In an effort to become reconnected with who we are and what we hold dear, I set out to re-examine our Association’s mission and goals. As it happens, the AANS Board and National Office Executive Staff have been grappling with this very issue over the past few months, formally revising our mission and vision statements, as well as updating our goals and objectives. The fact that our mission statement did not change at all during this scrutiny is a testament to its timeless strength of purpose, stating as it does that we are “. . . dedicated to advancing the specialty of neurological surgery in order to provide the highest quality of neurosurgical care to the public.” Keeping this lofty mission in mind puts us in a powerful position to achieve our goals. It is impossible to acknowledge the thousands of volunteer hours contributed by AANS committee and task force members every day. To those of you who currently volunteer your time, and to those who are considering future leadership roles, I applaud you.
AANS Strategic Plan: Goals, Objectives and Activities
Goal: Support Infrastructure and Governance. The AANS will enhance the organization by continually strengthening its infrastructure, governance and volunteerism.
Objective: National Headquarters Infrastructure. Activity: Last year, following the departure of Robert E. Draba, PhD, I reported to you that a search was on for the quintessential AANS Executive Director. That search ended in late spring with the hiring of Dave Fellers, CAE, a 28-year veteran administrator of professional medical organizations, with an unmatched record of success. Mr. Fellers came to us from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons and has already begun the arduous task of reorganizing the AANS National Office. Another exciting development at our National Office was the recent move from Park Ridge to Rolling Meadows, Illinois, in early May.
Objective: Strategic Business Plan. Activity: For the first time since 1995, the AANS Board has updated its Strategic Business Plan. Included in this update are the results of the recent membership survey, which revealed that members view the Journal of Neurosurgery, the Directory of Neurological Surgery, and AANS Annual Meeting as the three most important benefits of AANS membership. The survey also indicated that our members want: 1) The AANS and CNS to consolidate their activities, 2) the AANS Code of Ethics to be enforced, and 3) The Value of Board-certified neurosurgeons to be advocated to the general public.
In addition, a recent leadership survey identified our Board’s commitment to positioning the AANS as the national spokesorganization for neurosurgeons, communicating to AANS members, and working for fair reimbursement for neurosurgeons. The results of these two surveys will prove to be invaluable as we map out our strategies for the coming years.
Goal: Make the AANS the Spokesorganization for Neurosurgery. Increase awareness by serving as the spokesorganization to the public, medical and third-party payor community; and ensure these target audiences recognize neurosurgeons as the primary providers of quality care to neurosurgical patients.
Objective: Outreach to the media and educate the public and medical community about neurosurgery. Activity: For a modest contribution of $100 each, members from around the country made it possible for the AANS to produce an eight-page, full-color, insert about neurosurgery in the April 7, 2000 issue of USA Today. The insert, which targeted more than five million readers, was sent to every member of Congress, posted on NEUROSURGERY://ON-CALL®, sent to corporate sponsors and members who supported the project, and distributed to primary care physicians at the recent Scientific Assembly of American College of Physicians/American Society of Internal Medicine. y. Inaddition, articles from the insert appear on Drkoop.com and WebMD, two highly-regarded medical Web sites. Continued member participation will prove vital to the success of this project, as each member is responsible for promoting and disseminating the insert to his or her local newspapers, television and radio stations, patients, and referring physicians.
Objective: Establish Online Presence for Neurosurgery. Activity: The AANS Board recently voted to become participants in Medem, a Web site developed by the nation’s leading medical specialty societies and the American Medical Association. One of Medem’s major benefits is that it develops Web sites for individual physician practices in order to “brand” these practices and establish their presence on the Internet. Our leadership and staff also have been in negotiations with Drkoop.com and WebMD, in an effort to better position the AANS as the “digital voice for neurosurgery.”
Goal: Communications and Services for Members. Increase the value of membership in the AANS through communications with the membership and through the development of programs and services that enhance the practice of neurosurgery and better educate neurosurgical patients and their families.
Objective: Professional Liability/Risk Management Programs. Activity: As a result of membership interest, the AANS recently selected The Doctors’ Company (TDC) to offer a professional liability insurance program to its members. This decision will ensure that AANS members who need liability and malpractice insurance will be able to obtain it from one of the strongest, most reputable liability insurance companies in the country. (For more information on TDC, see page 28.)
Objective: Publications and Online Communications. Activity: A Publications Business Plan was recently completed and will be utilized to restructure the Publications Program. In addition, Neurosurgical Focus has been officially accepted for listing/indexing on Medline and in Index Medicus —— an illustration of this publication’s superb quality.
Goal: Educational Programming and Practice Development. The AANS will be the leader in providing and sponsoring clinical educational and practice management programming for neurosurgeons.
Objective: Annual Meeting. Activity: This year’s Annual Meeting program was outstanding, attracting more than 7,200 attendees. We had the honor of hearing acclaimed author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Doris Kearns Goodwin, deliver the Cushing Oration, as well as John E. Wennberg, MD, deliver a thought-provoking presentation on neurosurgical outcomes. In addition, we had a record number of abstracts submitted for presentation, proving once again that research is alive and well in the field of neurosurgery.
Objective: Continuing Medical Education Courses. Activity: The Professional Development Department has been restructured, and is now the Department of Education and Practice Management. The new focus of the department will center on professional development courses and areas where the AANS can assist its members in practice management, outcomes and research.
Goal: Support the Washington Committee. The AANS will strongly support efforts of the Washington Committee to address advocacy for fair and equitable reimbursement, federal legislation and regulation.
Objective: Coding, Reimbursement and Medicare. Activity: The Washington Committee continues to do an extraordinary job of advocating for AANS members. Equitable reimbursement policy continues to be a top priority, and currently the AANS is a plaintiff in three lawsuits involving the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA). The most recent of these suuits, filed on December 30, 1999, on behalf of the AANS/CNS and several other medical specialties, was prompted by “practice expense methodology that disallows expenses for all clinical support personnel used in hospitals or ambulatory surgical facilities when these expenses are paid by the physicians employing such personnel. This action is in direct contravention of the law, which directs HCFA to account for the costs of all physician practice expenses in its methodology.”
Goal: Foundation Activities. The AANS will enhance the organization by continually strengthening its infrastructure, Board and Committee governance and volunteerism.
Objective: Basic and Clinical Research. Activity: The Research Foundation was recently renamed The Neurosurgery Research and Education Foundation. The name change reflects the Foundation’s expanded mission to be more involved with all of neurosurgery, while reinforcing how research is an important educational tool for the neurosurgeon. Funds are now available to support this broader mission, and co-sponsorship of research projects with each Section is currently under examination. The Foundation continues to increase its capacity to provide research grants for young neurosurgeons; however, if it is to expand further, members must lend their financial support.
Concluding Thoughts
The goals, objectives, and activities outlined herein are merely a smattering of what actually occurs at the AANS every day. To list everything that has been done and everyone who has contributed would be impossible, so we must be content to inspect these highlights and realize that every minute of every day, an AANS volunteer is working to making the field of neurosurgery more important, more respected, and more exacting.
Finally, the ruminations over my three year tenure as Secretary for this great organization have led me to a particularly frustrating and disappointing realization: the schism between the AANS and the CNS is ever widening. As I pointed out earlier in this report, our membership survey indicated that members believe “neurosurgical organizations should seek to consolidate their activities.” This is particularly ironic since the CNS just terminated its agreement with the AANS for its meetings management. Not only does this action produce a significantly negative impact upon the AANS from a financial and personnel standpoint, but it also means that the CNS has put itself in a position of building its own infrastructure. This is duplication, not consolidation!
We must ask ourselves why we need two competing organizations that share the same noble principles, the same goals, the same volunteerism, and (essentially) the same mission and vision, and realize that in 10 years we will most likely be unable to support two national competing organizations. I believe that now is the time to move together and not apart, and I am personally committed to accomplishing this goal. I would ask you to join me in building this bridge to our future.