On February 8-10 ASIPP will hold a state-of- the- art educational program consisting of a didactic course covering the various aspects of vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty and sacroplasty followed by a comprehensive hands-on cadaver workshop.

This intensive review course and workshop is a CME activity designed to prepare physicians seeking credentialing and as an in-depth review of vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty and sacroplasty. The 3-day event is an excellent way to begin learning new skills or to assist you in improving your existing skills.

Register before Jan. 18, 2008 to obtain the early registration discount! Visit the ASIPP Web site for more information.

This course is an excellent opportunity for educational and professional enhancement. At the conclusion of the course, in addition to your CME certificate, you will receive a certificate of completion (see example from our 2007 course ).

This is a course you won't want to miss. Enrollment is limited and the early registration discount price ends on Jan. 18, so register today!

Accommodations are at the Memphis Marriott Downtown. Call 901-527-7300 or 888-557-8740 and inform your booking agent you are booking under the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians to receive a discounted group rate of $159 per night (discount ends Jan. 17).

We are proud to announce the formation of the ASIPP Charitable Foundation.

The mission and initiative of ASIPP have evolved over the years to meet the changing needs of the members and the specialty through our efforts in education, scholarly publications, certification and advocacy. Now ASIPP would like to take the mission of the preservation and development of interventional pain management to a higher level. The ASIPP Foundation will bring to interventional pain management:

• Research that adds to the base of knowledge for interventional pain medicine;
• Promotion of interventional pain medicine among medical students, fellowships and residencies;
• On going education, certification and training for physicians and medical students; and
• Mentoring programs for medical students, fellows, residents and physicians who are new to interventional pain management

As a 501(c) (3) organization the ASIPP Foundation raises and manages funds that assist in the promotion of educational initiatives, the support of residencies and fellowships, scholarship and research.

Your tax deductible gift is critical to the advancement of our profession and patient access to this vital, life- enhancing care. Please click on the link provided and make your contribution today. As a contributor, your name will be listed in the spring issue of ASIPP News.

You can now access the Jan/Feb issue of the Pain Physician journal on the ASIPP Website and on PubMed.

The crowd is gathering early in the dirt parking lot outside the Clinch Valley Treatment Center, the only methadone clinic within 80 miles. Third in line, Jeff Trapp smokes Winstons in his pickup, watching the cars turn off the highway and settle behind him, tires crunching on cold gravel, headlights glaring. It is 2:45 a.m., and Trapp has been awake for two hours. The clinic does not start dosing until 5. (Miroff, Washington Post, Jan. 13, 2008)

Like Trapp, many of the patients who filled the lot one recent morning have jobs at far-off mines that start at 6 or 7. They sleep upright in their vehicles, slumped against the steering wheel, dressed for work in steel- toed black boots and coveralls lined with orange reflective strips. Dark rings circle their eyes where the previous day's coal dust didn't wash off.

In response to the Jan. 13 Washington Post story "Dark Addiction," KY Rep. Ed. Whitfield sent a letter to the editor addressing the need for NASPER funding.

Read Rep. Whitfield's letter.

Letter to the Editor

Alabama's nurse practitioner rules limit their ability to write prescriptions and require them to be paired with a collaborating physician. But a proposed bill drafted by the Nurse Practitioners Alliance of Alabama would relax the rules and make it easier for trained nurse practitioners to work in poor, rural counties where medical care is scarce.

Huntsville Times

On Jan. 1, 2008 CMS implemented changes to the ASC payment system. Of particular interest is a change in billing of bilateral procedures. Modifier 50 will no longer be recognized for payment purposes and may result in incorrect payments to ASCs. Bilateral procedures must now be billed as single units in order for both procedures to be reimbursed. (see page 10 ; 11 in MLN Matters). This change applies only to ASC billing not physician billing.

For details on all the changes with billing examples, go to CMS MLN Matters.

CMS has also released an ASC Payment System Fact Sheet.

If you are interventional pain physician who owns or works in an ASC, it is very important that you send a comment letter to CMS addressing the many disparities which exist between ASC setting and HOPD setting. These disparities coupled with the new proposal by CMS are of great concern to ASIPP and SIPMS.

Read How to Send Comment Letter

In a stunning reversal of well-established law, the Massachusetts Supreme Court expanded the concept of duty in ways which will have far-reaching unintended consequences. Surprisingly, the protagonist is not a gastroenterologist, but a primary care physician, Dr. Florio, who treated a patient with multiple medical problems named Mr. Sacca.

With more Americans uninsured or in high- deductible plans, experts say collecting the payment portion of bills is getting more important -- and challenging -- for physicians' practices. One solution many recommend to avoid the high cost and hassle of collection is setting up payment plans for patients (Hansen, Jan 21, 2008 online issue of amednews).

"Doing retail business with patients is now part of the permanent financial profile of being a doctor," said Brandywine Healthcare Services President Robert Burleigh, a past president of the Healthcare Billing and Management Assn. "They have to be prepared. So they should have prepayment plans. This is just the part of the business of medicine."

amednews.com

Is Dr. Phillip B. Eatough a compassionate healer, offering hope to patients crippled by pain, or is he a reckless drug pusher, dumping additional narcotics on already drug-clogged streets?

The answer may have an effect beyond his case and add to mounting concerns about the practice of pain- control medicine and its regulation.

APP.com

Pain Physician journal will feature three special topical issues this year, in addition to the regular bimonthly publications. The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians' official journal, Pain Physician, will feature these special issues:

February: Opioids - This issue will include the 2007 updated Opioid guidelines in addition to systematic reviews, and health policy reviews

June: Ethics - Topics will cover:
1. general issues in normative and applied medical ethics as relevant to the care of pain;
2. clinical ethical issues focal to under- and/or over- treatment of pain;
3. conceptual and practical issues related to informed consent;
4. conceptual and practical issues related to (institutional) review of (experimental, quasi- experimental and/or clinical) studies of pain assessment, and/or therapeutics;
5. ethical issues relevant to medico-legal concerns and/or development and articulation of health policy and law.

December: health policy and practice management

All written materials should follow Pain Physician manuscript for author's instructions. The topical issues will also undergo peer review. For more information contact Holly Long at hlong@asipp.org

For your convenience, you may now pay your dues online. Click here then click on "Renew Here." No password is required to renew. If you have questions or need assistance contact the ASIPP office at 270-554-9412 Ext. 208

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 Physician -- Louisville, Kentucky

Partnership Opportunity - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Pain Management -- Florida

Pain Management Opportunity -- Pennsylvania

Entrepreneurial Opportunity -- Lake Tahoe, Nevada

Florida Opportunities

Pain Medicine Fellowship Program Opportunity

Interventional Pain Specialist -- Toledo, Ohio

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

Interventional Pain Medicine Physician -- St. Cloud, Minnesota

Interventional Pain Specialist - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Interventional Pain Physician -- New Hampshire

Interventional Pain Physiatrist Wanted - Nevada