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!

Consumers continued to cut back on health care in 2010, which led to record-low growth in spending on physician services and moderate-to-low increases in spending on other health care services and products.

National health spending increased by 3.9% in 2010 to $2.6 trillion, nearly a repeat of 2009's historically low growth of 3.8%, according to an annual report released Jan. 9 by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of the Actuary and published in the January issue of the journal Health Affairs. The recession officially lasted from December 2007 to June 2009, but its impact on the health system is ongoing, according to the report's authors.

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.

Doctors are still injecting a steroid made by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in a way the company warns they shouldn't, following reports that patients have died or become paralyzed after receiving steroidal shots.

Bristol-Myers changed the label on its steroid Kenalog seven months ago to say that it's "not recommended" for injection into the epidural space near the spine because of "reports of serious medical events, including death," associated with administering steroids in that fashion. The label doesn't specify if Kenalog patients died and a spokesman for the company declined to comment.

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The American Medical Association (AMA) and 109 other medical societies are urging Congress to use a peace dividend from military pullbacks in Iraq and Afghanistan to underwrite the massive cost of repealing Medicare's sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for setting physician reimbursement.

The SGR formula calls for a 27.4% pay cut on March 1 unless Congress acts to avert it. Replacing the formula with something more equitable for physicians has bipartisan support. However, the cost of this move, put at $290 billion by the Congressional Budget Office if rates are merely frozen for 10 years, has deterred lawmakers from enacting anything other than short-term postponements of scheduled reductions going back to 2003.

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Five pain management physicians talk about the most important pain management research in 2011 and its impact on the specialty.

Email has been so commonplace for so long that some people consider it nearly obsolete. But in the health-care profession, its use for communications between doctors and their patients is still controversial.

Opponents worry that doctors can't read patients by reading their emails. Important signals can be missed, they say, when doctors can't see their patients' facial expressions, hear the tone of their voices or take note of their body language, and care can suffer as a result.

When looking at the medical liability landscape, doctors will see some recent victories fending off tort reform challenges.

California's $250,000 noneconomic damages cap -- long considered the gold standard among state tort reforms -- was upheld by an appellate court in September 2011. West Virginia's cap of the same amount was declared constitutional by the state's high court in June 2011.

In exchange for improving quality of care and reducing costs in Medicare spending, it seems sensible to reward successful doctors and hospitals with higher reimbursements for their efficiency. But the Congressional Budget Office has found otherwise.

After reviewing the outcomes of 10 major "value-based" payment programs that were also evaluated by independent researchers, the CBO determined that on average, these incentives did not produce significant spending savings Most of the corrections have little effect on 2012 rates, according to the report.

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Dozens of people have been indicted in several cases involving the illegal distribution of prescription drugs, federal authorities said Friday.

Fifty-one people have been indicted in six cases, including one dubbed Operation Big 80s in which 23 people were charged, according to information made available during a news conference hosted by U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas Christopher Thyer.

"I can tell that a conservative estimate is that we are talking about tens and tens of thousands of pills," Thyer said. "Operation Big 80s alone there were over 10,000 pills ... This truly is a serious problem in this state."

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.