Good news for Interventional Pain Management. As you know, ASIPP took a lead role in fighting the expansion of IPM scope of practice for CRNAs. Our action began approximately three years ago and it has been an arduous and expensive journey.

We took it on in spite of the enormity of the commitment because we knew it was critical to IPM and even more important, we knew this case would set precedence for all other states. I am pleased today to share with you all the recent court opinion that ruled Interventional Pain Management is solely the practice of medicine and not within the scope of practice of CRNAs.

Plan to attend the March 6-8, 2008 Interventional Techniques Review Course, Cadaver Workshop, and ABIPP Part II Preparation.

The review course includes one day of didactics covering various interventional techniques and one and a half days of hands-on cadaver workshop designed to meet the needs of interventional pain physicians seeking to refresh or learn new skills and also for those who desire instruction for the ABIPP Part II examination.

During this 3-day event, you can improve existing skills, learn new skills, prepare for the interventional techniques certification, or prepare for the board examination. Whether you have been practicing interventional pain management for many years or are new to the field with basic skills, we are confident you will find this review course and cadaver workshop to be beneficial as it is essential to keep learning. We trust you will be eager to join us for this opportunity to professional enhancement.

The seminar will be conducted at the Westin Memphis Beale Street and the world famous Medical Education and Research Institute (MERI) in Memphis, TN. Make your plans early to attend. We look forward to seeing you in Memphis.

Meetings

Brochure

Pain Physician Editor for Bioethics, Prof. James Giordano, PhD has been elected as a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Academia Scientiarum et Artium Europaea), in recognition of his "...ongoing accomplishments and work in neuroscience and biotechnology, neurophilosophy, and neuroethics as applied and relevant to the study and clinical treatment of chronic pain."

The Academy, based in Salzburg, Austria focuses upon three core areas: developing knowledge, disseminating scientific information, and enacting major multi-national projects. Its focus is on interdisciplinary discussion across specialized areas, ideologies and scientific cultures toward the promotion of transnational dialog and visionary implementation of scientific and academic thought.

The uniqueness of the Academy lies in its ability to work across boundaries for the aesthetics of science, in applications of health care and medicine, social justice, and creating alignment between the sciences and humanities. This uniqueness is borne by membership of the academy, whose members are elected by vote based upon their longstanding and ongoing contribution to science in the public good, diversity of ideas, novelty and creativity of vision, and depth of accomplishment and integrity. The Academy brings together over 1200 scientists, researchers, academicians, philosophers and artists from Europe, the United States and Asia, including 12 Nobel laureates, and its most prominent member, Pope Benedict XVI (elected as Cardinal Ratzinger, 1992). While membership conveys notoriety and honors the achievements of the recipient, the Academy remains a working group, whose constituents foster a think tank on scientific and ethical values to serve a society that is increasingly fragmented.

Dr. Giordano will inducted into the Academy at the annual ceremony in Salzburg, Austria on March 7, 2009, and will thereafter be engaged in two of the Academy's projects: "Strategic Visions for Health Care at the Beginning of the 21st Century", and the "Manifesto of Freedom of Sciences" - the latter a conjoint project of the United Nations and European Parliament. Toward these ends, he has been awarded Visiting Professorships at Rheinsiches Universitaet, Bonn, Germany, Free University of Bozen- Bolzano, Italy, and Istituto Trentino di Cultura, Trento, Italy, for 2009.

Starting January 1, the pharmaceutical industry has agreed to a voluntary moratorium on the kind of branded goodies-Viagra pens, Zoloft soap dispensers, Lipitor mugs-that were meant to foster good will and, some would say, encourage doctors to prescribe more of the drugs. Some skeptics deride the voluntary ban as a superficial measure that does nothing to curb the far larger amounts drug companies spend each year on various other efforts to influence physicians. But proponents welcome it as a step toward ending the barrage of drug brands and logos that surround, and may subliminally influence, doctors and patients (New York Times, Dec. 31).

After 15 years of management magazines telling me how to fit in the one extra patient a day, I finally read something that made sense. Dr. Gordon Moore, an innovative physician from New York, was using technology to streamline processes and cut overhead, allowing him to see fewer patients per day while generating the same net revenue.

And by seeing fewer patients a day, he spent more time with each one, improving their satisfaction but also improving his professional satisfaction. In other words, by shifting the focus from the doctor-patient encounter to the doctor-patient relationship, everybody won.

A Kansas senator has proposed a bill that would allow tax breaks for doctors, nurses and dentists who accept Medicaid patients. The law would be used as an incentive for them to see more Medicaid recipients. Legislators say the move would make up some of the gap between how much the taxpayer-funded program reimburses for healthcare and the actual costs of that care.

Recently, an article in USA Today suggested further reducing reimbursement to physicians and hospitals to curb the increasing costs of providing health care in America. During the past decade, reimbursement for services has never matched cost- of-living and wage index levels. Further reduction in compensation would serve to deepen the crisis that now exists in health-care delivery (The Tribune- Democrat).

A Manalapan pain-management physician has pleaded guilty to bilking Medicare and private health insurance companies out of more than $500,000 by billing for more expensive procedures than he actually administered.

Hoosiers are taking many, many more narcotic painkillers, and our appetite for some of the addictive, dangerous drugs is growing even faster than in the rest of the country.

The Minnesota Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (MSIPP) meeting will be held at the Medtronic World Headquarters on January 27th, 2009 from 6:00pm-8:00pm. Agenda will be annoucnecd soon.

Address: Medtronic World Headquarters 710 Medtronic Parkway Minneapolis, MN 55432-5604 Phone: (763) 514-4000 To join MSIPP or to find out additional information about our organization please call me.

Contact Georgann Gillund Minnesota Society of Interventional Pain Physicians 612-385-8342 for ggillund@painphysicians.com for more information.

Send in your state society's news, annoucements and updates to mmartin@asipp.org.

In this sleepy country town, which sprang up around a railroad junction and the start of the Chisholm trail, folks give out their phone numbers by the last four digits, the annual Tom-Tom festival culminates with the crowning of the Tomato King and Queen, and everybody knows Doc Watson.

ZixCorp has signed a deal to partner with UnitedHealthcare to offer electronic prescribing technology to Texas physicians (Tsai, Dallas Business Journal, Dec. 26, 2008).

The two companies this month started offering ZixCorp's e-prescription technology at discounted rates to 200 primary care and specialty physicians in Austin and San Antonio, said Rick Spurr, chairman and CEO of Dallas-based ZixCorp (NASDAQ: ZIXI).

The AM CPT 2009 Professional Edition, AMA HCPCS 2009 Level II, and AMA Physician ICD-9-CM 2009 - Vol. 1 & 2 are now available online. Get prepared for the new year by purchasing your copies today.

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Visit the ASIPP Web site to find available positions for IPM physicians.