The American Academy of Neurology's quality improvement efforts
A fine work in progress
Citation Manager Formats
Make Comment
See Comments

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
The American Academy of Neurology (AAN) has a long history of leadership in using principles of evidence-based medicine (EBM) to improve outcomes for our neurologic patients. Starting in 1990, concomitant with the publication of an Institute of Medicine call for development of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines (CPGs),1 the AAN began developing CPGs. This body of work has resulted in the publication of 90 CPGs. The second stage of evolution in EBM to practice efforts led, beginning in 2010, to the AAN’s development of tools to help us measure processes and outcomes associated with high-quality care: clinical quality measures. Many quality measures are derived from high-quality CPGs. This body of work now encompasses 15 diseases and 139 quality measures.2 The third stage of the AAN EBM/quality effort led to the rollout in 2016 of the Axon Registry®,3 a prospective data collection tool that systematically collects and aggregates data for review and analysis. The data, largely reflective of the quality measures, are captured in an automated procedure by the electronic health record (EHR) system of the clinic/institution. The essential function of the reporting function of the registry is “to inform neurologists regarding the quality of their care and provide them with a tool to establish not only performance baselines but progress toward improved quality of care.”3 Patel et al.4 recently reported 2 case studies regarding the influence of the Axon Registry on actual practice. These types of studies will be critical in determining the practicalities of this rapidly evolving field for neurologic practices. Additional uses of the Axon Registry will be to contribute to Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services requirements for payment linked to practice improvement and to satisfy Maintenance of Certification requirements by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.
Footnotes
Go to Neurology.org/N for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the editorial.
See page 847
- © 2019 American Academy of Neurology
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
For assistance, please contact:
AAN Members (800) 879-1960 or (612) 928-6000 (International)
Non-AAN Member subscribers (800) 638-3030 or (301) 223-2300 option 3, select 1 (international)
Sign Up
Information on how to subscribe to Neurology and Neurology: Clinical Practice can be found here
Purchase
Individual access to articles is available through the Add to Cart option on the article page. Access for 1 day (from the computer you are currently using) is US$ 39.00. Pay-per-view content is for the use of the payee only, and content may not be further distributed by print or electronic means. The payee may view, download, and/or print the article for his/her personal, scholarly, research, and educational use. Distributing copies (electronic or otherwise) of the article is not allowed.
Disputes & Debates: Rapid online correspondence
NOTE: All authors' disclosures must be entered and current in our database before comments can be posted. Enter and update disclosures at http://submit.neurology.org. Exception: replies to comments concerning an article you originally authored do not require updated disclosures.
- Stay timely. Submit only on articles published within the last 8 weeks.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- 200 words maximum.
- 5 references maximum. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- 5 authors maximum. Exception: replies can include all original authors of the article.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.