Review Course in Vertebroplasty, Kyphoplasty, and Sacroplasty

On May 15-17, 2009, ASIPP will hold a specialty review course and cadaver workshop in Verbebroplasty, Kyphoplasty,and Sacroplasty. http://www.asipp.org/enews/art/art-Kyphoplasty-1.jpg

This intensive review course and hands-on workshop is a CME activity designed to prepare physicians seeking credentialing and as an in-depth review of vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty and sacroplasty. The 3-day event is an excellent way to begin learning new skills or to assist you in improving your existing skills.

This course is an excellent opportunity for educational and professional enhancement. At the conclusion of the course, in addition to your CME certificate, you will receive a certificate of completion.

Enrollment is limited and the early registration discount price ends on April 23.

Accommodations are at the Memphis Marriott Downtown. Call 901-527-7300 or 888-557-8740 and inform your booking agent you are booking under the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians to receive a discounted group rate of $169 per night (discount ends April 23).

Online registration is now open for the Competency Review Course and Examination in Controlled Substance Management. The course will be held in Memphis, TN at the Memphis Downtown Marriott on May - 15-17.

This intensive review course is planned as a CME activity to prepare physicians seeking competency certification and also to provide Interventional Pain Management Specialists and other healthcare providers an in-depth review of the important topic of controlled substance management.

The Controlled Substance Management course will be held on May 15-16 with an optional exam on May 17.

Accommodations are at the Memphis Marriott Downtown. Call 901-527-7300 or 888-557-8740 and inform your booking agent you are booking under the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians to receive a discounted group rate of $169 per night (discount ends April 23).

The good news for healthcare providers is that the $787 billion stimulus bill that President Barack Obama signed into law today includes an additional $87 billion for state Medicaid programs. Given Medicaid's dismal reimbursements, however, that's also the bad news (John Commins, HealthLeaders News, Feb. 18, 2009)

When Thomas A. Daschle, embroiled in controversy over failing to pay more than $100,000 in back taxes, stepped down two weeks ago as director of the White House Office on Health Reform and withdrew his nomination to be secretary of health and human services, it left a gaping hole in President Obama's leadership team, one that health-care advocates say has stalled what they hoped would be speedy action on high-priority measures.

Facet joint injections - a diagnostic and treatment technique for spine pain - is one of those sleeper areas that's become a target of the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) and at least one recovery audit contractor (RAC). It's attractive for Medicare watchdogs because of the high error rate fleshed out during a recent OIG audit, which touched on both coding and medical necessity.

"RACs are essentially bounty hunters, and their first targets will be low-hanging fruit, and this appears to be low-hanging fruit," says James Brown, M.D., billing compliance officer at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock. "Why should RACs go digging through new patient office visits, counting documentation elements - the presence or absence of which can be disputed - when they can go through OIG reports for a proven error-prone procedure [which has] relatively little documentation and high reimbursement?"

OIG Report

For more information on the subject read the Health Policy Review: Analysis of Growth of Interventional Techniques in Managing Chronic Pain in the Medicare Population: A 10-Year Evaluation from 1997 to 2006, Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, Vijay Singh, MD, Vidyasagar Pampati, MSc, Howard S. Smith, MD, and Joshua A. Hirsch, MD

The abstract and and full article can be found on Pubmed

Federal agencies are collaborating to address a deadly aspect of the use of opioids to treat pain -- the growing number of unintentional overdoses linked to this class of medications (Elliott, amednews, Feb. 9, 2009 online issue).

"We know that these drugs have important therapeutic uses," said Douglas Throckmorton, MD, deputy director of the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "We also know that there's abuse. There are overdoses. There's diversion that we don't want to happen."

For more information read the article: Increasing deaths from opioid analgesics in the United States: an evaluation in an interventional pain management practice.., Manchikanti KN, Manchikanti L, Damron KS, Pampati V, Fellows B.

For abstract go to pubmed

On November 20, 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved tapentadol for marketing in the United States as a prescription drug product for the treatment of moderate-to-severe acute pain. Tapentadol is a new molecular entity with centrally-acting analgesic properties.

Tapentadol shares substantial pharmacological effects and abuse potential with other schedule II opioid analgesics, e.g., morphine, oxycodone, and hydromorphone. The ability of tapentadol to produce psychological dependence is suggested by a level of drug liking comparable to that produced by hydromorphone.

Since tapentadol is a new molecular entity, there has been no evidence of diversion, abuse, or law enforcement encounters involving the drug. On November 13, 2008, the Assistant Secretary for Health, DHHS, sent the Deputy Administrator of DEA a scientific and medical evaluation and a letter recommending that tapentadol be

Written comments must be postmarked on or before March 19, 2009, and electronic comments must be sent on or before midnight Eastern time March 19, 2009.

A dozen federal agents stormed a South Florida office Feb. 11, 2008, to arrest a drug suspect. The alleged culprit was a state-licensed physician, charged with prescribing medication that caused the death of a man from Palm Beach County. When the case goes to trial in Miami federal court, it will fall to jurors to decide whether Ali Shaygan, MD, was a compassionate doctor looking out for his patients or a drug dealer peddling prescriptions to addicts for easy cash. His case is part of a national debate over who should set the standards for medical practice and how much responsibility doctors bear when they prescribe potentially deadly drugs (Blum, Sun- Sentinel, Feb. 18, 2009).

A federal appeals court said physician privacy dictates that a consumer group is not entitled to receive and publicize Medicare physician claims data. The court added that the information would not be of use to patients anyway (Silva, amednews.com, Feb. 16, 2009 Issue).

The Online Abstract Submission (see step-by- step procedures below) for the 11th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) is now open. The meeting will be held June 27- June 30, 2009 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, VA.

To be considered for a presentation at the meeting, abstracts must be submitted and completed by the submission deadline of April 20, 2009.

Blue Cross Blue Shield plans say hits to their bottom line will be felt throughout the health care system (Berry, amednews, Feb. 16, 2009 Issue).

Government medical advisers have recommended a ban on Darvon, a prescription medicine that's been used to treat pain for more than 50 years but left a trail of problems such as addiction and suicide.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted 14-12 to recommend withdrawing Darvon after a daylong hearing examining its risks and benefits. The FDA is not required to follow the recommendations of its advisers, but often does so.

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