ACMEGS

Mission

The American Clinical Magnetoencephalography Society, Inc. (ACMEGS) was founded as a non-profit corporation in Spring 2006 in Massachusetts by clinicians using magnetoencephalography for patient care.  We currently are a 501c(6) organization that allows the society to educate private and United States government policymakers about reimbursement issues and appropriate patient care standards. ACMEGS complements, other national and international organizations, such as the International Society for the Advancement of Clinical MEG.

News

Jan, 2009: Michael Funke new president of ACMEGS.

Dec 2008: New CMS MEG Reimburement Rates for 2009

July 2008: CMS Proposes 2009 Changes in MEG Reimbursement

July 2008: Please RENEW your membership for 2008. Thank you!

August 2008: Michael Longacre accepts the position of Executive Director of ACMEGS

November, 2008: New Membership Fee Structure

New Events

Clinical and Economic Workshop, Spring 2009

May 15, 2009

AMERICAN CLINICAL MEG SOCIETY

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, UT 84132

The organizing team at the University of Utah welcomes you!

Details and Reminders:

Registration:
There is no official registration form. Please RSVP for the meeting by email to michael.funke@hsc.utah.edu ASAP! It is important for the organizing team to know as soon as possible how many members will be in attendance. The registration fee of $150.00 includes the meals provided on Friday and the printed meeting materials.

Please send a $150.00 check made payable to ACMEGS by April 14 to the following address:

Clinical Neurosciences Center
University of Utah
Attention: Yvette Robinson
175 N Medical Drive E Bldg 550 5th FL
Salt Lake City, UT 84132

Accommodations:
A block of rooms at the University of Utah Guest House http://www.universityguesthouse.com has been reserved for our group under the name ACMEGS. The single king room rate is $89.00 from May 14-16, 2009. Please make a room reservation by April 14, 2009 by calling 1-888-416-4075. After April 14, all reservations will be on a space and rate available basis. Any special arrangements must be communicated in writing no later than 14 days prior to our group's arrival to yvette.robinson@hsc.utah.edu.

Transportation:
Shuttle transportation will be provided our group from the U of U Guest House to the Clinical Neurosciences Center. You will be responsible for your own transportation to and from the airport and the U of U Guest House (which is only 11 miles or 20 minutes by car). I recommend using Express Shuttle 1-800-397-0773 which is $12.00 one-way. They require a reservation 24-hours in advance. Another option is City Cab 1-800-363-5550 which is approximately $25.00 one-way.

Please feel free to contact michael.funke@hsc.utah.edu or 801-585-6840.

Tentative Agenda

Friday May 15, 2009

  8:30 am              Arrival / Breakfast Reception (Provided)

  9:30 am              ACMEGS Presidential Address (Michael Funke)

  9:40 am              Update Clinical Research (Steven Stufflebeam)

• Jeffrey Lewine: Beyond presurgical mapping and epilepsy – What do we need to do to develop new, reimbursable clinical applications
• Syalvin Baillat, Data, methods, software, and reports: The kitchen sink of an MEG program

  10:40 am             ACMEGS Practice Guidelines Committee - Reports (Anto Bagic)

• Epilepsy  (Anto Bagic)
• Language  (Susan Bowyer)
• Evoked Fields Minus Language  (Richard Burgess)

  12:15 pm            Lunch / ACMEGS Photo shooting

  1:45 pm              Business Meeting  (Michael Funke )

• Financial Report (Anto Bagic)
• Mission Statement (Michael Funke)
• Position Statement (Anto Bagic)
• Webpage (PR group, deadline June 15, 2009)
• Update Annual Meeting 2010 (Michael Funke)

 

  2:45 pm              Coffee Break

  3:00 pm              Overcoming Coverage Denials & Strategies to Maximize Reimbursement (Andy Dean/Michael Longacre)

• Presentation (Andy Dean)
• Comprehensive Appeals Documentation (Charmaine Keck)
• [All members will be approached prior to the meeting to contribute information regarding insurance policies and appeals strategies, compiled into useful document]

4:15 am                MEG Economic Environment  (Michael Longacre)

• Progress on the Medicare Project 2009 (Michael Longacre)
• Dialogue with National Payers (Michael Longacre)
• Update on AAN activities (Greg Barkley)
• Discussion of the new projects and priorities

6:00 pm              John-Gates-Lecture 2009 and Dinner at the Commanders House

                                          Dr. Robert Knowlton, M.D.

PRIOR MEETINGS

Thank you all members who make our Annual Meeting a great success:

Clinical and Economic Workshop, Fall 2008

AMERICAN CLINICAL MEG SOCIETY

Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
Massachusetts General Hospital
Building 149, 13th Street

Charlestown, MA

6 - 7 November 2008 

Agenda:

Presidential Address 15 minutes
  • Welcome
  • Current Membership
  • Vision for 2008/9 and beyond
      -New Executive Director
      -ACMEGS task-force groups and new board members

Clinical Research (Moderated by Steven Stufflebeam)
  • Scientific Lecture: Jeffery Lewine, Ph.D. Writing Clinical MEG Papers to Evaluate Outcomes
  • New Scientific Applications of MEG:  ISACM 2009, Athens Annoucement

Lunch 60 minutes

Business Meeting (Moderator: Michael Funke)
    • ACMEGS Mission& Benefit Statements
    • Discuss Membership Fee Structure Possibiliites
    • Location and Topics for Annual Meeting, 2009

Towards Clinical Standards and Certification (Moderator Anto Bagic)
   • Necessity, Process, Issues and Outlook 60 minutes
   • Forming of ACMEG task-force groups 30 minutes

Dinner ~6pm

John-Gates-Lecture: Speaker: Robert Knowlton, M.D.

MEG Economics – Bootcamp 2008 (Moderated: Michael Longacre)
   • Medicare Update 2009 15 minutes
   • National MEG Services Analysis 15 minutes
   • Private Reimbursement Strategies Roundtable 60 minutes
   • ACMEGS Evaluation Projects 45 minutes
Open Discussion

Adjourn Noon

Prior Meetings

We wish to thank all the participants who made this a very successful and useful conference!  A list of the names of participants will follow shortly.

The ACMEGS is proud to annouce:

Clinical and Economic Workshop, Summer 2007

AMERICAN CLINICAL MEG SOCIETY

University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

12 - 13 July 2007   Pittsburgh, PA

Meeting Address

BST South - S123 – on the 1st Floor
3500 Terrace Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

MAP of conference location

Clinical MEG FInance Workshop July 12, 13 open to all ACMEG Members in Pittsburgh, PA.  Please contact Anto Bagic for information about the meeting site.  Michael Funke for more information about the agenda.  Please check back to this website for updated information, including the agenda of the meeting.

Hotel space will be available for a reduced rate across the street from the Workshop site:

Wyndham Hotel,

3454 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Reservations at: 412-683-2040, Ask for Reservations

Date: July 11, 12, 13. Group: “American Clinical MEG Society”

(Rooms: $99 + Taxes; Rooms will be held until June 19)

Tentative Agenda:

July 12

9:00 am – 10:30 am

Arrival / Breakfast Reception (Provided)

10:30-10:50

I. ACMEGS Presidential Address

1. Welcome

2. Current Membership

3. Plans for 2007 and beyond

11 am-12:15pm

II. Clinical Review of Existing Studies             

(Moderator: Jeff Lewine)

1. Existing Clinical Studies

2. What studies are Needed

3. Improving Grants for Clinical MEG

Roundtable:  What Future Directions Steps Should MEG Community Pursue?

12:15 - 1:30 pm Lunch (Provided)

Open discussion about goals/priorities for the Society for 2007 and 2008

1:30 – 4:30 pm

III. Economics

A. Introduction and Prospective (Greg Barkley)

Historical Prospective of MEG Finances

Review of proper coding: Important items for billing personnel

CPT and REVENUE CODES    

MEDICAID (short overview of the federal regulations)       

B. Federal Insurance Carriers (Moderator: David Weil)

MEDICARE

Trends in utilization (importance of utilization statistics for Medicare)

Medicare methodology for determining reimbursement

MEDICARE: Recommendations and Important considerations for the future

TRICARE (short overview)

C. Open Discussion

Dinner (Provided) 5 pm - late

July 13

Morning 8-9am Breakfast (Provided)

9 am - 11:45 am

C. Commercial Insurance Carriers  (Moderator: Michael Longacre)

MEG reimbursement in the private sector

Reimbursement Boot Camp - Round table discussion

Noon-1pm:  Lunch (Provided)

1pm Meeting Adjurn

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Prior ACMEGS Events

Founded April 25, 2006 as a non-profit corportation in the United States

New Members enrolled at BioMag 2006 and AES 2006

First Annual Membership Meeting: August 25 at 5pm, Biomag 2006, Vancouver, Canada

Second Annual Business Meeting: AES Philadelphia, PA

New Discussion Group For ACMEGS Members in March, 2007