The single-dose vial policy is causing a critical shortage of many essential drugs. As it stands now, physicians are unable to find certain anesthetic drugs. A shortage of contrast medium and other drugs is starting to develop and will lead to restricted patient access to much needed procedures. The single-dose vial guideline for infection control, as currently written, is very expensive, has not been proven to be necessary, and has caused escalating costs to physicians and patients alike.

ASIPP has been reaching out to Congress over the past few days and asking our members to so so as well. With your help, we have a good chance of changing this problematic policy but time is of the essence. We have only a few days to make a huge impact.

We are providing a link to sample letter, fact sheet, and the letter that members of Congress will be sending to Kathleen Sebelius. We have set up a new Capwiz letter on this issue. Please get your patients and staff involved as well. http://www.capwiz.com/asipp/issues/alert/?alertid=60484526&type=CO

You can obtain phone and fax numbers and physical addresses for call your senators and representatives on the ASIPP Web site. http://www.asipp.org/Alert.htm

Thank you to those who have already begun contacting Congress. Please continue to send more letters and get your patients involved as well. For those who have not yet acted, time is running out so please act today!

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, Chairman of the Board and CEO of American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), commended Kentucky Representative Brett Guthrie (R-2nd) for introducing bill, H.R. 3827, in Congress. The bill would repeal the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and comparative effectiveness research (CER) funding.

This bill is supported by ASIPP a national physicians group of over 4,500 members dedicated to the promotion, development and use of safe and appropriate pain treatments.

There's just one last day to take advantage of reduced registraiton and room prices for any of the three upcoming ASIPP conferences in sunny Phoenix.

ASIPP is offering three different courses in one warm and scenic location! Join us on February 24 at the beautiful Hilton Pointe Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix, AZ. Take this opportunity to not only break away from the cold and also earn CMEs.Register and book your hotel on or before Feb. 2 for a price reduction.

One venue, three courses:

Comprehensive Review Course and Cadaver Workshop in IPM Techniques - This 2½-day review course and workshop for basic, intermediate, and comprehensive IPM examination preparation (advanced) is designed for interventional pain physicians, as a review, skills improvement, or to assist in preparation for IPM practical examination.

ASIPP offers the most in-depth, comprehensive, and individualized program in interventional pain management, featuring maximum hands-on training with cadavers in a state-of-the-art facility and maximum ability to interact with other participants. Brochure and Registration for Review Course and Cadaver Workshop

Controlled Substance Management - The Intensive Course in Controlled Substance Management is designed for physicians in all specialties and who need or wish to increase their knowledge and ability to effectively prescribe and control medications without the potential for abuse. This course has been developed to enhance the physician's ability to effectively prescribe controlled medications, while minimizing their misuse whenever possible.

With increasing requirements, restrictions, and litigations at the national and statewide level, you can consider this course an investment. Brochure - Registration

Coding, Compliance, and Practice Management - This course is beneficial to all practices; HOPD, office-based, and ASCs. A perfect course for you and your staff to keep up with current aspects of practice management and the many coding and compliance changes that went into place on January 1, 2012.

Brochure and Registration

Make plans today to attend! We look forward to seeing you there.

Prominent researchers who allow themselves to be listed as authors of ghostwritten journal articles could find themselves in a world of legal hurt, an essay in PLoS Medicine argued.

If the articles include false or manipulated data on marketed products, "guest authors" could face litigation under several federal statutes, according to Xavier Bosch, MD, PhD, of the University of Barcelona in Spain, and two U.S.-based colleagues.

They suggested that such lawsuits may be the last hope for putting a stop to ghostwriting in medical journals.

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, Chairman of the Board and CEO of American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), commended Kentucky Representative Brett Guthrie (R-2nd) for introducing bill, H.R. 3827, in Congress. The bill would repeal the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and comparative effectiveness research (CER) funding.

This bill is supported by ASIPP a national physicians group of over 4,500 members dedicated to the promotion, development and use of safe and appropriate pain treatments.

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Five pain management physicians discuss the treatments for which they're having the most difficulty receiving pre-approval from payors.

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The crackdown on Florida's pill mills, rogue doctors and drug abusers - through a range of new legislation, law-enforcement efforts and other programs - is having a significant impact, federal officials say.

Sales of the painkiller oxycodone, one of the most-abused prescription drugs, dropped 20 percent last year in Florida, according to data released this week by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

SAN FRANCISCO - A quarter-century after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first prescription drugs based on the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, additional medicines derived from or inspired by the cannabis plant itself could soon be making their way to pharmacy shelves, according to drug companies, small biotech firms and university scientists.

A British company, GW Pharma, is in advanced clinical trials for the world's first pharmaceutical developed from raw marijuana instead of synthetic equivalents- a mouth spray it hopes to market in the U.S. as a treatment for cancer pain. And it hopes to see FDA approval by the end of 2013.

Sativex contains marijuana's two best known components - delta 9-THC and cannabidiol - and already has been approved in Canada, New Zealand and eight European countries for a different usage, relieving muscle spasms associated with multiple sclerosis.

More than 250 women, ages 18 to 44, took part in the study between 2005 and 2007. On average, they consumed 90 milligrams of caffeine a day, about the equivalent of one cup of caffeinated coffee.

Estrogen is the reproductive hormone produced by the ovaries.Asian women who consumed an average of 200 milligrams or more of caffeine a day (equivalent to about two cups of coffee) had elevated estrogen levels compared to women who consumed less. But white women who consumed the same amount of caffeine had slightly lower estrogen levels than women who consumed less.

If you're looking to advance your Interventional Pain Physician career by becoming an ABIPP Diplomate, then this is your year. And in our effort to better accommodate you, we are conducting more ABIPP Exams in more places throughout 2012. These ABIPP events are a critical part of reaching the highest standards of care and achieving your ABIPP Diplomate Certification.

We hope you will join us at one of our exciting and informative meeting locations to advance your career with an ABIPP Event. For more information contact Melinda Martin at 270-554-9412.

Click HERE to see the 2012 ABIPP opportunites

The FDA and representatives from the medical device industry have reached an agreement in principle on proposed recommendations for the third reauthorization of a medical device user fee program.

The recommendations would authorize the FDA to collect $595 million in user fees over five years, plus adjustments for inflation. Details of the agreement, such as the fee structure, are expected to be finalized soon.

Under a user fee program, industry agrees to pay fees to help fund a portion of the FDA's device review activities while the FDA agrees to overall performance goals such as reviewing a certain percentage of applications within a particular time frame.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Fuzzy math, Illinois State University's president called it. "Political theater of the worst sort," said the University of Washington's head.

President Obama's new plan to force colleges and universities to contain tuition or face losing federal dollars is raising alarm among education leaders who worry about the threat of government overreach. Particularly sharp words came from the presidents of public universities; they're already frustrated by increasing state budget cuts.

PAINTSVILLE, Ky. - More than two dozen law enforcement officers swarmed the Care More Pain Management clinic in Paintsville on Wednesday morning - the second raid in less than a year on a clinic that's under fire for allegedly doling out prescriptions for narcotics too freely.

Twenty-nine people were arrested outside the clinic, one on a drug-related DUI charge and most of the rest on outstanding warrants, said Dwayne Price, the Johnson County sheriff. The raid was part of an ongoing investigation by Attorney General Jack Conway's office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration into doctors who allegedly over-prescribe pain medications.

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.