PRACTICE COMMITTEE

APSA Committees carry out a number of different critical functions for the association. 

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The APSA Practice Committee exists to monitor the practice of pediatric surgery in North America, report trends in practice patterns, and offer guidance to APSA members for improvements and optimization of care delivery to include work to identify disparities of delivering care in underserved parts of North America. This committee will analyze various trends in the organization and delivery of pediatric surgical care, as well as changes in private/government reimbursement methodologies and other financial factors which influence the viability of pediatric surgical practices, in order to ensure the successful long-term delivery of high quality surgical care to our patients.

In order to accomplish this, the APSA Practice Committee will:

• Work to assure adequate representation and participation of APSA on national committees regarding reimbursement issues, including the RUC (Resource Based-Relative Value Scale Update Committee) and the CPT Advisory Committee.
• Offer education and assistance to the membership about issues involving billing, coding, office/practice management, and hospital contracting.
• Encourage integration of varied pediatric surgery practice models into APSA, including academic, traditional “private practice,” hospital-employed, multispecialty group practice, armed forces, locum tenens, and others.
• Work with the APSA Workforce Committee including work to assess regional access to high quality pediatric surgical care to analyze the supply and demand of Pediatric Surgeons and the impact they may have on care.
• Develop practice documents, including management guidelines, which may enable members to interact more successfully with patients, families, colleagues, and payers, through the use of standardized preoperative workups and indications for surgery.

Our PedSurgResource Page in the Pediatric Surgery Library contains links and information to many practice-specific topics such as billing and coding, compensation and reimbursement, and efficiency/cost-effectiveness in pediatric surgery.

Current Projects (2024):

1) Guidance on Locum Tenens and Pediatric Surgery https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022346824002987?dgcid=rss_sd_all

2) Coding & Reimbursement Subcommittee (led by APSA Advisor to the “RUC”, Rich Weiss)

3) Representation to the APSA PedSurgSAVE Taskforce (“Seeking Alternative Versions of Employment”)

As of 2024, the Practice Committee is looking for new projects that will result in adding value for the entirety of APSA membership.

Do you have questions for the Practice Committee? Email [email protected], include “Practice Committee” in the title or heading.