Washington -- The threat of an across-the-board Medicare physician pay cut was defused with just over a week to spare, but the congressional agreement only maintains rates for an additional two months before Congress must act again to avoid a steep reduction.

The House and Senate on Dec. 23 approved a two-month payroll tax cut extension package that included a two-month doctor pay freeze. That means physicians will continue to receive 2011 rates for Medicare services they provide through the end of February, and lawmakers will need to agree on a longer-term patch if they are to prevent the 27.4% cut from taking effect on March 1.

The course choices are: Comprehensive Review Course and Cadaver Workshop with basic, intermediate, and ABIPP preparation (advanced) levels; Coding, Compliance and Practice Management Comprehensive Review Course (Feb 24-25) Competency Examination - (Feb 26); and Controlled Substance Management Comprehensive Review Course - (Feb 24-25) Competency Examination - (Feb 26)

Take this opportunity to not only break away from the cold but also earn CMEs. Consider comimg early or staying over. Bring your family and stay and play!

Brochure and Registration for Review Course and Cadaver Workshop

Coding, Complinace, and Practice Management brochure and registration

Controlled Substance Management brochure and registration

NEW YORK - Drug companies are working to develop a pure, more powerful version of the nation's second most-abused medicine, which has addiction experts worried that it could spur a new wave of abuse.

The new pills contain the highly addictive painkiller hydrocodone, packing up to 10 times the amount of the drug as existing medications such as Vicodin. Four companies have begun patient testing, and one of them - Zogenix of San Diego - plans to apply early next year to begin marketing its product, Zohydro.

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There are lots of losers in President Obama's effort to remake the U.S. health care system, and chief among them are the doctors. But there are also winners, especially nurses and physician assistants (PAs). Indeed, nurses and PAs win big in part because doctors lose badly.

Surveys repeatedly show doctors are fed up with low reimbursement rates from Medicare and even lower from Medicaid, which have increasingly led doctors to no longer see new patients in those government-run plans. For example, a recent Texas Medical Association survey found that "34 percent of Texas doctors either limit the number of Medicare patients they accept or don't accept any new Medicare patients." Even more do not accept patients with Medicaid.

Valinda Parrish talks to her 60-year-old husband like a doting mother speaks to a child. "I am going to go outside for a little bit," she tells him. "Use your horn if you need me."

Rollie Parrish, nearly blind and in a wheelchair, toots the air horn he keeps on his lap if he wants something to eat or has to go to the bathroom. Four years ago, the Vietnam veteran had just spent a weekend deer hunting when he went to a hospital near his home in Nederland, Texas, for a shot of steroids to his neck to ease chronic pain. He suffered a stroke during the procedure, according to a lawsuit that was settled out of court."He knows what happened to him, and he is angry," his wife of 29 years said in an interview.

A surge in steroid injections to alleviate back and neck pain in the U.S. is bringing with it an increase in severe and unexpected complications, including paralysis and death. Reports of the side effects have prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to review the safety of steroid injections into the epidural space near the spinal cord, in consultation with an advisory group, the agency confirmed. Some 8.9 million Americans received the shots last year.

"We used to say this is so safe," said James Rathmell, chief of pain medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and a member of the advisory group, who alerted the FDA to cases of such shots causing harsh complications. "It is a very rare event, but it is not zero, and it's devastating."

Booming Pain Market

The review comes during a boom in epidural shots, which take minutes to administer and bring doctors profitable reimbursements from Medicare and private insurers.

Steroid shots have become the most popular way physicians in the U.S. treat neck and back pain, according to research studies. One by Laxmaiah Manchikanti, chairman of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, found the number of such injections to Medicare patients increased 159 percent between 2000 and 2010.

Few major randomized, controlled clinical trials examine the effects of a drug in patients who have multiple chronic conditions, even though more than one-quarter of all Americans are living with at least two chronic health conditions, researchers reported.

The proportion is even greater for older individuals, two out of three of whom are likely to have at least two chronic health conditions, according to Alejandro Jadad, MD, and colleagues from the Centre for Health, Wellness and Cancer Survivorship at the University Health Network in Toronto.

That means that most trials on which the FDA bases its approval of new drugs are not generalizable to the U.S. population, they wrote in a research letter published in the Dec. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

ASIPP is pleased to announce the newly published patient education book, PAIN-WISE. It is the perfect tool to provide your patients the reliable information they need and deserve.

PAIN-WISE includes complete and authoritative information for your patients including:

• Identification of various parts of the body that can cause pain, using a simple anatomy guide Tips for getting the most out of doctor's visits * Basic explanations of common interventional pain management techniques * Information on minimally invasive surgery techniques
• Explanation of implantable therapies for the treatment of severe chronic pain

Written by three ASIPP members, PAIN-WISE was edited for clarity and conciseness and features numerous illustrations and photographs to help your patients better understand their diagnosis and treatment protocols.

PAIN-WISE is a comprehensive and affordable publication you can offer to your patients to help educate them on their path to wellness.

Here's How to Order

To enable ASIPP members to provide a copy of PAIN-WISE to each patient in their care, ASIPP has made available through the publisher, a very special discount. You can purchase these books at a discounted price of up to 50% off the $15 retail price. Your cost for this must-have ASIPP patient education initiative can be as low as $7.50 per copy plus shipping and handling when purchased in quantity.

Follow the link today to order online at www.hatherleigh.com or call toll-free 1-800-367-2550 (All royalties from sales of PAIN-WISE go to a national media campaign about pain awareness supported by ASIPP.)to place your order by phone.

FSIPP Annual Meeting Dates May 18-20, 2012

The Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians has set the date for their next annual meeting for May 18-20, 2012 at the Gaylord Palms, Orlando, FL.

Read more about the meeting and other activities going on in the state of Florida in their newsletter. Click HERE to read latest issue.

For a complete look at the May meeting schedule and CME information, click HERE

CASIPP Annual Meeting Dates Nov. 9-11, 2012

The California Society of Interventional Pain Physicians Annual Meeting of the will be Nov. 9 -11, 2012 at the Pelican Hill Resort in Newport Beach, CA.

Go to www.casipp.com for more information.

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