Applications are now being accepted for the FIPP (ABIPP Part II) examination to be held on March 11, 2007 in Memphis, TN. Successful completion of FIPP is a required component for the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP) certification.

Exam space is limited and only a few spots remain. To assure your place in the exam, immediate registration is encouraged. Upon the approval of your application, review material will be sent for examination preparation. For a copy of the Examination application, click here. For more details on the FIPP exam or to access click on the following link FIPP or contact Paula Brashear at (806) 743-3112 or paula.brashear@ttuhsc.edu

Along with the FIPP examination, ASIPP is offering the Interventional Techniques Review Course (March 9) and a Comprehensive Cadaver Workshop (March 10). Spaces are filling up fast so early registration is highly suggested. ASIPP has secured a group rate of $154 per night with host hotel Doubletree Downtown if booked by Feb 20th, 2007. Inform the agent you are booking for ASIPP. Online registration is now available. For information on the review course, cadaver workshop and exam, visit our Web site. Register Online today!

Our records show that over 120 physicians likely qualify for ABIPP certification but currently, 63 have applied for certification. Becoming certified is easy! If you have an ABMS specialty, an ABMS approved sub- specialty and have completed the FIPP examination as well as the (1) Coding, Compliance and Practice Management and (2) Controlled Substance Management certification examinations, all that remains for you to become certified is the submission of your application.

The application form should be completed and mailed along with the $100 application fee to 81 Lakeview Drive, Paducah, KY 42001

If you still need to complete the competency exams, you will have the opportunity to do so at the ASIPP Competency Review Course and Exams on April 12-17 in Orlando, FL. (see details below)

For more information visit our Web site or call the ASIPP office today!

ABIPP

Online registration is now open for the 2007 Competency Review Courses and Examinations in Coding, Compliance, and Practice Management & Controlled Substance Management.

The course will be held at the Caribe Royale Resort in beautiful Orlando, FL. The five-day intensive review course (April 12-16) is planned as a CME activity to prepare physicians seeking competency certification and to provide Interventional Pain Management Specialists and other healthcare providers an in-depth review of multiple areas of interventional pain management.

The Competency Certification Exams will be held on April 17. Register today for the review courses and exams!

Physician Registration
Non-physician Registration

Meetings

For months, high school sophomore Sara Corbett of New Hartford, Conn., had begged her mother for permission to get her tongue pierced. On Aug. 7, 2004, Sara's mother, Robin DeBaise, relented and the two went to nearby mall. (Leinwand, USA TODAY, Feb. 12, 2007)

The next day, Sara, 16, was in severe pain. At her aunt's house, she found a couple of methadone pills — amounting to twice the recommended dosage — and took them. She passed out and was rushed to a hospital, where she died.

As methadone has become more widespread — the number of pharmacy prescriptions for the drug increased fivefold from 1998-2002, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) — its drawbacks have become more apparent. Dozens of overdoses have been linked to such miscalculations, he says. Methadone is "being prescribed more frequently not only by pain specialists who know how to use it, but by general practice physicians, who may not," says Denise Curry of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Read more at USA TODAY

Health insurers are increasingly rating doctors and often charge patients a lower copayment to see those they deem exceptional providers. One Tacoma, Wash. doctor recently experienced the negitive side of this trend. (Agovino, Herald-Leader, Feb. 8, 2007)

Regence BlueShield and UnitedHealthcare informed Dr. Mike Kelly that he failed to qualify for their respective designations as a high-quality doctor.

"I did doubt myself initially when I got the letters," said Kelly, a family physician who is now suing Regence over its program. "But eventually I realized I didn't do anything wrong and I felt, 'how dare they do this?' I think it is all about money. They just want networks of doctors that don't spend a lot of money."

But insurersinsis that is false. UnitedHealth Group Inc., Cigna Corp., Aetna Inc. and WellPoint Inc., which all either started or expanded their physician quality ranking programs this year. They said the programs are an attempt to help employers struggling with rising health care costs ensure that their money is well spent.

Lexington Herald-Leader

Thirty states, have nominated interventional pain physicians to their state CACs. They are: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

States without representation may still nominate an interventional pain physician along with an alternate to their state Carrier Advisory Committees, according to the mandate in March, 2005 by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“This was an important victory that we had worked four years to achieve,” said Laxmaiah Manchikanti, M.D., chief executive officer of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, “so now every state needs to take advantage of it. Serving on these committees will improve our ability to participate in the decision-making and policy-making of Medicare and Medicaid, which will improve patient care and access.”

CACs are the vehicles by which Medicare Part B Carriers provide an opportunity for health care professionals in their state to offer input into the decision-making process, resulting in the creation of Local Carrier Determinations (LCDs), formerly known as Local Medical Review Policies (LMRPs). Interventional Pain Management is the 34th specialty with required representation. Prior to the March 2005 ruling, some interventionalists had served on CACs as representatives of anesthesiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation and neurology specialties. Those representatives may be re-nominated to represent IPM, or an additional interventional pain physician may be nominated.

If your state does not have CAC representation please consider filling this spot with a nomination. You may notify the ASIPP office for assistance in writing letters of support. If your state has CAC representation and is not included in the above list, please submit the representative’s name to ASIPP so that we might list them.

A sample nomination letter is available here.

The 2007 Guidelines have recently been accepted for inclusion in the National Guideline Clearinghouse. The guidelines are expected to be posted to the NGC site within a few weeks. In the meantime, you can access the 2007 Guidelines on the Pain Physician Web site.

If you are interested in working on future articles or systematic reviews for the Pain Physician journal, please contact Holly Long at hlong@asipp.org.

Pain Physician