The ASIPP 9th Annual Meeting and the SIPMS 2nd Annual Meeting will be held on June 23-27 in Washington, DC. Along with the Annual Meetings, plan to attend the Legislative Session and take part in the Capitol Hill visits. This year's event promises to be informative and also memorable, with the second day of our legislative session taking place on Capitol Hill.

The annual meeting will convene on day-two of the legislative session in the Russell Room on Capitol Hill where we will be honored with the presence of several congressional speakers. We encourage you to sign up for and participate in the Capitol Hill visits which will take place on June 27- 28. This is your opportunity to make your voice heard! But please register early to assure your visit with your state's representative. We will make every effort to schedule your personal request but to increase the likelihood of your visit; we strongly encourage you to register early.

Interventional pain management is facing many grave issues in the upcoming year so we urge you to take this rare opportunity to express your concerns face-to- face with your elected officials. Remember there is great strength in numbers. Join us on Capitol Hill and let's make it the largest ASIPP group ever!

See Brochure

Meetings

The online brochure and online registration is still available for the May Interventional Techniques Review Course and Comprehensive Interventional Cadaver Workshop. Although spots still remain you should register soon to assure your place in the course.

Please make note that ASIPP's guaranteed room block ends tomorrow--all rooms will be released after 5 p.m. tomorrow. We encourage all who have registered or plan to register for the course to book their rooms by the deadline.

This course is planned as a CME activity which will provide an in-depth review of interventional techniques and/or prepare physicians seeking board certification.

Online registration.

ASIPP Meetings

In addition to Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and David Vitter (R- LA) who took the lead on the initiative to stop the ASC cuts by urging CMS to re-evaluate the proposed rule's payment formula, we are pleased to report an additonal senator has sent a letter of support - Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY). But ASIPP members should continue to contact the members of the Senate to support the CMS reevaluation of the pending ASC cuts.Our goal is to convince the senators from each state to join in this effort and also send a letter to CMS but many states are lagging in their effort to send letters.

If Congress does not act, these proposed major changes to the Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) payment system, currently under review by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will have devastating effects on interventional pain management and ultimately hurt patient access.

As in the our earlier efforts to contact all the Representatives in the House, we have made this simple for you. The following link will take you to the Capwiz site where you can effortlessly e-mail your senators with this important message. http://www.asipp.org/cms-asc/

If you prefer, you can send the letter on your personal or business letterhead. I urge you to do this as soon as possible and to encourage your colleagues to join in the effort. Additionally, we urge you to have your patients sign the letter and support this effort as well.

• Identify patients' state and Senators
• Customize and print off copies of the sample letter (one for both Senators)
• As your patients sign out, ask them to fill out and sign the bottom of the form
• Using the patient Capwiz link assign a staff member to submit the patients' letters
• Also you can print off the ASC Alert page and post it in your office to provide Web site information

Read Sen. Bunning's Letter

ASC Alert

A House Bill that defines scope of practice for CRNAs and would authorize them to perform interventional procedures has been proposed to go before the House.The Bill contains language that is counter to the Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners' statement which prohibits physician from prescribing, delegating or supervising a CRNA with respect to such procedures.

The LA state session is scheduled to resume on April 30.

HB684

In light of recent controversy surrounding payments for Medicare Part B single source drugs and biologicals, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS or the Agency) announced on Feb. 20, 2007 that it is performing a review to ensure that separate payments are made for single source drugs and biologicals as mandated by Section 1847 of the Social Security Act. (Sidley Austin, LLP March 1, 2007)

Subject to limited number of exceptions, its own average sales price (ASP). whereas it must reimburse for a multiple source drug based on the ASP for all drugs included within the same multiple source drug billing and payment.

Health Care Industry Update

Ambulatory surgery centers compete for business, but so do the four organizations that accredit them. As the number of ASCs and office-based surgery centers grows, a delicate balance of competition and cooperation exists between the accrediting bodies competing for the estimated 40,000 centers. (modernphysician.com - Jay Greene, April 16, 2007)

This is because the accreditation bodies have plenty of opportunities for growth, as only an estimated 10% of outpatient surgery facilities are accredited, according to executives of the accreditation organizations.

"We are competing in a marketplace where there is choice between the products we offer," says Jeff Pearcy, executive director of the American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities, Gurnee, Ill. The AAAASF accredits 1,200 ASCs and office-based surgery centers, a 50% increase since 2001. "There are so many unaccredited (facilities) out there we don't want to take business away from anyone."

This is the first large-scale study to assess whether addiction to opioid painkillers, such as Vicodin and OxyContin, can effectively be treated with drug treatments currently used for heroin addiction.

The study is part of a national effort involving 11 clinical research centers to evaluate such therapies. Known as the Prescription Opiate Addiction Treatment Study, or POATS, it is being led by the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network, under the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA). UCSF is the only study site in Northern California.

The research is in response to the growing national problem of prescription drug abuse that has resulted in higher emergency room admissions and potentially devastating impacts on millions of Americans and their families, according to Stephen Dominy, MD, director of the Division of Substance Abuse and Addiction Medicine at San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center, who is co-leading the UCSF portion of the study. "The abuse of prescription opiates has become a very serious problem in our society, but until now, there have been no large-scale studies to evaluate how to treat those addictions," Dominy said. "This study hopes to assess whether current opiate dependence therapies are effective, as well as the role of counseling in treatment outcomes."

News-Medical.Net

Washington -- The federal government has given the health care industry up to a year-long reprieve in adopting a new standard identification system for use on electronic claims. But that doesn't necessarily let doctors off the hook when it comes to obtaining and using the new ID numbers. (amednews.com - April 23/30)

Under a mandate from Congress, the Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services established May 23 as the deadline for physicians and other medical professionals to apply for and start using a unique National Provider Identifier on all electronic claims. The 10-digit NPI, designed to replace all other identifiers, is required for anyone who files claims electronically with Medicare or any other payer. This applies even if the physician uses an outside firm that files electronically on his or her behalf.

CMS

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