Organized neurosurgery believes that prospective, systematic tracking of practice patterns and patient outcomes will allow surgeons and other providers from multiple specialties to improve the quality, efficiency and, ultimately, the value of care. In support of this mission, the AANS, in cooperation with a broad coalition of other neurosurgical societies including the CNS, the SNS and the ABNS, created the NPA in 2008.

The NPA coordinates a variety of national projects involving the acquisition, analysis and reporting of clinical data from health care practices. The NPA’s registries and related studies are designed to meet the quality improvement and research needs of physicians and allied health care professionals, national organizations, health care plans, the biomedical industry and government agencies. Clinical data registries have become valuable tools to support evidence development, performance assessment, comparative effectiveness studies and adoption of new treatments into routine clinical practice.

The NPA registries cover a wide array of neurosurgical issues, including care for patients undergoing various spine, neurovascular and stereotactic radiosurgery procedures. The NPA’s Quality Outcomes Database (QOD) houses the largest spine registry in the U.S. with over 100 participating practices and 65,000 patients. Efforts are underway to develop additional registries for patients with tumors and Parkinson’s disease.

Governance Structure

The NPA was incorporated as a 501(c)(6) organization governed by a board of directors with voting representatives from the AANS, CNS, SNS, ABNS and the AANS/CNS Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves. The board also includes the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Neurosurgery and the chair of the Neurosurgery Research & Education Foundation (NREF). The board is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the NPA.

Major Initiatives and Alliances

The NPA focuses its clinical registries on promoting the quality of patient care and providing clinicians with the means to assess risk-adjusted measures of the value and durability of treatment responses. The NPA’s registry programs assist in the understanding of patient perspectives on clinical outcomes and patient experiences of care by providing the ability to compare the relative effectiveness of various therapeutic interventions.