·  Register Today to Attend the Most Exciting ASIPP Annual Meeting Ever!

·  Recorded ASIPP Webinars Are Now Available

·  Join Us in Chicago in August: 3 Courses, One Location

·  Abstract Deadline Extended

·  More Doctors Are Prescribing Medicines Online

·  Congress Passes Legislation Protecting Physicians From Imminent Pay Cut

·  Safety on the Syllabus: Patient Safety Becoming Part of Medical Education

·  JAMA Urges Journals to Toughen Data Review

·  Chronic Pain Alters Experience of Acute Pain

·  Air Force Academy, VA Partner for Ambulatory Surgery Services

·  CMS Seeks to End Remittance Advice Confusion

·  Upcoming State Society Meetings

·  Physicians Wanted

Register Today to Attend the Most Exciting ASIPP Annual Meeting Ever!

Mark your calendars now to attend ASIPP's 12th annual meeting will be held June 26-30,2010 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City.

We are offering three separate sessions focused on the Future of Interventional Pain Management: Evidence-Based Medicine, Comparative Effectiveness, and Practice Management. We are building on the information presented last year, while encompassing the changes in the legislation and political environment. We have several prominent speakers in the line-up, such as, Dr. Roger Chou; Dr. Gabor Racz; Medical Economist CEO, J.D. Kleinke; Founder and President of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review; Deputy Assistant Administrator, and many others.

In addition to the information-packed presentations on EBM and Comparative Effectiveness, we will also offer a practice management series of presentations, which will cover the essential coding and compliance lectures. This series is ideal for physicians and is invaluable for their staff. You could easily consider sending your staff to this meeting as an investment. They will walk away armed with the information they need to better understand the billing and coding issues they face on a daily basis.

Since last year's gala celebration was such a success, we decided to reprise this event with a celebration in the theme of An Evening in the Windy City. The evening will start with a cocktail mixer and move right into dinner, a brief business meeting, awards, and then entertainment from comedian and hypnotist, Flip Orley. After this, we will crank-up the fun and begin an evening of socializing, dancing and celebrating.

New this year, the North American Neuromodulation Society and the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians are joining forces to bring to you the 12th Annual Legislative Session. On Monday, June 28, we will prepare for our Capitol Hill visits. Tuesday morning, June 29th, we will once again go as a group to Capitol Hill and make our voices heard. This is your opportunity to speak with your representatives and senators about the legislative issues that affect you and your practice.

For more information, click HERE for the brochure.

Mark your calendar today!

Recorded ASIPP Webinars Are Now Available

If you missed a previous ASIPP Webinar, you can still view it online or order the CD at http://asipp.peachnewmedia.com/store/provider/provider09.php?. If you had previously registered for the webinar and missed it there will be no additional charge and you can view it at your convenience. The pdf document of the powerpoint presentation is also available. If you need help to access the recorded version you can click here to contact our customer support team or call us at 1-866-702-3278.

If you did not register previously, you may order the recorded webinar and view it online at your convenience or order the CD. The pdf document of the presentation will be available, as will the CME and/or CEU credit certification.

Each new webinar will be archived for future reference or purchase. Current webinar topics available are:

• Staying Ahead Of Government Enforcement Efforts. Speaker: Vicki Mykowiak, JD
• Evidence-Based Interventional Techniques: An Algorithmic Approach To Keeping It Simple, Safe, and Successful. Speaker: Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, ASIPP CEO and Chairman of the Board
• Coding: Be Prepared for 2010. Speaker: Joanne Mehmert CPC, CCC-PM, ACS-PM

Order Webinar

Join Us in Chicago in August: 3 Courses, One Location

Make plans now to attend of one ASIPP's comprehensive courses to be held in the Windy City August 9-14. Meetings will be held at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel.

Comprehensive Pain Medicine and Interventional Pain Management 2010 Board Review Course August 9-13, 2010 - Chicago, IL Register | Brochure

Comprehensive Review in: Controlled Substance Management August 9-10, 2010 - Chicago, IL Coding, Compliance, and Practice Management August 12-13, 2010 - Chicago, IL Register | Brochure

Register today

Abstract Deadline Extended

The Online Abstract Submission (see step-by-step procedures below) for the 12th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) is now open. The meeting will be held June 26- June 30, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in Arlington, VA.

Abstract submission deadline will be May 21, 2010. Those selected will be notified and will receive free registration to the annual meeting.

Selected abstracts will be presented along with posters at the annual meeting on Saturday June 26 or Sunday June 27.

Submit your abstract today!

More Doctors Are Prescribing Medicines Online

Doctors are increasingly prescribing medications electronically, abandoning the traditional paper scripts that can result in drug errors due to hard-to-read writing or coverage denials by a patient's insurer, the Wall Street Journal reports. The number of e-prescriptions nearly tripled last year to 191 million from the previous year's 68 million, representing about 12% of the 1.63 billion original prescriptions, excluding refills, according to Surescripts LLC, whose online network handles the bulk of the electronic communications. For the first three months of this year, nearly one in five prescriptions was filed electronically.

About 25% of all office-based doctors currently have the technology to e-prescribe, more than twice as many as at the end of 2008, Surescripts says.

Wall Street Journal

Congress Passes Legislation Protecting Physicians From Imminent Pay Cut

On April 15, President Obama signed into law the Continuing Extension Act of 2010. This legislation extends through May 31, 2010, the zero percent update to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) which was in effect for claims with dates of service from Jan. 1, 2010, through March 31, 2010.

The law is retroactive to April 1, 2010.??The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has instructed Medicare contractors to begin processing claims under the new law for services provided by physicians, non-physician practitioners (NPPs) and others paid under the MPFS. Most claims with dates of service April 1 and later were held by Medicare in anticipation of congressional action. If Congress had not acted, payment rates for these services by physicians, NPPs and others who are paid under the MPFS would have been reduced, as required by a formula specified in the Medicare law.

CMS

Safety on the Syllabus: Patient Safety Becoming Part of Medical Education

Robert O. Bonow, MD, graduated from medical school in 1973. Caitlin Schaninger will graduate in June. Despite training in different generations, they see similar gaps in quality and safety education.

Much has changed in medical education in the nearly four decades that separate their medical school experiences

American Medical Association

JAMA Urges Journals to Toughen Data Review

Medical journal editors should require independent analysis of industry-sponsored trial data by an academic statistician before publishing results, according to an editorial published in the March 24/31 Journal of the American Medical Association.

The call comes in response to internal GlaxoSmithKline documents revealed as part of a February Senate Finance Committee report investigating the company's handling of data related to its diabetes drug Avandia (rosiglitazone).

American Medical Association

Chronic Pain Alters Experience of Acute Pain

Chronic pain may reverse the neural response to acute pain in some ways, researchers found.

The central nervous system sensory activation patterns and subjective sensation of pain were largely identical between healthy volunteers and chronic back pain sufferers in a brain imaging study reported in the April 15 issue of Neuron.

MedPage Today

Air Force Academy, VA Partner for Ambulatory Surgery Services

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - A $14 million cooperative venture between the U.S. Air Force Academy and the Department of Veterans Affairs will bring much-needed ambulatory surgical care to veterans in southern Colorado.

The program calls for the VA to provide seven registered nurses, two technicians, three nurse anesthetists and surgeons to the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based academy. They will join the academy's 19 active duty surgeons, plus academy nurses and technicians. The joint operation will also include services to families.

Funded by the Department of Defense and VA's Joint Incentive Fund, the program will enable venterans to undergo needed medical procedures for urology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, ear, nose and throat and general surgery beginning May 1.

Healthcare Finance News

CMS Seeks to End Remittance Advice Confusion

In a recently released transmittal, CMS has addressed an issue that has been a thorn in the side for providers since the RAC demonstration project.

Transmittal 659 addresses the issue of reporting of recoupment for overpayment on the remittance advice (RA). A remittance advice is a notice of payments and adjustments sent to providers, billers, and suppliers. After a claim has been received and processed, a Medicare contractor produces the RA, which may serve as a companion to a claim payment (or payments) or as an explanation when there is no payment

HealthLeaders Media