AAPM&R Connection E-Newsletter

Still in need of CME credits to meet your December 31 CME deadline? Look no further than your Academy.

Upon your 2017 membership renewal, you will receive one complimentary self-assessment examination for practitioners (SAE-P) that helps you earn 8 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. You’ll find a variety of SAE-Ps in the mē^® Catalog.

Haven't used your 2016 complimentary SAE-P? Claim it today if you're ready. Not ready to claim it now? No worries—upon your renewal, you’ll earn another SAE-P which you can “bank” until you are ready to use them both! 

P.S. Renew your dues by December 31 to be automatically entered into a drawing to win an Apple^® iPad^®!

AAPM&R's collaborative clinical data registry with the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) is focused on quality improvement for the spine patient. Use this tool to meet 2017 MIPS reporting requirements and fulfill ABPMR MOC^® part IV requirements. Learn more.

Sue Mukherjee, MD, became interested in physiatry after she spent a summer in India working with children with polio. Since then, she’s worked with pediatric and adolescent patients like Holly, Dontae, Aimee, and Jordan. For each of these patients, the journey has been as much about helping them realize their goals and aspirations as it is about managing their physical challenges. Click on the video below to view Dr. Mukherjee’s story.

Do you have a story to tell? Complete the sentence and join the conversation at www.pmrismorethan.org. We want to hear your story!

Our corporate supporters allow us to enhance the medical specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation, carry forth the Academy’s mission and goals, and improve patient care. We are very grateful for their support!

• Industry Relations Council (IRC)—dedicated to building collaborative relationships with industry to reach goals of mutual concern, including improved patient care.

• Institution Partners Council (IPC)—developed as a way to formalize engagement between institutions and the Academy so that together we can help “transform the focus of health care to value function.”

• Corporate Supporters—these companies demonstrate their commitment to the Academy and the PM&R community by supporting various activities.
  
  

Then let us know. We’re looking for speakers who have expertise in physiatry-focused topics. If that’s you or if you would like to recommend a particular speaker, please complete this survey.

We want to provide you with the best educational experience from the faculty that you want to hear from, so your recommendations are greatly appreciated!

The Academy's Board of Governors has created the new AAPM&R Graduate Medical Education (GME) Committee to provide the strategic guidance and infrastructure to address GME issues and concerns that are critical to the future advancement of the specialty. Learn more about serving on this committee and send us your application.

Your Academy encourages you to send us your recommendations for these AAPM&R Board of Governors elected positions. Nominations are due by 11:59 pm (CT) on February 28, 2017.

Interested in learning more about setting your practice up for success, but not quite sure what resources to utilize? Depend on your Academy—we’re here to provide resources to help you run, transition and diversify your practice. Take advantage of the following tools on mē^®:

• How to Diversify Your Practice
• Payer Contracts: Assessment, Negotiations, and Deal Breakers
• Focusing on the Health of Your Practice Bundle, which includes:
  • Running a Cash Practice
  • VBP, MIPS, APMs, and ACOs—Where Do Physiatrists Fit?
  • The New Health Care
    

Do you utilize AAPM&R’s Choosing Wisely^® list in your practice? If yes, we want to hear from you! We are looking for a Choosing Wisely^® Champion. The Choosing Wisely^® Champions program launched in March 2016 to recognize clinicians who are leading efforts to reduce overuse and waste in medicine. The program was created to acknowledge the work of those dedicated to providing appropriate care and encourage others to follow their lead. Champions are selected by participating societies and include clinicians or teams of clinicians whose work in their specialty represents significant contributions to advancing the goals of the campaign. Please email healthpolicy@aapmr.org if you would like more information.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has unveiled new Compare websites for both Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities (IRFs) and Long-Term Care Hospitals (LTCHs). Under the Affordable Care Act, both IRFs and LTCHs are required to report quality data to CMS on a number of quality measures and health outcomes. These new tools take this data and put it into a format that can be used more readily by the public to get a snapshot of the quality of care each hospital provides. Learn more.

The Senate voted 94-5 on Wednesday, December 7 to approve the 21st Century Cures Act. The 21^st Century Cures Act, a $6.3 billion landmark piece of legislation that will accelerate the discovery, development, and delivery of new cures and treatments and provide new funding for the National Institutes of Health and Food and Drug Administration, was signed into law by President Obama on Tuesday, December 13. Learn more.

If you serve patients requiring Lower Limb Prosthesis (LLP), or have expertise in this area, please consider responding to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) proposed key questions for systematic review.

The Evidence-Based Practice Center (EPC) Program at AHRQ is reviewing evidence that defines practices, evaluates the association between assessment techniques, tools and functional measures used in the care of beneficiaries who require LLP, and the associations between LLP (components) and patient-centered outcomes, including patient expectations regarding expectations, satisfaction with accessing LLPs, and use (or nonuse) of the prostheses.

Your input is crucial, as this review has the potential to impact future Local Coverage Determinations (LCDs) for Lower Limb Prosthesis. Please respond to the proposed key questions by December 20, 2016.

The Academy, along with the American Physical Therapy Association, American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine, Brain Injury Association of America, Association of Rehabilitation Nurses, American Music Therapy Association, United Spinal Association, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Disability and Rehabilitation Research Coalition, and the American Occupation Therapy Association, Inc., sponsored a briefing for the NIH Research Plan on Rehabilitation on Thursday, December 8. Learn more.

For those physicians who are using an eClinicalWorks (eCW) EHR in their practice, an announcement was sent out by eCW regarding the need to update your EHRs as a matter of patient safety. Just like the software you use on your personal computers or mobile devices, occasionally EHR updates are required. Learn more.

• Marlis Gonzalez-Fernandez, MD, PhD, an AAPM&R Evidence Committee member, testified on December 9 on the applicability of H-CAHPS Pain Measures on behalf of the Academy during the National Quality Forum (NQF) Measure Applications Partnership (MAP) Hospital Workgroup Meeting. Read more.

Do you have a newsworthy story to share with your peers? Send us an email at: pressinquiries@aapmr.org.