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.

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. The discounted price has been extended to Jan. 25 so don't miss out on this reduced price, 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. 25).

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.

Maximum Urgent Care, a pain management clinic operating out of a converted home at 1011 Surrey St., was raided this morning by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration as part of a two-year investigation into illegal prescription drug sales by the owners. (Jan. 15, 2008)

A U.S. study found methadone to be a possible cause of sudden cardiac death at therapeutic levels for relief of chronic pain or drug addiction withdrawal.

The analysis, published in the American Journal of Medicine, compared two groups, one group consisted of 22 sudden cardiac deaths in which toxicology screens turned up 1 mg or less of methadone -- defined as a therapeutic level and the second group of 106 cases showed no evidence of methadone. Lead investigator Dr. Sumeet Chugh found 17 of the first group, or 77 percent, had no significant cardiac abnormalities, while five had evidence of significant coronary artery disease. By contrast, 60 percent of the group where no methadone was present had identifiable evidence of cardiac disease or structural abnormalities -- potential causes of sudden cardiac death.

Researchers at the Oregon Health Science University in Portland did an evaluation of all sudden cardiac deaths in the greater Portland metropolitan area form 2002-06 in which detailed autopsies were performed.

While the national health spending growth rate increased slightly in 2006, the percentage rise in expenditures on physician services slowed markedly, due largely to a small Medicare pay increase and its private-sector fallout, according to a new report by the Centers for Medicare  Medicaid Services. (Trapp - amednews.com , Jan. 28 issue)

But preliminary 2007 data indicate that 2006's slower pace of spending on physicians may be an anomaly, Cowan said. "We're seeing that the growth of prices for physician services is inching back to the previous level."

A six-month Medicare physician update in 2008 of just 0.5%, paired with a 2.1% increase in practice costs as measured by the Medicare economic index, means physicians will need to look for new revenue, said Jim King, MD, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. For example, he expects more doctors to offer profitable services, such as cosmetic surgery, and to reconsider offering obstetric services and seeing hospital patients.

amednews.com

Pay-for-performance is a fundamental change in payment methodology that could transform how healthcare is delivered more than the current prospective payment system and managed care plans. Pay-for-performance programs, which are designed to align healthcare payments with clinical best practices and quality thresholds, are becoming commonplace across the country. Levels of adoption suggest that pay-for-performance is likely to stay and may eventually be rolled out across most payers.

HealthLeaders Media

A Duluth-based health system is declaring a ban on drug-logo freebies, no matter how small. Administrators at SMDC Health System saw them as virulent, insidious and cause for an all-out eradication campaign in its four hospitals and 17 clinics throughout northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. (Oakes - Star Tribune, Jan.18, 2008)

As part of a new policy that experts say is one of the toughest in the nation blocking pharmaceutical companies from influencing doctors, the Duluth- based health system recently got rid of nearly every freebie with a drug company name on it.

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. The deadline to send a comment letter is Monday, Jan. 28, 2008.

Read How to Send Comment Letter

As of March 1, doctors who bill Medicare electronically must include their NPIs on all Medicare claims in addition to any older IDs they may have been using. For most of the past year, the program has been allowing physicians to use their older, "legacy" identifiers alone while they obtained new NPIs and made sure the personal information attached to all of the numbers was matching correctly (Glendinning - amednews.com, Jan. 14 issue).

After May 23, physicians will be required to use only NPIs on all electronic claims submitted to Medicare and all other health care payers. That means any information discrepancies must be ironed out before then. Although the deadlines don't apply to physicians who file only paper claims, those who send their claims to a clearinghouse that files electronically on their behalf must comply.

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

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

More than 17,500 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. This article is also listed as the 7th all-time most viewed article.

"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 38,800 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 14,300 times, and as the articles mentioned above, is available to open access on the BioMed Central Web site. Access these articles on BioMed Central.

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.

Fellowship Trained Physician — Northwest Indiana

Outpatient Interventional Pain Physician — Atlanta, Georgia

BC/BE Physiatrist — Shrewsbury, New Jersey

100% Pain Practice — Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Partnership Opportunity — Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Interventional Pain Physiatrist Wanted — Nevada

Interventional Pain Specialist — Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Pain Management Opportunity — Pennsylvania

Entrepreneurial Opportunity — Lake Tahoe, Nevada

Florida Opportunities

Pain Medicine Fellowship Program Opportunity

Interventional Pain Specialist — Paducah, KY and Marion, IL

Interventional Pain Medicine Physician — St. Cloud, Minnesota