May 16-18, 2008

• Review Course in Fluoroscopy
• ABIPP Competency Certification Exam in Fluoroscopic Interpretation and Radiation Safety
• Cadaver Workshop - May 17-18 (Basic and Intermediate)

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

• Board Review Course
• Coding, Compliance and Practice Management
• Controlled Substance Management
• ABIPP Competency Examinations
• ABIPP Part I Examination

• Review Course and Cadaver Workshop

• Review Course and Cadaver Workshop In Spinal Cord Stimulation

Congress is currently discussing a Medicare Package fix to address the pending cuts. A decision will be made very soon which means they need to hear form their constituents immediately. Senator Jim Bunning and Rep. Ed. Whitfield has created ASC language that if added on the the Medicare legislation, would save interventional pain management from the drastic cuts we currently face. We can not afford to put this off until a later date. This issue will affect your future as well as the future of your patients.

It is important that we begin contacting the members of the Senate Finance Committee immediately. The language must be added to the Medicare legislation by this committee before it can move forward. For committee members and contact information click here.

We need members who are constituents in the committee members' states to contact their senators as soon as possible. We have also created a new Capwiz letter in an effort to notify our legislators of this situation . We are facing devastating physician reimbursement cuts and even greater cuts to ASC and office-based procedures. While it may seem that ASCs are only the problem of those working in surgery centers, this is not the case. We must face the reality that our true problem is the consistent unfair cuts to IPM procedures ACROSS the board.

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. If someone on the committee is your state senator, please take the sample letter provided, place it on your letterhead and send it directly to him or her today. A direct call to their office is also encouraged. (contact information is provided in the links above).

You may send a letter addressing the 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.

Please plan to 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 highlights include:

• ASIPP 10th Annual Meeting Gala Celebration
• Practice Management for Interventional Pain Physicians and Professionals
• Abstract Presentations
• Awards
• Congressional Speeches
• Legislative Session and Capitol Hill visits
  

We encourage you to register soon as we must begin making Capitol Hill appointments. This year it is our desire to have representation for each state. We encourage to plan today to attend. If you have never visited Capitol Hill before, don't miss this opportunity. For those of you who have participated in the past, we don't have to tell you what a wonderful experience this will be.

Brochure and online registraion are now available.

Register Today

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.

The Memphis Marriott Downtown is our host hotel for this event. Call 1-888-557-8740.

Meetings

CMS released the quarterly update to the Correct Coding Initiative (CCI) edits, version 14.1, effective 4/1/2008 thru 6/30/2008. No major changes to report.

CCI Edits

ASIPP has formally submitted the opioid guidelines update to the National Guidelines Clearinghouse. Opioids in the Management of Chronic Non-Cancer Pain: An Update of American Society of the Interventional Pain Physicians' (ASIPP) Guidelines The authors are: Andrea M. Trescot, MD, Standiford Helm, MD, Hans Hansen, MD, Ramsin Benyamin, MD, Scott E. Glaser, MD, Rajive Adlaka, MD, Samir Patel, DO, and Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD

This would be an update to the currently registered guidelines:

Opioid guidelines in the management of chronic non- cancer pain. See summary. American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians - Medical Specialty Society. 2006. 40 pages. NGC:004853 Other Guidelines from this Developer

In addition to the opioid guidelines ASIPP's spinal guidelines have been listed since 2003, with an updated in 2007. Interventional techniques: evidence- based practice guidelines in the management of chronic spinal pain. American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians - Medical Specialty Society. 2003 (revised 2007 Jan). 105 pages. NGC:005510

The 2007 The National Guideline Clearinghouse (NGC) is a comprehensive database of evidence- based clinical practice guidelines and related documents. NGC is an initiative of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NGC was originally created by AHRQ in partnership with the American Medical Association and the American Association of Health Plans (now America's Health Insurance Plans [AHIP]). The NGC mission is to provide physicians, nurses, and other health professionals, health care providers, health plans, integrated delivery systems, purchasers and others an accessible mechanism for obtaining objective, detailed information on clinical practice guidelines and to further their dissemination, implementation and use.

The process takes about 6 weeks to be finalized.

On April 16, 2008, the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal denied LSBN's request for a stay and suspensive appeal. As a result, the permanent injunction issued by the trial court on January 17, 2008 is now enforceable although the appeal will continue. Presently, the LSBN is prohibited from enforcing its advisory opinion.

Read Update

AMNews conciders the appropriate way to respond to a patient whose trustworthiness you doubt? (Ethics Forum, amednews.com, May 5, 2008, issue)

Most physicians can agree that they are bound to provide competent medical care for people with physical diseases or injuries, without regard for patients' race, religion or other medically irrelevant characteristics.

Read more.

amednews.com

The North Carolina Medical Board wants malpractice settlement listings to be part of detailed physician profiles it would post on its Web site starting in 2009. The information on each settlement would include the physician's name, when the case was settled and an optional box where the doctor could explain the reasons for the settlement. The dollar amount of the settlement would not be published, said NCMB representatives (Linker, Triangle Business Jouranl, April 25, 2008).

Triangle Business Journal

Purdue Pharma LP, the maker of the painkiller OxyContin, is racing smaller drug companies to introduce tamper-resistant pills that addicts can't abuse (Larkin, April 28, 2008, Bloomberg).

Closely held Purdue agreed last year to pay $634.5 million to settle claims that promotions from 1996 to 2001 misled doctors about the risks of OxyContin, its best-selling product with more than $1 billion in sales last year. A generic version was among the medicines taken by actor Heath Ledger in his fatal overdose in February.

Bloomberg.com

In one-on-one interviews with 700 Americans, roughly 23 percent reported loaning their prescription medications to someone else, and 27 percent reported borrowing prescription medications (Rauscher, Reuters Health, April 29, 2008).

The medications most frequently shared (loaned or borrowed) were allergy drugs like Allegra (25 percent), followed by pain medications like Darvoset and OxyContin (22 percent); and antibiotics like amoxicillin (21 percent).

Yahoo News

According to an Associated Press analysis of statistics from the Drug Enforcement Administration, the amount of five major painkillers sold at stores rose 90 percent between 1997 and 2005 (Pifer, April 28, 2008, CNN Medical News).

For Gayle Parseghian whose life changed while she and her husband were moving furniture into their new ski cabin in November of 2006. She strained her back, "pain boot camp" was the answer.

CNN.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:

Ethics - Topics will cover:

• General issues in normative and applied medical ethics as relevant to the care of pain;
• Clinical ethical issues focal to under- and/or over- treatment of pain;
• Conceptual and practical issues related to informed consent;
• Conceptual and practical issues related to (institutional) review of (experimental, quasi- experimental and/or clinical) studies of pain assessment, and/or therapeutics;
• Ethical issues relevant to medico-legal concerns and/or development and articulation of health policy and law.
  

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

Take advantage of ASIPP's online payment method to renew your dues. It's quick and easy just click on the link below and submit.

No password is required to renew. If you have questions or need assistance contact the ASIPP office at 270-554-9412 Ext. 208

Renew Membership

New Type of Latex Glove Cleared

On April 23, 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared for marketing the Yulex Patient Examination Glove. This is the first medical device made from guayule latex, a new form of natural rubber latex.

The Yulex glove is made from latex that is derived from the guayule bush, a desert plant native to the southwestern United States. Gloves made from guayule latex may prove to be a safer alternative for some people with sensitivity to traditional latex.

FDA

Massachusetts Society of Interventional Pain Physicians Annual Meeting

The Massachusetts Society of Interventional Pain Physicians Annual Meeting will take place on Saturday May 10, 2008 at the Marriott Boston Newton Hotel.

The meeting will include a luncheon and Dr. David Kloth will be a keynote speaker. A board meeting will take place immediately following the Annual Meeting. See meeting detailsnew

Registration Form - For more information contact James Murphy at 508-824-0035 or jmurphy@pain-management-center.com

Washington State Society to Hold Annual Meeting

The Wasington Society of Interventional Pain Physicians Annual Meeting will be held on May 17 in Seattle, Washington in the Galser Auditorium of the Swedish Mecial Center.

www.wsipp.org

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