·  Documentation for Dummies

·  Prepare Now for ABIPP II through October Cadaver Course

·  Health Care Proposal Mandates Coverage, Drops Public Option

·  Health Care Bill - Continue to Write Congress and White House

·  ASIPP Members Can Weigh In on IPM Topics for Radio Listeners

·  States Targeting Medicaid Physician Pay

·  Research Subjects Want to Know Investigators' Financial Ties

·  New National Survey Reveals Significant Decline in the Misuse of Prescription Drugs

·  Illinois Society Annual Meeting Oct. 6

·  Physicians Wanted

Documentation for Dummies

Documentation for Dummies course offers extensive and detailed sessions on coding for interventional pain management. This is a opportunity for you and your staff to gain new information and also to get answers for your troubling coding questions. Register

This course will be held on Oct. 9-11 in Memphis, TN at the the historic Peabody Hotel and will focus on the more practical aspects of coding and billing and the correct way to document medical necessity and indications.

The lectures will be given by the most experienced in the field. You will be taken through the proper evaluation and management services and documentation step-by-step process, leading to an algorithmic approach to interventional pain management.

This is a course you can't afford to miss!

Course details can be found online. Brochure

Register Today!

Prepare Now for ABIPP II through October Cadaver Course

Just a few openings remain for the October Comprehensive Review Course and Cadaver Workshop in Memphis. This is an excellent course to help you prepare for taking the ABIPP Part II practical examination, which will be offered April 25, 2010 in Memphis, TN. The Comprehensive Review Course and Cadaver Workshop in Interventional Pain Techniques will provide an opportunity for hands-on instruction in basic, intermediate or ABIPP Part II examination preparation.

The course will be held on October 9-11 in Memphis, TN, at the historic Peabody Hotel and the world famous Medical Education and Research Institute (MERI). With the choice of multiple experience levels, this course is ideal for those with more basic skills, desiring to develop new skills to those more experienced who are preparing to take the ABIPP Part II examination.

The ABIPP Part II practical examination will be offered for the first time through ABIPP on April 25, 2010 in Memphis, TN. ABIPP will accept the World Institute of Pain's (WIP) Fellow of Interventional Pain Practice (FIPP) certification as fulfillment of the ABIPP Part II for certification prior to April 2009. A revised application indicating this change is now available on the ABIPP Web site.

Per the request of ASIPP Board Member, Gabor B. Racz, MD, special consideration will be made for the 5 candidates for the FIPP examination this month in Budapest. The examination components will be reviewed and if all the regulations have been followed, this exam will be accepted. Absolutely, no FIPP certification will be accepted after September 2009.

Register Online Today

Health Care Proposal Mandates Coverage, Drops Public Option

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee unveiled a summary of his long-awaited health care reform bill Wednesday, setting the stage for a legislative showdown on President Obama's top domestic priority.

The chairman of the Senate Finance Committee unveiled a summary of the legislation after months of contentious negotiations conducted against the backdrop of often heated town hall forums across the country.

The proposal, crafted by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Montana, would cost $856 billion over 10 years and mandate insurance coverage for every American by 2013. It lacks a government-run public health insurance option favored by most Democrats and President Obama, but it contains provisions to meet other major goals for health care reform

CNN.com

Health Care Bill - Continue to Write Congress and White House

We know most everyone has strong opinions and great fears regarding the pending health care bill. We caution you to pay close attention to the bill; the progress, proposals, and debates.

There are some good aspects to the bill but unfortunately there are many bad aspects that could have dire consequences to our specialty of interventional pain management and the nation in general. Because of this, we urge you to contact Congress immediately and ask your government officials to say "no" to the health care bill as it is currently written.

Once again we have provided you a Capwiz link to send your message. While we provide sample text for those who chose to use it, the letter is editable and you should feel free to change it as you desire. The important thing is to let Congress know how you feel about the bill.

Capwiz link for physicians: http://www.capwiz.com/a sipp/issues/alert/alertid=13785876&type=ML

We also encourage you to get staff, patients and family to get involved. We have provided a link appropriate for non-physicians as well.

Capwiz link for non-physicians: http://www.capwiz.com/a sipp/issues/alert/?alertid=13805151&type=ML

ASIPP Members Can Weigh In on IPM Topics for Radio Listeners

Here's an opportunity to influence what the media provides by weighing in on IPM topics being considered for the satellite radio show, The Doctors.

"The Doctors," starting its second season, is inviting viewers to participate in producing some shows. Viewers logging onto http://www.thedoctorstv.com/produce will have the chance to tell the show's producers which topics they want covered on the show -- with some of those ideas morphing into actual episodes (based on votes cast by "The Doctors" production staff).

The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians is committed to promoting awareness and understanding of interventional pain management through a multitude of media events and public relations efforts. Do your part today.

www.thedoctorstv.com

States Targeting Medicaid Physician Pay

Several states have marked Medicaid physician pay for reductions to help cover billions in budget deficits.

Ohio, Arizona and Michigan, for example, have adopted 3% to 5% fee reductions that will translate into millions in physician fee cuts. The moves could signal an end to the wave of Medicaid doctor fee increases in recent years. The cuts might have been steeper without the $787 billion federal stimulus package, adopted in February, which included $87 billion to increase federal Medicaid matching rates by more than 6% through 2010. The federal government on average pays 57% of Medicaid costs.

But the act did not protect physician pay the way it guarded Medicaid beneficiary coverage. States accepting the additional federal funds must maintain or restore their Medicaid eligibility and enrollment standards to the same levels as they were on July 1, 2008.

AMednews.com

Research Subjects Want to Know Investigators' Financial Ties

Research participants want to be told about clinical investigators' financial conflicts, and sharing that information usually enhances trust, a new study says.

But researchers behind the five-year, $3 million Conflict of Interest Notification Study, or COINS, warn that disclosure should not be the only strategy used to protect human subjects from the potential harms posed by investigators' financial relationships with research sponsors. "Potential research participants value discussion of information regarding investigators' financial interests and research," said Jeremy Sugarman, MD, MPH, senior author of an Aug. 27 New England Journal of Medicine article summarizing the COINS findings. "At the same time, most financial interests are unlikely to affect their decision whether to participate in research."

AMednews.com

New National Survey Reveals Significant Decline in the Misuse of Prescription Drugs

The misuse of prescription drugs decreased significantly between 2007 and 2008 among those aged 12 and older, including among adolescents, according to 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). However, the national survey showed that the overall level of current illicit drug use has remained level at about 8 percent.

The annual NSDUH report which was issued by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at the start of the 20th annual National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month (Recovery Month) also indicated that progress has been made in curbing other types of the illicit drug use. For example, past month methamphetamine use among those aged 12 and older dropped sharply from approximately 529,000 people in 2007 to 314,000 in 2008. Similarly, the level of current cocaine use among the population aged 12 and older has decreased from 1.0 percent in 2006 to 0.7 percent in 2008.

Promising results from the latest survey also were also found for the most part among youth (12 to 17 year olds). Among youth there was a significant decline in overall past month illicit drug use, from 11.6 percent in 2002 to 9.3 percent in 2008. Although the rate of current marijuana use among youth has remained level at about 6.7 percent over the past few years there have been significant decreases in the current use of alcohol, cigarettes and non-medical use of prescription drugs since 2007. Non-medical use of prescription drugs dropped from 3.3 percent in 2007 to 2.9 percent in 2008.

www.samhsa.gov

Illinois Society Annual Meeting Oct. 6

The Illinois Society of Interventional Pain Physicians will hold its Annual Meeting at Nick's Fishmarket O'Hare in Rosemont, IL on October 6 at 6 pm. The featured speaker will be Leo Kapural, MD of Cleveland Clinic. Other speakers include Ramsin Benyamin, MD, ASIPP President, and Tim Lubenow, MD, Illinois State Society President.

Click here for more information

.

Physicians Wanted

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

Physicians Wanted