·  Just a Few Openings Remain for February Course

·  Documentation for Dummies and Cadaver Course offered in April

·  Health industry's political giving rose 14% in '09

·  Submit your Abstract for Consideration Today

·  L.A. County Slashes Doctors' Reimbursement Rate

·  No Longer Waiting for Feds, States Jumpstart Health Reform

·  Poll: Large Majority Opposes Supreme Court's Decision on Campaign Financing

·  Technology Can Slash Fraud in Health Care

·  N.Y., Minnesota Consider New Rules on Pharma Gifts

·  Pain Clinic Legal Dope House?

·  Upcoming State Society Meetings

·  Physicians Wanted

Just a Few Openings Remain for February Course

Just a few spots remain for the Comprehensive Review Course and Cadaver Workshop (Basic, Intermediate, and Comprehensive Interventional Pain Management Examination Preparation Course) or the Controlled Substance Management Review Course to be held concurrently February 26-28, 2010 in Memphis, Tennessee.

Classes will be held at the Peabody Hotel and the MERI Center in Memphis.

Click HERE to register for the Review Course and Cadaver Workshop.

Click HERE to register for the Controlled Substance course.

Register Online Today!

Documentation for Dummies and Cadaver Course offered in April

Make your plans to attend the Comprehensive Review Course and Cadaver Workshop (Basic, Intermediate, and Comprehensive Interventional Pain Management Examination Preparation Course) or the Documentation for Dummies Review Course April 23-25, 2010 - Memphis, TN

Both meetings will be held at the historic Peabody hotel in Memphis and the MERI Center. Special room rate expires March 30, 2010.

Click HERE to register for the Cadaver review course.

Register Online Today!

Health industry's political giving rose 14% in '09

WASHINGTON  Pharmacists, optometrists and groups representing an array of medical specialists boosted their political giving in 2009, as Congress worked on health care legislation that would dramatically reshape their industry, a review of new campaign-finance reports shows.

Donations by the top 15 health care political action committees rose to $11.7 million in 2009, a nearly 14% increase from 2007, the most recent non-election year, according to a USA TODAY analysis of data compiled by CQ MoneyLine. Despite the economic recession, most of the political action committees examined increased their giving.

Click HERE to see county by county look at health

USA TODAY

Submit your Abstract for Consideration Today

The Online Abstract Submission (see step-by-step procedures below) for the 12th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) is now open. The meeting will be held June 26- June 30, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA.

This year we are offering an early bird deadline of March 31, 2010. This early deadline will ensure that your abstract gets first preference and an opportunity to grab one of our limited spots for presentation.

A final abstract submission deadline will be April 30, 2010. Those selected will be notified and will receive free registration to the annual meeting.

Selected abstracts will be presented along with posters at the annual meeting on Saturday June 26 or Sunday June 27.

Submit your abstract today!

L.A. County Slashes Doctors' Reimbursement Rate

Emergency room doctors and on-call specialists treating poor, uninsured patients at private hospitals in Los Angeles County saw their reimbursement rate slashed by county supervisors Tuesday

The rate cut could lead private hospitals to close emergency rooms and send more patients to crowded county hospitals, officials said. L.A. County reimburses doctors 27% of estimated fees for patients' first three days of care at private hospitals under the Physician Services for Indigents Program. Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to reduce the rate to 18% as of July 1. Supervisors last reduced the rate from 29% in January 2009.

Los Angeles Times

No Longer Waiting for Feds, States Jumpstart Health Reform

More than two dozen states have launched healthcare reform initiatives, but most are strapped financially and are unlikely to undertake major reform while federal legislation is stalled on Capitol Hill, says a top health official for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"A majority of states are clearly going to wait and see what the federal government is going to do," says Richard Cauchi, health program director for the NCSL.

HealthLeaders Media

Poll: Large Majority Opposes Supreme Court's Decision on Campaign Financing

Americans of both parties overwhelmingly oppose a Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and unions to spend as much as they want on political campaigns, and most favor new limits on such spending, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

Eight in 10 poll respondents say they oppose the high court's Jan. 21 decision to allow unfettered corporate political spending, with 65 percent "strongly" opposed. Nearly as many backed congressional action to curb the ruling, with 72 percent in favor of reinstating limits.

The Washington Post

Technology Can Slash Fraud in Health Care

Emdeon Inc. processes nearly half of all commercial medical claims nationwide, giving the Nashville-based company a bird's-eye view of billing and other health-care trends.

It also has access to tons of information from providers, payers and others that can be used to more quickly spot fraud, waste and abuse, which reportedly eats up 10 percent of the more than $2 trillion in annual U.S. medical spending.

In the first chapter of a recent book titled Stop Paying the Crooks: Solutions to End the Fraud that Threatens Your Healthcare, Emdeon CEO George Lazenby dissected what he sees as key reasons it's so hard to recover missing money months after a fraud occurs.

The Tennessean

N.Y., Minnesota Consider New Rules on Pharma Gifts

Proposals in New York and Minnesota would ban most gifts to doctors from industry and enact other measures aimed at reducing drug and device makers' influence on physicians' medical decision-making.

As part of the budget plan he proposed in January, New York Gov. David Paterson advanced a ban on industry gifts to doctors such as restaurant meals or tickets to sporting events. Drug reps still could treat doctors to lunch in the office in connection with oral presentations.

American Medical Association

Pain Clinic Legal Dope House?

The attached video appeared on CNN.com. It features a video Are Pain Clinics Legal Dope Houses? with the caption  In Florida, prescription drugs kill five times as many people as illegal drugs. An investigative documentary examines Florida pain clinics where patients can easily obtain -- and potentially abuse -- prescription drugs.

The video is extremely negative toward pain clinics and follows patients in Florida who are abusing prescription drugs. The segment also interviews individuals who go to Florida and get their prescriptions to bring back and sell in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia.

CNN

Upcoming State Society Meetings

WVASIPP Plans Annual Meeting June 11-13, 2010

Mark your calendars now and make plans to attend West Virginia Society of Interventional Pain Physician annual meeting at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, June 11-13, 2010.

Featured topics include SCS for Angina, Facial Pain, Peripheral Nerve Pain, Epigastric and Abdominal Pain, Pelvic Pain, Pulsed Radiofrequency, Minimally invasive techniques for spinal disease and much more

Featured faculty includes: Timothy Deer, MD, course director; Ken Alo, MD, Giancarlo Barolat, MD, Ricard Bowman, MD, Christopher Kim, MD, Matthew Ranson, MD, Lou Raso, MD, Harold Cordner, MD, Nagy Mekhail, MD, Sudhir Diwan, MD, Raj Patel, MD, John Schmidt, MD, Stan Golovac, MD, Lora Brown, MD, Richard Weiner, MD, Salim Hayek, MD, Leo Kapural, MD and cochairs Richard Rauck, MD, Robert Levy, MD, PhD, and David Caraway, MD, PhD.

Session fees discounted for WVSIPP and ASIPP members. For more information call Michelle Byers, Director of Education: michellebyers@roadrunner.com

To Register

Save the Date: CASIPP Annual Meeting in May

Mark your calendar for the California Society of Interventional Pain Physicians Annual Meeting May 14-16, 2010 in Santa Barbara.

Join Your CASIPP Colleagues On The American Riviera:

• Earn CME hours with distinguished faculty
• Stay at the storied Biltmore Four Seasons
• Book Now! Special Room Rate for early
• For more information or to register contact sbcme2010@aol.com or by phone at 661-435-3473

FSIPP Annual Meeting Dates Set for May

The Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (FSIPP) has scheduled it's annual meeting for May 22 and 23, 2010 at Gaylord Palms on Orlando.

Physicians Wanted

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

Physicians Wanted