Neurosurgery Executives’ Resource Value & Education Society (NERVES) is an organization composed of 300 neurosurgery administrators and practice managers from across the United States. Our members manage in various practice models from academics to private practice, and from hospital employed to multi-specialty groups. Our members help manage practices as small as one neurosurgeon to groups of more than 30 neurosurgeons. Many of the groups employ other specialties such as pain management and have ancillary services such as an ambulatory surgery center or a free standing imaging center to support the care of their patients and add ancillary revenues and value to their practice.

NERVES was established in 2002 under the recommendation and guidance of the Council of State Neurosurgical Societies. The organization was established for the purpose of supporting organized neurosurgery by providing resources for managers and administrators that did not exist or was provided by associations trying to serve all medical specialties. Mark Linskey, M.D. and Greg Przybylski, M.D. were the two neurosurgeons who helped shepherd NERVES in its early years and helped draft the organizations’ first set of by-laws.

NERVES holds an annual meeting the weekend prior to the American Association of Neurological Surgeons meeting in the Spring and continues the network and dialogue throughout the year with an active list-serve where members ask questions, share knowledge, and exchange information between the members.

One of NERVES greatest contributions to organized Neurosurgery, aside from the pooling of knowledge, is the annual Socio-Economic Survey which is in its ninth year of publication. The survey touches on every aspect of the business of neurosurgery from compensation to call pay. The NERVES survey has the distinction of having the largest number of neurosurgeons represented of any survey currently compiled with 415 in the most recent publication. The data gathered over the past nine years allows for trending and analysis that is not only interesting, but also helps answer questions and aids in future planning. From the most recent survey, trends show neurosurgeon total median compensation increased $93,000 over the past five years, however work Relative Value Units (wRVUs) are trending down. Over the same five year time period physician assistant total compensation increased $10,000.

Call pay is reported by daily rates across a statistical array for several categories including; Trauma vs. ED, Level I & Level 2, Metropolitan area, geographic region. The daily stipend for Level I trauma call has increased by 45% over the last 5 years while non-trauma call compensation has increased by 60% over that same time period. This data has proven important for many practices in negotiating call coverage agreements in markets across the country.

We hope the above information gives you some insight into NERVES’ mission and contributions to neurosurgery. We would also like to take this opportunity to ask you to encourage your manager or administrator to join NERVES and to participate in the NERVES annual survey. The more neurosurgeons represented, the stronger our survey and the more relevant our data. Participants complete the survey in the Fall. It is compiled by a third party accounting firm, and then results are delivered in early Spring. A free copy is given to all participants and those that do not participate may purchase a copy of the survey. For more information on NERVES, please visit our website at www.NERVESadmin.com.

Todd Barnes
NERVES Liaison to CSNS
[email protected]

Dan Bragg
NERVES President 2014-15
[email protected]