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 Senate Office Building 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

ASIPP Meetings

Thanks to all the members who responded to our request to increase the letters to Congress. We encourage all ASIPP members to continue contacting the their State Senators to encourage CMS to reevaluate the pending ASC cuts.

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. Remember this effort is a marathon, not a sprint. Victory can only come IF we stay in the race.

Go to the ASC Alert page on the ASIPP Web site for link to the Capwiz letters, sample letters, information on the cuts and more.

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.

Act today!

The ASIPP Comprehensive Imaging Review in Interventional Pain Management will be held on July 13-15, 2007 in Las Vegas, NV with a competency certification in Fluoroscopic Interpretation and Radiation Safety for Physicians only to follow on July 16. The online brochure and registration are now available.

The comprehensive seminar is designed to provide interventional pain physicians with the ability to understand radiological evaluations and fluoroscopic interpretation.

This course is an essential component for interventional pain physicians and will provide educational opportunities to assist you in providing high quality, competent, safe, and cost-efficient services to your patients.

Register

COLUMBUS (AP) - A doctor and two office managers at Ohio pain clinics were indicted on charges of illegally distributing the powerful painkiller OxyContin and other drugs that led to the deaths of at least 14 people, prosecutors said Tuesday. ( Dr. Paul Volkman, 60, was arrested Monday in Chicago, where he has a home, said Fred Alverson, a spokesman with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Columbus.

Volkman worked out of southern Ohio clinics in Portsmouth and South Point, where he and two office managers distributed more than 1.5 million pain pills between 2001 and 2006, prosecutors said.

The alleged conspiracy helped feed the demand for illegal consumption of OxyContin and other controlled substances in Ohio, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee, authorities said. Volkman is accused of writing countless prescriptions for excessive dosages that were outside the scope of medical practice or were not medically necessary.

CentralOhio.com

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - A state medical examiner's report says methadone is the prescription drug that was most frequently detected in the blood of fatal overdose victims. Methadone is commonly prescribed for treating patients suffering from chronic pain and medical professionals describe methadone as an effective tool for pain management.

Kentucky.gov

Interventional Techniques in Chronic Spinal Pain is  the premier manual for interventional pain management physicians. This must have text book has an expected publication date of Summer 2007. All proceeds go to the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.

Preorder your copy

An Indiana insurance company that raised medical malpractice rates 90 percent three years ago is now asking Connecticut regulators for permission to cut them by 24 percent.

Doctors say they don't expect much change even if regulators approve the request from the company, one of just four that provides medical malpractice insurance in Connecticut. A professor of insurance law at the University of Connecticut said the rate cut simply reflects shifts in the market.

Reporter-Times.com

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