ASIPP is offering a new feature for those who advertise on our Postions Wanted section of the ASIPP Website. As a service to our advertisers and our members, we will list the link to each current job posting.

Interventional Pain Specialist -- Toledo, OH

Interventional Pain Specialist -- Paducah, KY and Marion, IL

Interventional Pain Medicine Physician – St. Cloud, Minnesota

Entrepreneurial Opportunity -- BE/BC Fellowship Trained Pain Physician(s)

Musculoskeletal Interventionalist -- Dallas, Texas

100% Pain Practice For an Anesthesiologist or Physiatrist -- Wisconsin

Pain Management Openings Fellowship Opportunities -- Florida

Interventional Physiatrist -- Wilmington, North Carolina

Pain Specialist -- Wisconsin

PainCare Holding, Inc.

CMS is taking comment letters on he Proposed Rule CMS-1392-P, "Proposed Changes to the Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (HOPPS) and CY 2008 Payment Rate. As you will see from the sample letter, the two main issues crucial to IPM physicians is ASC procedure methodology and implantation of spinal neurostimulators.

Please note this is a DIFFERENT letter on a DIFFERENT issue from any of the our previous requests.

Whether you practice in an office setting, ASC, or HOPD, it is essential that you participate in the effort to convince CMS to reevaluate these payment methodologies. Please edit the sample letter as appropriate for you, your friends, family, or patients. You may send your letter to the address listed on the letter or electronically. You must send the original along with two copies if you mail your letter.

All letters must be received by 5 pm on Friday, Sept. 14, 2007. To send your letter electronically please follow the steps below.

• Click on the link to access the sample comment letter
• Save the file to your computer.
• Edit the letter as you desire adding your name and address to the letter
• Click on the following CMS link to to submit
• Click on the "Submit Comment" button
• Fill out the personal information screen and click "continue"
• Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and type "attachment" in the text box
• Click on "Continue"
• Click on "browse," choose the Word file containing the saved comment letter
• Choose the appropriate file type then click on "Save Comments"

Thank you to all who responded to last week's request to pick up speed on the Congressional letter writing campaign. There has been a definite increase but we still have much work ahead of us if we are to make any impact in the pending cuts to physician payments, office procedures, ambulatory surgery centers as well as a lack of funding for NASPER.

urge you to take this matter seriously and begin today to send your letters to Congress. If you have already done so, continue to get signatures from your patients and encourage your colleagues to get involved as well. Today's complacency will become tomorrow's urgency.

To send a letter from yourself click on the Physician Capwiz Letter link below. You may edit the letter or send it as it is. You may send it through Capwiz or fax or mail the letter on your personal or business letterhead. The choice is yours.

We have created a link for physicians as well as a link for staff, family, friends and patients.

Please take the time to send a letter today. Additionally, we urge you to have your patients sign the letter and support this effort as well.

• Capwiz Physician Letter
• Capwiz Patient Letter
• Capwiz Staff Letter
• Capwiz Citizen Letter
  

1. Customize and print off copies of the sample
2. Identify patients' state, putting the names of their Senators and Representative at the top of the page along with the President. Only one letter with all the names is necessary (see example).
3. As your patients sign out, ask them to fill out and
4. Using the patient Capwiz link assign a staff
5. Also you can print off the ASIPP Advocacy page and post or hand out to your patients for more information
   

• Example Physician Letter
• Example Patient Letter
• Example Staff Letter
• Example Citizen Letter

The number of serious injuries from drugs reported to the Food and Drug Administration more than doubled between 1998 and 2005, and deaths nearly tripled, according to a report in yesterday's Archives of Internal Medicine published by the American Medical Association. (B. Jaspen, Chicago Tribune - Sept. 12, 2007). The report is expected to add momentum to overhaul the federal government's monitoring of prescription drugs. The dramatic rise in "adverse events" reported to the FDA point out myriad problems with the government's monitoring of drugs before approval and after they are on the market. The study looked at "serious adverse events" - those that result in death or serious injuries including birth defects, disability and hospitalization.

The report is expected to add momentum to the push in Washington to reform the federal government's monitoring of prescription drugs.

Authors of the study, published in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, say the dramatic rise in so- called "adverse events" being reported to the FDA point out myriad problems in the government's monitoring of drugs both before they are approved and after they are on the market. The study looked at "serious adverse events," which are events that result in death or serious injuries such as that include birth defects, disability and hospitalization.

Physicians and health insurers have long been adversaries over price. However, on the issue of quality, health plans have been less intrusive. Now, a new battlefield is emerging between health plans and physicians as some insurers rate (and then tout to patients) what they believe are the best or most-efficient physicians. (R. Cowert, The Tennessean - Sept. 12, 2007)

Read more

The Tennessean

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has reintroduced legislation (S 243) he sponsored in the 109th Congress that would limit noneconomic damages in medical malpractice lawsuits to $750,000, according to CQ HealthBeat reports.

Ensign said that the bill would cap noneconomic damages for a single health care provider at $250,000 with a total limit of $750,000. The legislation would not limit economic damages, but it would limit attorneys' fees. According to Ensign, the bill is modeled after a Texas law that has helped reduce medical malpractice insurance premiums in that state. The AMA in a statement said the Texas law has kept physicians' malpractice premiums down and improved patients' access to care. Ensign in a news release said, "Medical liability reform works, and it's turning the tide against frivolous lawsuits and outrageous jury awards." Democrats and trial lawyers opposed the measure last session and "will likely oppose it again" this session, according to CQ HealthBeat (Kaiser Daily Reports, Sept. 12, 2007).

In response to concerns that the perks lead doctors to prescribe more expensive drugs and devices, legislation introduced into the Senate would require makers of drugs and medical devices to report publicly nearly all payments and gifts to doctors (Harris, New York Times - Sept. 6, 2007).

The New York Times

A few spots still remain for the Comprehensive Interventional Cadaver Workshop and Review Course on Oct 5-7, 2007. The course will feature instruction for all levels of expertise; basic, intermediate and a special advanced session on discography techniques. This section will include minimally invasive disc surgery and LASE. The course will provide informative lectures preceding the hands-on instruction.

The course is a CME activity which is ideal for physicians who are seeking board certification or for those who are looking for an in-depth review of interventional techniques. Don't miss this excellent opportunity for professional enhancement. Register today to secure your spot.

Online Brochure

Meetings

Even as medical boards become friendlier to responsible opioid prescribing, experts say changing doctors' views is the new frontier. And many states have made great progress in adopting policies that balance medically appropriate access to opioid analgesic therapy with state efforts to limit diversion of such drugs, according to a recent analysis.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's Pain Policy Studies Group evaluated states' pain policies based on how well they strike this equilibrium. In 2000, 49% of states received grades better than a "C" in the group's now-annual progress report card. This year, 86% of states hit that mark. Indeed, since 2000, no state has adopted a policy that worsened its grade. Two more states, Kansas and Wisconsin, now have "A" grades, joining Michigan and Virginia. Six other states improved their marks in the last year: Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

"Achieving Balance in State Pain Policy: A Progress Report Card," University of Wisconsin-Madison Pain Policy Studies Group, July http://www.painpolicy.wisc.edu/Achieving_Balance

amednews.com

All those who pre-ordered the "Interventional Techniques In Chronic Spinal Pain" book can expect to receive their orders soon. The books are scheduled to be shipped out by next week with delivery soon thereafter.

If you have not yet ordered your copy, you can do so by visiting the ASIPP Web site.

ASIPP Publishing

The Kentucky Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (KSIPP) will hold its Annual Meeting in Lexington, KY on September 15 and 16 at the Hyatt Regency in beautiful downtown Lexington.

In addition to many informative lectures, we will also hold a fundraiser for Kentucky Congressman Ben Chandler who is a friend of ASIPP and serves on the Appropriations Committee. I hope all of you will attend. Mark you calendar, bring your staff and family and enjoy a wonderful weekend in Lexington, Kentucky.

Make your hotel reservations by contacting: Hyatt Regency Lexington 401 West High Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40507, 859-253-1234 http://lexington.hyatt.com/hyatt/hotels/index.jsp. Tell the booking agent you are reserving under ASIPP to receive the discount rate of $129 - Reserve early as all unbooked rooms will be released on August 21.

Online brochure

Register Online