2009 Annual Meeting Colloquia

Colloquia at the 2009 Annual Meeting will offer opportunities to obtain valuable information and enhance attendees' professional skills and knowledge. Free to all registered attendees.

Saturday, April 25

The BRAINS Colloquium is intended to provide attendees with up-todate
information on the "business" of neurology and an opportunity to
further develop practice management skill sets. Faculty will address
the logistics of taking calls and the different call options, implementing
an electronic health record, and salary and staffing issues that come
along with an atmosphere of declining reimbursement.

Sunday, April 26

Empowers neurologists to participate in the implementation of medication safety and understand safety issues related to herbal medication and medication interactions. Additional objectives include learning the value of internet tools and safe prescribing practices. The colloquium enables neurologists to develop patient safety initiatives for patients with neurologic conditions.

Practice Colloquium: Improving Quality Through Incentives:
Lessons from Model Programs
1:30 p.m.–4:30 p.m.

Incentivizing quality, or "pay-for-performance (P4P)," has received substantial national emphasis over the past several years. The evidence regarding improved health care efficiency and outcomes has been mixed. The purpose of this Practice Colloquium is to review the best available evidence on P4P, particularly with regard to improving the quality of primary versus specialty (neurological) care. Specific models of P4P that have shown the most promise in large
health care systems will be emphasized.

Monday, April 27

Ethics Colloquium (3EC.002)
12:30 p.m.–2:00 p.m.

In the interest of obtaining input from the members of the American Academy of Neurology on pending ethics policies and current ethics topics, the Ethics Colloquium will be held on Monday, April 27, from 12:30–2 p.m. in room 602/603 at the 2009 AAN Annual Meeting in Seattle. The Ethics Colloquium is open to all AAN members and interested non-members. Participants will have the opportunity to identify emerging ethical issues affecting the practice of neurology that they would like the Ethics, Law and Humanities Committee (ELHC) to consider for future reports or policies. Attendees will be encouraged to submit topics, along with related articles, opinions, or guidelines, in advance of the Colloquium. The Ethics Colloquium faculty, consisting of the membership of the ELHC, will outline draft report entitled "Responding to Requests from Adult Patients for Neurological Enhancement" that addresses the ethical and legal aspects of neurological enhancement. The ELHC invites comments and questions on the new report from Colloquium participants for incorporation into the report before it is submitted to the AAN Board of Directors for approval.

Education Colloquium:Level 1 Certification for the NINDS Clinical Research Collaboration (4EC.001)
Tuesday, April 28
1:00 p.m.–3:00 p.m.

The NINDS Clinical Research Collaboration (CRC) is designed to connect patients, their physicians and communities to high-quality research. This course will provide participants with basic research training required as a first step to participation in NINDS-sponsored research through the CRC. Participants will be presented with a provocative review of ethical issues faced when conducting research involving human subjects and will be presented with the essentials of performing research using Good Clinical Practices (GCP). Specific information on the steps needed to connect you and your patients to NINDS sponsored research through the CRC will be provided.

Education Colloquium:
Ethics and Education
9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.

The ethical dimensions of medical practice have grown exponentially over the past several decades, with neurologists often playing a central role in the identification of ethical issues and developing guidelines for care based on ethical, scientific, and clinical principles.

Attend the Education Colloquium to learn about ethics education; the influence of the clinical environment and culture on the ethical behavior of students, residents, faculty, and practitioners; the essentials of an ethics curriculum and an exploration of a variety of ways to teach ethics; and medical practice and the structure and purpose of health law.

Search the 2009 Annual Meeting Education Program for additional information on these programs or other Annual Meeting programs.