Alex B. Valadka, MD, FAANS, FACS, president of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons. The article, “Bipartisan payment system improvements […]
Physician Regulatory Relief: Breaking the Red Tape to Improve Patient Care
Guest Post from Deborah L. Benzil, MD, FACS, FAANS Chair, AANS/CNS Communications and Public Relations Committee Mount Kismo Medical Group Columbia University Medical Center Mt Kisco, New York We the people of the USA deserve better from our health care system. Whether one is a patient, physician, nurse, or another part of our medical community, […]
Cross Post – Why Neurosurgeons Tweet
It’s no secret that the social media revolution has dramatically impacted the way we communicate. Social media is a powerful tool, and when used effectively it can add valuable knowledge to a physician’s toolbox. Today’s post originally appeared in the Congress Quarterly and is authored by Nathan Selden, MD, PhD, FAANS; and Jordan Amadio, MD. […]
Cross Post – New Health Policy Brief: Medicare’s New Physician Payment System
From time to time on Neurosurgery Blog, you will see us cross-posting or linking to items from other publications when we believe they hit the mark on an issue. Today’s post originally appeared on the Health Affairs blog and it highlights a new policy brief from Health Affairs and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), […]
Increasing Residency Slots is Key to Preventing Doctor Shortage
Guest post from Representative Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus and a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee. He is the author of the Resident Physician Shortage Reduction Act (H.R. 2124). The past several years have seen tremendous attention paid to rethinking and improving our nation’s health care system. […]
Millennial Doctors: Heal Thyself!
Guest post from: Chaim B. Colen, MD (left) Chair of the Young Physicians Representative Section of the CSNS Grosse Pointe Woods, MI Roy S. Hwang, MD (center) Neurosurgery Resident West Virginia University Department of Neurosurgery Morgantown, West Virginia Cara Sedney, MD (right) Assistant Professor at West Virginia University Department of Neurosurgery Morgantown, West Virginia Two […]
CMS Releases 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule
It’s highly unlikely that you have read through the thousand-plus pages of the 2015 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) final rule, but have no fear because we have you covered. Listed below are the top items of particular concern to neurosurgeons. Reimbursement-related Provisions: The Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR). Absent congressional action, the SGR formula calls […]
5 Things Neurosurgeons Need to Know about the Sunshine Act
Despite the problems associated with the Physician Sunshine Open Payments system, including inaccurate data and computer system problems, on Sept. 30, 2014, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released physician-industry data on the Open Payments public website. Now that the Open Payments data is publicly available, here are 5 things neurosurgeons need to […]
Faces of Neurosurgery: AMA Honors Neurosurgeons Karin Muraszko and Shelly Timmons
Guest post from Ann R. Stroink, MD, FAANS (left) Central Illinois Neuro Health Sciences Bloomington, Illinois and Maya A. Babu, MD (right) Neurosurgical Resident, Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN September is the month that the American Medical Association (AMA) celebrates and honors influential women physician leaders in conjunction with their program entitled, “Women in Medicine.” As […]