Terra Miller

The generally accepted ratio for a sufficient neurosurgical workforce arises from a 1975 government proposal of one neurosurgeon per 100,000 U.S. population (7). More recent analyses place the current ratio at around 1:61,000, and with a growing and aging population, it actually appears this improved proportion may still be inadequate to meet current health care needs (2,4). A 2012...

Where were you in 1999? Were you practicing neurosurgery? What are your most poignant recollections of that time in your life? Clearly, for many of us, it felt like a watershed time for medicine, especially for neurosurgery. In this way (sans the threats of collapse after Y2K), neurosurgeons are facing remarkably similar challenges in 2016. All the adages about...

On Oct. 14, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final rule describing the new Medicare Quality Payment Program (QPP). This new system was mandated by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA). The new QPP rolls many of Medicare’s past quality reporting programs — the Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), Electronic Health Records (EHR)...

On the health policy and advocacy front, 2016 has been a busy year, and the AANS/CNS Washington Committee and your Washington Office staff have been working hard to promote policies that benefit neurosurgeons and their patients. Below is a rundown of recent activity:CMS Finalizes Rules Implementing New Medicare Quality Payment Program On Oct. 14, 2016, the Centers for Medicare...

Some readers may recognize the above title as that of an article published by Harvey Cushing in the Bulletin of the Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1905. In the U.S., at least, (and arguably no less worldwide) this is considered to be the “official” beginning of our field. Until then, operations on the nervous system were done by people trained...