We are honored to be part of the NERVES community. The leadership and members of NERVES are incredibly collaborative and are committed to improving the lives of neurosurgeons, neurologists, and the patients they see. We share a similar mission and love working with people who strive for excellence in everything they do. Working with everyone at NERVES and helping them accomplish their goals helps us grow and thrive.
In an effort to enhance connection within the association, we are spotlighting different members of NERVES. In this issue of the NERVES Newsletter, we are featuring Erica Gonzalez, administrative director for the Texas Brain & Spine Center.
How long have you been a NERVES member?
I have been a member for about a year and half. I went to my first NERVES conference last year and loved every minute of it. I learned so much and I am looking forward to the one in April.
How long have you been in your current position? How did you get there?
I have been in this role since July 2021 but I have been with TBSI since 2008. I started out as a receptionist, then moved into the surgery scheduling role, eventually into an Administrative Assistant role, office manager and now, I am the Admin Director.
By Avant-guard Health
The results of the 2022 Single-Level PLIF/TLIF Performance Benchmark are complete. The summary below is based on nation-wide stats from more than 800 procedures coded as DRG 455/460 for inpatient cases or CPT 22630/22632 for outpatient cases.
Dear NERVES Members:
I’m getting excited about our upcoming Annual Meeting on April 19-21 in Marina del Rey, California (outside of Los Angeles). Please take a minute to register now and remember to book your hotel through the link provided by NERVES. We have a great speaker line-up thanks to the committee members who serve on the Annual Meeting Planning Committee. We also have wonderful, caring vendors coming to California to support us as well.
Help us welcome our new members to NERVES! The Regional Directors representing the North/Midwest, Northeast, Southeast, Southwest Regions would like to personally welcome you to our great professional organization. We are excited you have decided to join us and look forward to getting to know you!
Southwest
By Craig Parker, JD, CPA and CEO, Guideway Care
Neurology and neurosurgery administrators and providers are increasingly focused on social determinants of health (SDoH) and how they impact access, compliance with treatment plans and other health equity/social determinants for neuro patients. Given the growing focus on finding and addressing non-clinical patient issues from outside the clinical environment which can impact care, executives responsible and accountable for the operational and financial performance of neurology practice groups, surgery centers or other related care settings increasingly seek to identify and implement programs that specifically address these concerns.
Tamara Johnson, BSN, RN, CPHRM, RHIA
Program Director, Clinical Risk Management & Patient Safety—Curi Advisory
Burnout has become far too common among medical professionals. A recent claims case study from Curi outlines risk management recommendations for combatting this rapidly growing trend in healthcare.
In September, NERVES Board of Directors approved updated bylaws. The updates to the bylaws will allow for board discretion to permit inactive members to continue to hold society positions for the benefit of the society. Additionally, it will allow for Regional Directors to keep their position for their reminder of their term if they move to a different region during their term.
If you have questions or concerns about the current bylaws or have a governance question, please email us at [email protected].
Committee Members: Carrie Bennett, Antoine Curtis, Galyn Damiani, Kelly Hornbacher, M.J. Orellano (chair), Alex Palleschi, Jim Shea, Stacey Snodgrass, Kathy Tobin (past chair), Mark Vorherr, Melissa Klingberg (NERVES).
The Education Committee is responsible for creating educational opportunities for NERVES members throughout the year. The committee has a great balance of private practice, hospital-based practices, and academic practice to represent our membership on our committee.
I would like to start off by saying that being the NERVES Liaison to the Congress of State Neurosurgical Societies (CSNS) has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my time in NERVES. I have had the opportunity to interact with both professionals and physicians from across the practice spectrum. For those who don’t know much or anything about the CSNS it is the grassroots socio-economic organization that sits between the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress of Neurological Surgery (CNS). It is made up of various appointees and volunteers from all practice venues and state and regional neurosurgery societies. It has a Chair, currently Dr. Joseph S. Cheng, that serves a two-year term as well as various other officers. There are also several committees that have a Chair like the Practice Committee and the Medico-Legal Committee, among others. It also offers great exposure for residents. The CSNS take around 12 Socio -Economic Resident Fellows each year that get to learn many aspects of practice that they get little or no exposure to during their six to seven years of training in an academic program. The CSNS meets in-person at both annual meetings of its parent organizations and all neurosurgeons are welcome to attend and vote on the various resolutions that are put forward during the meeting. The CSNS also meets in the Summer and Winter either in-person or through a video to keep things moving forward between the annual meetings.
At the CNS meeting in San Francisco in October, several resolutions were put forward for consideration, of which only a few were adopted and are moving forward. Some of the following resolutions will be moving forward during the next year:
State “Surprise Bill” Laws or the Federal No Surprises Act—Which Law Applies When?
By Thomas LaGreca, Esq., Callagy Law
In September, NERVES Board of Directors approved updated bylaws. The updates to the bylaws will allow for board discretion to permit inactive members to continue to hold society positions for the benefit of the society. Additionally, it will allow for Regional Directors to keep their position for their reminder of their term if they move to a different region during their term.
If you have questions or concerns about the current bylaws or have a governance question, please email us at [email protected].
Hello NERVES Members,
Starting your recruitment on the right foot is only half of the recruitment equation. Once you’ve identified your top candidates, these four tips will help you to have your new hire signing on the dotted line!
Name, Title, Employer: Cynthia Voorhees MSN, RNFA, ACNP-BC. CFO of TNSPINE PLLC.
How long have you been a NERVES member: I am new. Not even a year and I have enjoyed it very much.
| Region | Name | Title | Organization | Location |
| North/Midwest | Meghan Glabach | Chief Department Administrator | University of Michigan | Ann Arbor, MI |
| North/Midwest | Erin Krieger | Chief Operating Officer | Neurosurgery of St. Louis | St. Louis, MO |
| North/Midwest | Rebecca Ruegg Cowan | Chief Operating Officer | Goodman Campbell Brain and Spine | Carmel, IN |
| Southeast | Amy Bassett | Director of Operations | Neurosurgical Consultants, LLP | Owensboro, KY |
| Southeast | Jennifer Patterson | Director of Neuroscience Operations | CHI Memorial Stroke & Neuroscience Center | Chattanooga, TN |
| Southeast | Cathy Rosenberg | AVP Neurosurgery and Orthopaedics | University of Miami Hospitals and Clinics UHealth Tower | Miami, FL |
| Southwest | Terri Hicks | President & CEO | The Spine Hospital of Louisiana | Baton Rouge, LA |
| Southwest | Wyatt Howell | Chief Operating Officer | Center for Neurosciences | Tucson, AZ |
| Southwest | Kristin Zieles | Program Manager | OU Health Neurosurgery | Oklahoma City, OK |
Curi was proud to be a platinum-level sponsor of the 2022 NERVES Conference in Philadelphia. It was wonderful to see NERVES members and to share how Curi’s advisory, capital, and insurance offerings are delivering valued advice that’s time-tested and trusted for practices and practice leaders across the country.
We look forward to keeping in touch with the neurosurgery groups that make up the NERVES membership and are excited to partner with many of you to understand how we can continue to support you and your practices in medicine, business, and life.
Dear NERVES Members:
I am so pleased to report that our first Building the Best: The Future of Spine Care & the Development of Centers of Excellence conference on September 22-23 in Chicago was phenomenal! Everyone who attended learned detailed nuts and bolts information about spine center and ERAS planning, operations, multidisciplinary team approaches, marketing, cost measurement, insurer perspectives, and the future of spine care. We all returned to our workplaces with a tremendous amount of new information and ideas that will improve spine care for patients across the country. Hats off to the NERVES members who planned this event and the exhibitors and speakers who supported it. It was a true success story!
Author, Nicola Hawkinson with SpineSearch
Our recent article "WHAT MAKES A CENTER OF EXCELLENCE..., EXCELLENT?" certainly caught the attention of many readers, and your questions have been well…, “excellent.”
The membership committee has expanded the committee by six members. We are working on a plan to improve the retention and engagement of the members by the following :
We are looking for permission from the board to develop the following:
