The online registration is still open for the May Interventional Techniques Review Course and Comprehensive Interventional Cadaver Workshop. Although there are a few spots still available, you should register soon to assure your place in the course.

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

Online registration

ASIPP Meetings

To date,  Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH), David Vitter (R-LA) and Jim Bunning (R-KY) have sent letters to CMS urging them to re- evaluate the pending ASC cuts. ASIPP members should continue to contact the members of the Senate to support the CMS reevaluation of the pending ASC cuts.  As many senators have only received fewer than 10 letters. This is not enough to show them the concern of their constituents.

State Totals (These totals represent letters sent through Capwiz only and do not reflect any letters sent through standard mail.)    

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/

Also please 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.

If you feel you are too busy to send letters, please consider that 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. It will also transfer to and effect office based procedures and physician fees.

ASC Alert

Trade groups for hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers agree that the payment system for ASCs needs to change, but don't see eye to eye on how that system should be implemented.

At issue is a final rule expected out this summer that would expand upon Medicare payment categories and types of procedures that could be performed at ASCs-barring certain exclusions-and to base payments for ASCs on the same methodology for hospital outpatient departments. (Modern Physician)

Full Article

The ASIPP 9th Annual Meeting and the SIPMS 2nd Annual Meeting will be held on June 23-27 in Washington, DC. This year we are offering a special Ethics Seminar. CMEs specially gained from ethic training is a requirement of the Board of Medical Licensures, as well as for acquiring hospital privileges.

A second important  highlight of the Annual Meeting is our  Legislative Session and Capitol Hill visits. We will again this year take our legislative session to Capitol Hill where we will be joined by several members of Congress. These speeches will be informative and very helpful in preparing for our Congressional visits. The meeting this year will convene in the Russell Room on Capitol Hill.

We encourage you to sign up for and participate in the Capitol Hill visits which will take place on June 26-27. This is your opportunity to make your voice heard!

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.

If you have never attended the Legislative Session before, we urge you to do so this year. Interventional pain management is facing many grave issues in the upcoming year so please take advantage of 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

Annual Meeting

FLASPER, the Florida version of NASPER, made it through the House and the Senate last week for signing by Gov. Jeb Bush. Over the past four years, many have worked diligently to get this legislation passed included among these are the Florida State Society (FSIPP) of Interventional Pain Physicians and Rep. Gayle Harrell.

The FSIPP Board members in particular worked aggressively on FLASER. Thanks and congratulations to Lora Brown, MD, President; Harold Cordner, MD, President-elect; Raymond Priewe, MD, Vice President; Deborah Tracy, MD, Secretary; and Andrea Trescot, MD (Immediate Past President) and Rafael Miguel, MD, Executive Co-chairs for Legislative Affairs. Also on the board are Marshall Bedder, MD; James Worden, MD; Scott Dramarich, MD; Chuck Gruden, MD; Rob Dehgan, MD; Frank Zondlo, MD; and Francisco Torres, MD.

The bill relies on the growing use of "e-prescribing," which allows a direct link between doctors and pharmacies and eliminates the need for paper prescriptions, which can often be forged.

Read related TCPalm News Columnist article, E- prescriptions could cut down on drug abuse.

Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to help develop a statewide health information exchange to give physicians, hospitals and patients access to secure electronic medical information, giving the ambitious project an important boost.

The Palo Alto computer company will join other vendors selected by the California Regional Health Information Organization, a statewide collaborative project funded largely by health care organizations, the group said Thursday. The goal is to create systems that will allow as many as 78,000 physicians and 400 hospitals to share data, the largest such effort in the country. (San Francisco Chronicle, May 4, 2007)

Article

A bill proposed in the California state senate would give licensed psychologists prescribing privileges.

The bill, SB 993, is the fifth legislative attempt since 1995 to broaden psychologists' scope of practice. The bill is backed by the National Alliance of Professional Psychology Providers, Service Employees International Union, California Psychological Association, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 2620. The California Psychiatric Association opposes the bill, issuing a statement that asserted that "under this measure, psychologists would have less education and training than nurse practitioners and physician assistants, who have prescribing authority, and would not be subject to direct supervision by a medical doctor."

Bill Text

Drug maker Purdue Pharma L.P. has agreed to pay $19.5 million to 26 states - including Massachusetts - and the District of Columbia to settle complaints that it encouraged physicians to overprescribe its powerful painkiller OxyContin.

State attorneys general complained that the Stamford- based company urged doctors to prescribe OxyContin every eight hours instead of the 12-hour dose approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Associated Press, May 9, 2007)

Read More

At a recent conference hosted by the National Institutes of Health, Nora Volkow, M.D., head of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), cited statistics confirming that in 2006 Vicodin (hydrocodone bitartrate and aceta-minophen, Abbott) was the second most frequently abused drug by teenagers. In addition, in 2005 Vicodin and equivalent opiate formulations had more new abusers than did marijuana. And between 1999 and 2004, the number of overdoses in persons 15 to 24 years old doubled, with most of the overdoses ascribed to opiate analgesics.

Read Article

ASIPP is offering a Comprehensive Pain Medicine Board Review Course for physicians seeking board certification or re-certification for ABMS Pain Medicine examination or for American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians Part I examination.

The review course will be held on Aug. 5 - 10 in Nashville, TN This six-day intensive Board Review Course is a CME activity which is geared to prepare physicians for their pain boards but can also serve an in-depth review of the specialty of pain medicine.

To register on-line or for more information on the review course or to register, visit our Web site.

Meetings

ABIPP Part I To Be Administered in August

ABIPP Part 1 exam will be administered in Nashville, TN, on Aug. 11, 2007 and registration is now open. The minimum requirements for eligibility are:

• A Primary ABMS or AOA board certification
• An active license to practice medicine in the United States

ABIPP Application

The Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice Examination (Part II of ABIPP) will be September 29, 2007 in Budapest, Hungary ($2,500). A preparatory course for FIPP examinees only will be held on September 28 ($1,000).

Physicians interested in taking the exam can acquire an examination application form and Information Booklet from
James Heavner, D.V.M., PhD, FIPP, Registrar of the Examination
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center
3601 4th Street - MS: 8182 Lubbock, TX 79430 USA
Phone: 806-743-3112, Fax: 806-743-3965
E-mail: paula.brashear@ttuhsc.edu
Paula Brashear, FIPP Secretary
Serdar Erdine, MD, FIPP, of Turkey, Chair of Examination Board

Additionally, the World Institute of Pain World Congress will be held on September 25-28, 2007 in Budapest, Hungary.

World Congress registration and program

Washington became the first state to endorse shared medical decisionmaking today when Gov. Christine Gregoire signed into law a broad measure that aims to bring affordable healthcare to Washington state residents.

Passage of the bill, which includes more than 20 initiatives, represents the first acknowledgment by a state legislature that medical outcomes can be improved by patient-doctor communication, according to the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making.

Modern Physician

More than 15,500 people have accessed the article "A randomized, controlled trial of spinal endoscopic adhesiolysis in chronic refractory low back and lower extremity pain," earning it a "highly accessed" flag on BioMed Central's online journal, Anesthesiology. The article, authored by Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Mark V. Boswell, Jose J. Rivera, Vidyasagar Pampati, Kim S. Damron, Carla D. McManus, Doris E. Brandon and Sue R. Wilson, has been on the web site since Aug. 1, 2006. The "highly accessed" graphic appears on the journal's table of contents and search results to identify those articles that have been especially highly accessed, relative to their age, and the journal in which they were published.

"Prevalence of facet joint pain in chronic spinal pain of cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions," a May 2004 article by Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Mark V. Boswell, Vijay Singh, Vidyasagar Pampati, Kim S. Damron and Carla D. Beyer. This article has been accessed by more than 32,800 people since it first appeared on BioMed Central.

"Risk of whole body radiation exposure and protective measures in fluoroscopically guided interventional techniques: a prospective evaluation." The article, written by Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Kim A. Cash, Tammy L. Moss, Jose Rivera, and Vidyasagar Pampati, was published in 2003, has been viewed over 13,000 times, and as the articles mentioned above, is available to open access on the BioMed Central Web site.

Acess these articles on BioMed Central

BioMed Central