The Practice Tab in Depth
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Our goal is to make the Practice section of AAN.com the premier destination on the Internet for clinical neurologists and their staff who want to be successful in today's (and tomorrow's) medical environment.
- Practice Guidelines
- Patient Safety
- Quality Initiatives
- Pay-for-Performance
- Practice Management
- Payment Policy and Decision Making
- Coding and Reimbursement
- Practice Managers (BRAINS)
- Electronic Health Records
- HIPAA Resources
- Medicare Part D
- Technology
This section is both a hub and a portal:
- A hub because it highlights the important work of the AAN's Medical Economics and Management (MEM) and Practice Committees and their subcommittees, and of the Business and Research Administrators in Neurology Society (BRAINS).
- A portal because it links to essential external resources such as the latest coding and reimbursement policies.
We cover basic and advanced topics central to the economics and practice of clinical neurology, including:
- Diagnosis (ICD-9) and evaluation and management and procedure (CPT) coding
- Regulatory issues and third party payer relations
- Neurology practice management and health information technologies including electronic health records
- Pay-for-performance and related quality initiatives
- Practice guidelines to assist members in clinical decision-making
- Expert information regarding issues of therapeutic efficacy and diagnostic techniques
- Patient safety
- Practice improvement
The Practice home page contains navigation links to the section's resources on the left, the top practice-related story of the day and the Practice News Stand in the center, and, in the right-sided pods, links to further information and related areas.
Let's go through the Practice Section topic by topic.
Practice Guidelines
The most popular practice tools, and in fact the most popular electronic resources on the AAN website, are the practice guidelines. These are industry-leading documents that were developed to assist our members in clinical decision-making related to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of neurologic disorders. Each guideline makes specific practice recommendations based on a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation of all available scientific data. Our rules of evidence are stricter than most other organizations and our guidelines are among the highest quality guidelines of any professional medical organization.
Currently, all guidelines are available free to members via the website. There is a search function that can search by various subtopics such as brain injury, child neurology, dementia, epilepsy, headache, movement disorders, multiple sclerosis, neuromuscular disease, stroke, vascular neurology, technology assessments and others. A more advanced search function is being developed. Not only are the finished guidelines available, but related tools and resources can be viewed and downloaded, the guideline development process is explained, projects in process are listed, and there are ways for members to suggest a topic, become an author, and become a reviewer in the process.
Patient Safety
Patient safety is a major initiative in health care. The AAN's Patient Safety Subcommittee reflects the academy's commitment in this area with cross-functional representation needed to identify and address patient safety issues. The subcommittee is committed to safe, high quality, neurologic care.
In addition to other resources for patient safety, this area has a very nice Tips & Tools database. This is, in effect, a frequently asked questions section that discusses location-specific and disease-specific issues regarding patient safety. You can search the database and get answers that meet your clinical needs at the point of care.
Quality Initiatives
Quality measurement and pay-for-performance are major new initiatives of nearly all health care payors. We have a well-developed quality initiative section of the website that includes measurement stats, reporting initiatives, quality tools, quality improvement, quality alliance, and resources all to help you practice better.
Pay-for-Performance
Pay for performance is an outgrowth of the quality movement. The AAN.com Practice section has a pay-for-performance area with resources about both general and specific pay for performance initiatives. The Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI) from Medicare is the hottest topic in this area and details on how to comply with this program are listed on the website. When new initiatives come along, we will have tools posted to allow our members to be as up-to-date a possible. Of course, participation in these initiatives will have financial consequences for your practice, which are likely to become more and more important as time goes on.
Practice Management
This area contains information on external and internal audits, how to optimize claims management and how to appeal health plan claims denials. It also has links to Neurology Today articles written by leading experts in practice management.
Payment Policy and Decision Making
The Academy's Payment Policy Subcommittee of the Medical Economics and Management Committee recently developed the Payment Policy and Decision Making page. Members can view private payer news stories, submit payer grievances, and get connected to Academy position statements and clinical practice guidelines. Eventually, the page will include an interactive timeline of Payment Policy Subcommittee activities as well as links to Academy work with various payers and tips for working with Medical Directors.
Coding and Reimbursement
The coding and reimbursement section has news on these topics including downloadable up-to-date lists of changes in codes, etc. It also contains coding tools that require an extra subscription fee. There are searchable databases for both ICD-9 CM diagnosis codes and CPT procedure codes.
In addition, we have some subspecialty coding information on this section of the website. For example, we posted a neurologist's guide to properly using ICD-9-CM for cerebrovascular diseases. As those who are familiar with these codes know, they are not particularly user-friendly. Our ICD-9 experts guide members through the maze that is CPT coding for stroke in this resource. We hope to develop similar guides for other diseases in the future.
It is very important to keep up with Medicare and regulatory issues. We have a section of the Practice website devoted to this, with late-breaking news and other resources. As one peruses this section, be sure to look not only at the center pod with the main content, but look for additional resources on the right.
Practice Managers (BRAINS)
The Business and Research Administrators in Neurology section or BRAINS has a subsection of the Practice website. They are a group of both academic and private practice administrators who focus on opportunities that will benefit those who are managing neurology and neurosurgery groups. BRAINS members work together to advocate for change and identify issues of importance to administrators and managers in neurology. Our goal is to have this section become a primary resource for neurology practice administrators.
Patient Education
AAN patient education materials are in several areas of the AAN website, including the Practice section. There are links to Neurology Now, brochures, books and posters, and AAN guideline summaries for patients.
Electronic Health Records
Electronic health records are increasingly important tools for practicing neurologists. The AAN Electronic Health Record Work Group has worked to determine which electronic health record applications would be most useful to our members. The Work Group pared down the hundreds of vendors to a small handful and had EHR Chart Challenges at the last two Annual Meetings. The Task Force issued a comprehensive report in 2006, which is available on this section of the AAN website, and issued an addendum to the report based on more up-to-date evaluations of the products in 2007. This is also on the website. These are very popular resources. In the Additional Resources pod you will also find outside articles, relevant Neurology Today articles, and a report on the use of tablet computers in medicine.
HIPAA Resources
The goal of this page is to provide the most up-to-date Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) resources to AAN members.
Medicare Part D
Medicare Part D can be confusing. This area is devoted to Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage. Check here for the latest information to help your patients pay for their medications.
Technology
This area provides support for AAN.com features in addition to other resources. Our first offerings are a guide to the new web interface to all AAN mailing lists and this guide about how to use the AAN.com website. Other items are under development.