After several months and thousands of e-mails, calls, faxes and letters, ASIPP secured an unprecedented 28 congressional signatures on a letter to CMS addressing the proposed changes to Ambulatory Surgery Center (ASC) Payments.

Congressmen Ed Whitfield and Frank Pallone took the lead on the letter with 26 additional representatives signing as well. Those signing on to the letter were (in order of signature): Frank Pallone, Jr, Ed Whitfield, Bart Stupak, John Shimkus, Janice Schakowsky, Charles "Chip" Pickering, Gene Green, John Sullivan, Mike Ross, Marsha Balckburn, Edolphus Towns, George Radanovich, Diana DeGette, Barbara Cubin, Bill Pascrell, Ron Lewis, Marion Berry, Rodney Alexander, Ben Chandler, Mary Bono Mack, Silvestre Reyes, Charles W. Boustany, Jr, Albio Sires, Howard Coble, Raul M. Grijalva, Peter T. King, Jim Ramstad, and Peter Hoekstra.

Additionally several representatives and senators sent individual letters to CMS Administrator, Kerry Weems. Two such letters were sent on ASIPP's behalf by Sen. Jim Bunning, Sen. Sherrod Brown. Rep. Ed Whitfield and Rep. Bart Stupak sent a joint letter.

Thanks to all the ASIPP members who took the time to contact Congress.

Registration is still open for the Spinal Cord Stimulation Review Course and Cadaver Workshop. The course will take place on Oct 24-26 in Memphis, TN at the Westin Memphis Beale Street and the Medical Education Research Institute (MERI).

The course is a CME activity that will cover all aspects of spinal cord stimulation and intrathecal implantable infusions systems, through didactics, extensive case discussions, faculty interaction and hands-on instruction.

The meeting will feature special lunch and dinner programs to provide you with even more information on the latest equipment and techniques of spinal cord stimulation. This is an educational opportunity that you won't want to miss!

Whether you have practiced spinal cord stimulation for many years or you are new to this procedure with only basic skills, you will find this course to be beneficial to you in building or refreshing your skills. A special certificate of attendance will be provided at the conclusion of the meeting.

For more information go to http://www.a sipp.org/meetings.htm

The Washington State Society has created a survey for Interventional Pain Medicine physicians for the purpose of gathering information from practitioners who have actual experience with Electronic Medical Records (EMR) and Practice Management systems.

The survey goal is to collect enough data to help those who are in the process of EMR evaluating systems for purchase. The results will hopefully help to minimize purchase mistakes and save IPM physicians time and money.

Click on the link the link below to particiapate in the survey and please share it with your colleauges.

A newly published study by the industry group, America's Health Insurance Plans, projects that the cost of Medicaid in the US will rise over the next 20 years to an unprecedented 3.7 trillion dollars, unless significant changes are made to the way Medicaid works. Here's what that means to the public in general and physicians in particular (DeJesus, MDInfo News October 1, 2008):

More people suffer from pain than from heart disease, diabetes and cancer combined, but many of the drugs used to relieve suffering are not completely effective or have harmful side effects.

Now researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the University of Helsinki have discovered a new therapeutic target for pain control, one that appears to be eight times more effective at suppressing pain than morphine. The scientists pinpointed the identity and role of a particular protein that acts in pain-sensing neurons, or nerve cells, to convert the chemical messengers that cause pain into ones that suppress it.

You might find your electronic medical record to be an efficient way to store patient data, but is that record legal? If it were subpoenaed, would it help you or hurt you in court?

These kinds of questions are emerging as more physicians go electronic. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, approved by the U.S. Supreme Court in December 2006, not only make any electronically stored data discoverable in a trial, but also open up physicians to several new liabilities inherent in the detail electronic data provides (Dolan, amednews, Oct. 11, 2008 issue).

A recent California appeals court ruling may limit the way hospitals impose rule changes on medical staff members. The decision said the hospital unfairly targeted one doctor without giving him a chance to meet its requirements.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal found that a hospital board's application of revised medical staff membership requirements was unreasonable because it unfairly singled out one physician without giving him an opportunity to comply. (Sorrel, Amednews, Oct. 13, 2008 issue)

amednews.com

In a survey, physicians were presented with two scenarios: In one, a child receives an overdose of insulin and is admitted to the intensive care unit, and in the other, a doctor overlooks a lab test and the child is hospitalized for a serious infection. The insulin overdose would be more apparent to the child's family, and that may partly explain why 75% of pediatricians said they would definitely report the insulin overdose to the child's family, but only 33% said they'd definitely report the overlooked lab test. The range of responses about whether and how to report such errors to patients is reflective of a medical culture that is only slowly moving toward transparency, and of an abiding fear of lawsuits among doctors, say the study's authors. (Goldstein, The Wall Street Journal Blog, Oct. 7, 2008)

More and more young people are finding it's often easier to get their hands on prescription pills than other drugs and this gives a whole new meaning to driving while intoxicated. (Hendricks, Heartland News, Oct. 7, 2008).

"The rise in prescription drug abuse is huge," said Jim Ray, program director of the Family Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau. "I would say 30 percent of our women here are prescription drug abuse only. I would say 80% have abused prescription drugs.

ASIPP is now offering a new feature for those who advertise on our Positions Wanted section of the ASIPP Website. As a service to our advertisers and our members, please find the link to each current job posting.

Fellows hip Trained Physician - Northwest Indiana

Out patient Interventional Pain Physician - Atlanta, Georgia

Pain Management Opportunity - Pennsylvania

Entrepre neurial Opportunity - Lake Tahoe, Nevada

Florida Opportunities

Pain Medicine Fellowship Program Opportunity

BC/ BE Physiatrist - Shrewsbury, New Jersey

Part nership Opportunity - Milwaukee, Wisconsin

100% Pain Practice - Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Natio nal Pain Institute - Florida

Interv entional Pain Specialist - Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

MAYO CLINIC - Cardiac Anesthesiologist

Interven tional Pain Physiatrist Wanted - Nevada