Mon, 02/08/2021 - 11:57
By Debra J. Stultz M.D.
This year the Town Hall meeting for the Clinical TMS Society was virtual, but that did not limit the enthusiasm with which information was presented. Dr. Randy Pardell, as the Vice President and President-elect of our society, moderated the meeting, which was packed with valuable information and reports from our various committees. The Membership, Executive, and Outreach committees collaborated to arrange this meeting so that all of our members could be aware of the exciting developments going on in the TMS Society. Ashleigh Servadio, as CTMSS Executive Director, discussed navigating the member dashboard, returning to previous Grand Round Webinars and obtaining CME, and how to locate documents such as essential insurance documents. This meeting is currently available on the webpage by going to the "Events" tab at the top of the webpage and then clicking on "Past Events." This article will summarize information from each committee given during the meeting and provide direction on how to access the data on our webpage.
Annual Meeting
Johnny O'Reardon, MD as committee co-chair for the annual meeting, reminded us of the upcoming 9th Annual meeting in West Palm Beach June 10 – 12, with the PULSES course starting June 9th. He announced plans for the lectures as follows:
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- "Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy for Treatment-Resistant Depression (SAINT-TRD)" by Nolan Williams MD
- "Current Controversies in TMS Clinical Practice" discussing off-label issues such as maintenance, pregnancy, adolescent, and bipolar TMS will be moderated by Johnny O'Reardon MD, Linda Carpenter MD, Geoff Grammer MD, and Andy Leuchter MD.
- "The Evolving Evidence Base for TMS in Bipolar" will be presented by Scott Aaronson MD.
- "Recent Advances in TMS for Adolescent and Young Adults" will be presented by Dr. Paul Croarkin DO,
- "Maintenance Therapy Approaches for MDD Patients who Responded to TMS" will be presented by Dr. Linda Carpenter
- "Brain Stimulation Interventions for Mood Disorders: Innovations and Future Directions" will be presented by Dr. Harold Sackeim
- "Providing Esketamine Nasal Spray in a TMS clinic" will be presented by Dr. David Dunner MD.
Education Committee
Suzanne Kerns, MD as co-chair for the Education Committee, reported on available training for medical students and residents with the Dr. Mark George lecture, which is located on the webpage by going to the tab at the top of the page labeled "Resources" and then clicking below on "Residents & Medical Students." There is also a CTMSS Education slide deck available for member presentations with permission. There is a "CTMSS On-Demand: An Introduction to TMS Course" providing 4 hours of CME presented by Ian Cook, MD, Saydra Wilson, MD, Michelle Cochran, MD, and Rebecca Allen MD, with info on the history of TMS, indications for TMS, efficacy, a review of the significant scientific literature, understanding of practical office implementations, and a review of the evidence for conditions other than depression. The cost is $150 for members and $300 for non-members. This course can be found by clicking on "Events" at the top of the webpage and clicking the tap marked "On-Demand Webinars". This course is available until March.
The Education Committee is actively involved in presenting 2 – 3 PULSES courses per year both in the United States and Internationally. Previous PULSES courses have been in London, San Francisco, Orlando, and Las Vegas. The PULSES course is a comprehensive review of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation with both a hands-on exposure to the various TMS devices and educational lectures that could benefit both the new and experienced TMS providers with CME available. There is an upcoming PULSES course planned before our annual meeting in June in West Palm Beach, and another one is being planned for Nashville this fall. There are scholarships for students available on a limited basis.
Research Committee
Martha Koo MD, as Co-Chair of the Research Committee, reported their goals are to: review current research and promote future research; launch the special interests affinity groups; encourage members to gather; share and pool clinical outcome data; educate clinicians about proper research methodology, and coordinate the research posters at the CTMSS annual meeting. As the annual meeting was virtual this year, they created the "2020 POSTER SESSION: A VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE" with 58 Authors/Posters. You may find a summary of the research data presented in the TMS Today e-blast released in your e-mail dated November 9, 2020. The Grand Rounds Webinar that the research committee helped create was called "Pearls and Pitfalls for Launching into Clinical Research" and was presented by Andrew Kozel, MD, Andrew Leuchter, MD, Paul Croarkin, DO, Saydra Wilson MD, and Angela Phillips, LICSW, Ph.D. It is available for review by logging into your member page, going to the left-hand side, clicking on "Grand Round Webinars", and locating the lecture. This course is available for CME and can be purchased even if you initially did not sign up for it. This committee has created a Web application for pooled data collections and outcome reports and plans to poll society members to identify those interested in research and pooled data. The research committee is also helping to launch various affinity groups to include:
TMS & Addiction – Chair: Mohammed Fayek, MD
TMS & Sleep Disorders – Chair: Debra Stultz, MD
TMS & Autism – Chairs: Marco Marcolin, MD, Bianca Bellini, MD, and Manuel Cassanova MD
TMS and Data Collection – Chairs: Gonzalo Laje, MD, Angela Phillips, PhD, LICSW, and Martha Koo, MD
If you are interested in joining one of the above groups, please contact the society and/or reach out to one of the chair members listed above.
Outreach Committee
Mo Abdelghani, MBBCh, MSc, MRCPsych as Co-Chair of the Outreach Committee reported their group has 18 members from multiple countries, including the UK, Brazil, and Malta. They are currently working on producing the Grand Rounds each month, developing the Web Site, creating a presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and supporting the Newsletter/TMS Today. Their goal is to increase knowledge for patients and the general population about TMS and provide education to its members with the newsletter contributions. They are also working to improve the TMS presence in other society meetings. If you have not done so, please like and follow the CTMSS on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Clinical Standards Committee
Paul Croarkin, DO, co-chair of the Clinical Standards Committee, reported they are working on advancing knowledge of the PRISMA Criteria, Maintenance TMS, Late Responses with TMS, Theta Burst, Precision Medicine/Biomarkers, and Accelerated TMS Protocols. They are also working on developing a more encompassing edition of the Practice Guidelines.
Insurance Committee
Rebecca Allen, MD Co-Chair of the Insurance Committee provided valuable information on writing appeal letters to insurance companies. By going to your member dashboard, clicking on the left-hand side on Organizational Documents, and then going to committee resources, you will find they have created very helpful paragraphs that can be copied and put in your appeal letters. These documents include "TMS Coverage Writing Severity,” "TMS Reintroduction,” "Treatment Resistance Level Requirements for TMS Treatment," and "TMS Maintenance Treatment Paragraphs." There is also one on TMS Treatment and Physician Supervision. They are working on writing ideal coverage policies for insurance companies and have already met with Aetna, Cigna, and Optum. The Insurance Committee is developing positive relationships with insurance companies and identifying how we can move forward and advance TMS coverage. They have requested if you have any connections with anyone specifically to talk with at the various insurance companies to please let them know.
Membership Committee
Ken Goolsby, MD as co-chair of the Membership Committee reported we now have 660 members over many different countries, and hopefully, we will have our first member from Africa in the next month! He very sincerely reported on the benefits of being a member and the value of increased connection with other providers in our group. Their goals are to increase membership and to increase the value of membership to the current members.
Legal, Business, and Ethics Committee
Ian Cook, MD, as co-chair of the Legal, Business, and Ethics Committee, indicated they are continuing to work on the Bylaws, the Policy and Procedures, Conflicts of Interests Agreements, Trade Marketing/Branding, and the complaint process. You may locate the grievance policy and the Code of Ethics by clicking on the "About" tab at the top of the webpage, then clicking on the desired information.
APA ACROSS Representative
Michelle Cochran, MD, is the Education Committee co-chair, the co-chair of the Practice Guidelines Committee, and our first ever APA ACROSS Representative for the TMS society in the APA! Congratulations Michelle!!
**If anyone is inspired to join a committee after reviewing information from this meeting or would be interested in joining one of the affinity groups, please e-mail the society at info@clinicaltmssociety.org. Do not forget to like and follow the CTMSS on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram!
Disclaimer: This article represents the individual opinion and work of the author not the CTMSS.