·  ASIPP Offically Gains Seat in AMA House of Delegates

·  Obama pitches health care reform to MDs

·  Malpractice Lawsuits Are 'Red Herring' in Obama Plan

·  ASIPP Annual Meeting - Few Openings Remain

·  Have a RAC Question? CMS Has Some Answers

·  Congress want to boost MedPAC's power over pay

·  Board Review Course to be held in New Orleans

·  Bills Would Help Resolve Medicare Payment Disparities in CA, But Not Other States

·  Comprehensive Review Course Registration Now Open

·  5 answers to your recession questions: Tips to keep your practice solvent

·  FDA Approves Injectable Form of Ibuprofen

·  New Jersey Society Biannual Meeting Tomorrow Night

·  GSIPP 5th Annual Summer Meeting

·  Physicians Wanted

ASIPP Offically Gains Seat in AMA House of Delegates

Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD and Ramsin Benyamin, MD attended the 2009 AMA Annual Meeting and the House of Delegates meeting in Chicago this past weekend. Manchikanti and Benyamin serve as the ASIPP delegate and alternate, respectively.

ASIPP's seat was offically recommened and approved during the meeting. Additionally Dr. Benyamin served as the ASIPP representative for American Medical Association's Pain and Palliative Medicine Specialty Section Council (PPMSSC).

Thanks again to all the members who made this seat possible by joining the AMA. We will provide a detailed report of the meeting in the upcoming ASIPP News.

Obama pitches health care reform to MDs

President Obama on Monday dangled the prospect of larger earnings for doctors who treat patients in government programs in a reformed health care system, but drew boos from members of the country's largest physician group when he told them he wouldn't limit malpractice lawsuits that drive up their insurance rates (Haberkorn, The Washington Post, June 16, 2009).

The Washington Times

Malpractice Lawsuits Are 'Red Herring' in Obama Plan

Protecting doctors from lawsuits may do more to gain political cover for President Barack Obama's health-care overhaul than to rein in medical costs (Nussbaum, bloomberg.com June 16, 2009).

While Obama vowed to address physicians' malpractice worries in a speech yesterday, annual jury awards and legal settlements involving doctors amounts to "a drop in the bucket" in a country that spends $2.3 trillion annually on health care, said Amitabh Chandra, a Harvard University economist. Chandra estimated the cost at $12 per person in the U.S., or about $3.6 billion, in a 2005 study. Insurer WellPoint Inc. said last month that liability wasn't driving premiums.

Bloomberg.com

Have a RAC Question? CMS Has Some Answers

While none of the newest Recovery Audit Contractor FAQs released by CMS-it published 15 in the last week-are particularly surprising, they are perhaps a sign that CMS is continuing to make every effort to share RAC information providers need to know through as many channels as possible (Kraynak, HealthLeaders Media, June 11, 2009).

CMS Questions and Answers

HealthLeaders Media

Congress want to boost MedPAC's power over pay

Saying it's time to give the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission more power while shielding the panel from special interests, Sen. John Rockefeller (D - WV) recently introduced legislation that would establish MedPAC as an independent executive agency.

MedPAC currently exists as a legislative entity that advises Congress on Medicare payment policies.

amednews.com

Board Review Course to be held in New Orleans

The 2009 ASIPP Board Review Course will be held on August 11 -15 in New Orleans. The ABIPP Part I Examination will take place on August 16 following the review course. Online registration for the review course is now available. You must submit an application to sit for the ABIPP Part I Exam.

This intensive review course is designed to present interventional pain physicians with an in-depth review of multiple areas of interventional pain management. The course will feature many nationally known experts in IPM, controlled substance, billing and coding, healthcare law, and other areas.

The course will be held at the Astor Crowne Royal. A discounted room rate of $109 is available until July 10. Call 504-962-0500 and tell them you are booking under the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians.

Brochure

Register Online

Bills Would Help Resolve Medicare Payment Disparities in CA, But Not Other States

Doctors in 14 urbanized California counties applauded bills introduced Thursday by Rep. Sam Farr and Dianne Feinstein that would revise the rules that underpay physicians for treating Medicare patients by redefining their practices as more expensive and urban, instead of rural (Clarke, HealthLeaders Media, June 11, 2009).

Instead of paying doctors based on an algorithm called the Geographic Practice Cost Index or GPCI, Medicare fees would be based on costs according to the Metropolitan Statistical Index, which is updated annually and is a more accurate recognition of expenses in urban environments

HealthLeaders Media

Comprehensive Review Course Registration Now Open

Online registration is now open for the 2009 Comprehensive Review Course and Examinations in Coding, Compliance, and Practice Management & Controlled Substance Management.

The course will be held at the Astor Crowne Plaza in New Orleans on Aug. 11 - 16. This intensive review course is 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 Controlled Substance Management course will be held on Aug. 11-12 with an optional exam on Aug. 13. The Coding, Compliance, and Practice Management section will begin on Aug. 14-15. The examination for this section will be held on Aug. 16.

For brochure, registration and hotel information go to ASIPP Meetings.

Register Online

5 answers to your recession questions: Tips to keep your practice solvent

The financial questions physicians previously asked consultants were focused on ways to optimize revenue. Now those same questions are being asked so practices can keep from closing their doors (Berry, American Medical News, June 15, 2009).

"The recession is fortunate for my practice. I seem to be very busy," said Jamie Claypool, president and founder of J. Claypool Associates, a practice management consulting firm based in Spicewood, Texas.

amednews.com

FDA Approves Injectable Form of Ibuprofen

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Caldolor, the first injectable dosage form of the common pain medication ibuprofen, to treat pain and fever.

"Injectable ibuprofen and other nonsteroidal anti- inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are promising pain management options," said Bob Rappaport, M.D., director, Division of Anesthesia, Analgesia and Rheumatology Drug Products in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "But until now there were only oral forms of most NSAIDs. An injectable ibuprofen product can provide patients with relief from pain and fever when they cannot take oral products."

FDA