Feb. 22, 2006

Certification Review Courses and Examinations

Intensive Certification Review Courses Offered in May

Register soon for the May 4-8, Intensive Certification Review Courses in Controlled Substance Management and Coding, Compliance and Practice Management and the 2006 Competency Certification Examinations which will be held in Chicago.

Passing both exams will satisfy completion for ABIPP-Part I for physicians with current ABMS subspecialty certification in pain medicine by ABA, ABPMR, ABPN (but NOT non-ABMS certifications). Online registration is available. Visit our Web site at http://www.asipp.org/meetings.htm for more information.

ABIPP Part I Examination Review Course – Register Online

ASIPP is offering a Comprehensive Pain Medicine Board Review Course on Aug. 5 – 9 in St. Louis in conjunction with the Aug. 10 ABIPP Part I examination.

This five-day intensive Board Review Course is a CME activity to prepare physicians seeking board certification, re-certification, or can also serve an in-depth review of the specialty of pain medicine.

For more information on the review course or to register on-line, visit our Web site…Meetings

ABIPP Certification Update

To date, 18 physicians have qualified for ABIPP diplomate status by reciprocity.

Recipients of this certification qualified by fulfilling the following requirements:

o  Active license to practice medicine in USA

o  Approved residency and/or fellowship                                                      

o  Current primary ABMS Board Certification

o  Current ABMS – Pain Medicine Subspecialty Certification

o  Competency Certifications

               o  Competency Certification in Controlled Substance Management

               o  Competency Certification in Coding, Compliance, And Practice Management

o   Current FIPP Certification

To find out more about the ABIPP certification follow this link…ABIPP

AMA to Develop Pay for Performance Standards

WASHINGTON, Feb. 20 − The American Medical Association has signed a pact with Congress promising to develop more than 100 standard measures of performance, which doctors will report to the federal government in an effort to improve the quality of care.

In 2007, the agreement says, doctors will voluntarily report to the federal government “on at least three to five quality measures per physician.” The agreement also contains provisions that doctors “should receive” some additional payment to offset the costs of collecting and reporting the data.

Read this story in the New York Times online edition…

nytimes.com

In a related story, some physician organizations are upset with the AMA’s deal reached with lawmakers. Saying that “the AMA does not represent all physicians.”

Read this article in modernphysician.com

Doctors Say Medicaid Changes Will Hurt Patient Access

Low-income beneficiaries in the Medicaid program could be the big losers in premiums and co-payment revisions. Physicians fear the poor will not seek out care because of the increases.

The deficit-reduction legislation President Bush signed earlier this month will give states the option of increasing premiums and co-payments on most types of beneficiaries within the program. This legislation will also allow states to move beneficiaries into special managed care plans that could offer less-generous benefit packages.

Subscribers can read more on this story at: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/

Ask the White House

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) offers an online interactive forum called "Ask the White House" through which Web site visitors can submit questions to Administration officials and friends of the White House. On February 16, 2006, Michael Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, addressed questions concerning the President's health care proposals including transparency, Health IT, and other issues. Read Transcript

Technology Firms Pushing Tech Bonus Pay for Doctors

Three nationally prominent technology firms have launched a new incentive to financially reward doctors who use technology to share information and improve care. In a recent issue, the AMA News reported that the Silicon Valley Information Technology Pay-for-Performance Consortium initiative is composed of Cisco Systems, Intel and Oracle. Together they propose to offer $1.05 million to seven participating medical groups and independent practice associations I northern California that treat a large number of the technology companies’ employees.

Jeffery Rideout, M.D., Cisco’s corporate medical director, was quoted as saying, “The main goal of the program is to accelerate adoption and use of proven health information technologies such as electronic medical records and electronic prescribing.”

Subscribers can read more on this story at: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/

‘Highly Accessed’ Articles

More than 7,900 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. 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. See it at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcanesthesiol/

Also “highly accessed” on BioMed Central’s Musculoskeletal Disorders online journal site is the May 2004 article “Prevalence of facet joint pain in chronic spinal pain of cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions” by Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Mark V. Boswell, Vijay Singh, Vidyasagar Pampati, Kim S. Damron and Carla D. Beyer.  Musculoskeletal Disorders has been accessed by more than 19,000 people. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2474/5/15

You can also access the article, “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 by more than 9,500 people, and is available to open access on the BioMed Central Web site. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2253/3/2

Look For Your Pain Physician Journal

The January 2006 Pain Physician Journal (Volume 9, Issue 1) has been mailed out to all ASIPP members. You can also read the journal online by visiting the Pain Physician Web site:  http://www.painphysicianjournal