ASIPP 10th Annual Meeting

Please join us for the ASIPP 10th Annual Meeting on June 21-25, 2008. This year marks an important milestone; ten years as "The Voice of Interventional Pain Management."

This year's highligts are:

• ASIPP 10th Annual Meeting Celebration
• Featuring Practice Management for Interventional Pain Physicians and Professionals
• Legislative Session and Capitol Hill Visits
• Abstract Presentations

Brochure

Abstract Submittal Deadline March 31

ASIPP is seeking abstracts submissions for the 10th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians is now open. The Online Abstract Submission deadline is March 31, 2008. The meeting will be held June 21- June 25, 2008 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Washington, DC.

Abstracts must be submitted by 5 pm Central Standard Time (CST) March 31, 2008 in order to be considered for presentation at the meeting.

Click here for rules and submission directions.

Meetings

The end to the of short- lived hold on a huge physician reimbursement cut is near. The time to act is now!

We have created a new Capwiz letter in an effort to gain renewed attention from our legislators to this dire situation . We are facing devastating physician reimbursement cuts and even greater cuts to ASC and office-based procedures. It will take a concerted effort on the part of the entire ASIPP membership if we are to get the ears and eyes of Congress and convince them to act.

Send a letter addressing all three issues through Capwiz: http://capwiz.com/asipp/issues/alert/?alertid=11058511&type=CO

Our government officals need to hear from our patients as well. This is easy to accomplish; print out the patient letter we have provided and ask all your patients to sign it (the last page of the word document for your state, see link in paragraph above). After you obtain these signatures your staff can send them as a Capwiz letter using the following link: http://capwiz.com/asipp/issues/alert/?alertid=11058731&type=CO

If you have any questions, call the ASIPP office for assistance: 270-554-9412.

In order for ASIPP to secure a seat on the AMA House of Delegates, we must meet the requirement of the AMA membership of at least 35% of our active members. Currently this number falls short of this.

In an effort to obtain a voice for interventional pain mangement in the AMA, we ask you to make certain you renew your AMA dues by March 31 if you are currently a member and if you are not a member please join by the same deadline.

Thank you in advance for taking this important action in assuring IPM is represented in important issues considered by the AMA.

Join or Renew

On May 16 - 18, ASIPP will hold a Review Course in Fluoroscopy & Cadaver Workshop in Spinal and Non-Spinal Interventional Techniques covering basic and intermediate levels. The course will be held at the Memphis Marriott Downtown and the Medical Education Research Center (MERI) in Memphis, TN.

At the completion of the Fluoroscopy course, physicians will also have the opportunity to sit for the ABIPP Competency Certification Examination in Fluoroscopic Interepretation and Radiation Safety.

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 early and save. Registrations received on or before April 25 may take advantage of the early registration discount.

The Memphis Marriott Downtown is our host hotel for this event. Book your room on or before April 23 to recieve the ASIPP discount group rate of $159. Call 1- 888-557-8740.

Meetings

For the first time in nearly a decade, the ASIPP, AAPM, ISIS, the American Medical Association (AMA), and more than 70 other medical specialty societies have worked together to coordinate a comprehensive multi-specialty survey of America's physician practices. The survey will collect up-to-date characteristics of thousands of physician practices from virtually all specialties, and be used in efforts to positively influence national decision makers to ensure accurate and fair representation for all physicians and patients.

Getting our nation's policy-makers to understand today's landscape and the requirements for care is critical. These data will allow medicine to articulate the challenges of running a practice that provides expert patient care, while operating a business that is sustainable. The study results will not only help in the short-term but will allow future generations of doctors to continue providing superior care to their patients.

One particularly important section of the study pertains to practice expenses and the amounts that are attributable to you. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have indicated that the results of this study will be used to help determine physician payment. Please encourage your staff to make this information available as the survey's success depends on accurate and complete data. This information will remain confidential. The survey firm, Dmrkynetec, will not identify any individuals or entities participating in this research.

Dmrkynetec, a survey firm with extensive experience in the area of physician practice finance, has been retained to administer the survey. Dmrkynetec will contact randomly selected physicians and practice managers in order to collect their confidential responses. Please watch for this survey and complete it thoroughly and accurately. Thank you in advance for doing your part to represent our profession.

Survey FAQs

PRACTICE Advantage has released the results of the 2007 Pain Practice Benchmark Survey. An in-depth report has been mailed to all those who participated in the survey. If you turned in a survey but have not yet received your report, please contact Sara Tall at 763- 514-9530.

PRACTICE Advantage and ASIPP would like to thank  all those who participated in the survey.

The benchmark data will not be released to those who did not participate in the survey at this time, however at the ASIPP Annual Meeting on June 22 the results will be presented in a lecture by Dennis Wipperling. All those attending this presentation will get a copy of the benchmark data

Most physicians are prepared to meet the April 1 federal deadline for writing many Medicaid prescriptions on tamper-resistant pads, according to medical, pharmacist and other organizations. But these groups continue to reach out to doctors who may be unaware of, or confused about, the law.

By April, written Medicaid prescriptions must have at least one feature to prevent unauthorized copying, erasure or modification, or counterfeiting. Written prescriptions must have a feature from all three categories by Oct. 1. The law, adopted by Congress as part of a military spending act in May 2007, does not apply to electronic, faxed or phoned prescriptions, or those paid for by Medicaid managed care organizations, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

amednews.com

While fentanyl pain patches under the brand name Duragesic and other generics are described as a godsend for people with chronic pain, abuse of the highly potent drug is on the rise, especially by young people.

The day before St. Patrick's Day, while many with Irish blood coursing through their veins were getting a head start on the annual celebrations, a 17-year-old high school student from North Carolina quietly affixed a fentanyl patch to each arm, and soon stopped breathing. He didn't survive, and died in his sleep.

Mathew Chapman is just the latest victim of a drug that is 50 times stronger than heroin when taken intravenously. While the patch is designed to be worn on the skin for a controlled, albeit extremely potent dose of pain medication appropriate for chronic sufferers conditioned to such strong medication, the potential impact to patients not used to the rigors of opiates can be devastating.

lawyersandsettlements.com

The nonprofit iHealth Alliance is launching an online network that will e-mail alerts to doctors about safety concerns surrounding prescription drugs, notices from pharmaceutical companies about warnings and label changes. The alerts will be focused by specialty, and will be limited almost exclusively to alerts that drug makers send out in what are often known as "Dear Doctor" letters: significant drug-label changes, warnings and recalls.

The Wall Street Journal

A health plan-owned company says it wants to promote discussion about the risks of radiation exposure from some imaging tests. To that end, it is bringing a cyber woman named Aimee into conversations with patients and physicians (Berry, amednews.com, March 24, 2008).

Aimee is a model patient on a new Web site hosted by American Imaging Management, a subsidiary of WellPoint. Health plans rely on AIM or similar companies to control their imaging costs

amednews.com

FDA and Medtronic notified healthcare professionals of the Class 1 recall of Medtronic Neuromodulation Implantable Infusion Pumps, implantable devices for administering drugs to a specific site in the body to treat pain, spasticity and cancer. The company updated the labeling for the devices to include current patient management and treatment recommendations.

The company received reports of inflammatory mass formations at or near the distal tip of intrathecal catheters which infuse opioids, baclofen, or chemotherapy drugs into patients. On January 16, 2008, Medtronic sent a letter to doctors who implant these devices and/or provide care to patients with the implanted device. The letter described the problem, patient risks, patient management, recommendations and next steps. Medtronic's representatives will complete a reply card to document their communication with each doctor regarding this recall, as well as asking the doctors to sign and return a reply card.

FDA MedWatch

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.

National Pain Institute — Florida

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

Interventional Pain Specialist — Paducah, KY and Marion, IL

Interventional Pain Medicine Physician — St. Cloud, Minnesota