In this issue

·  House Passes Bill to Delay Physician Pay Cut

·  Manchikanti to Present Webinar Tuesday on Evidence-Based Interventional Techniques: An Algorithmic Approach To Keeping It Simple, Safe, and Successful

·  With Senate 'Fixes' Bill, GOP Sees Last Chance to Change Health-Care Reform

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

·  Early Registration Deadline Tuesday for April Meetings

·  Submit your Abstract for Consideration Today

·  House Committee Adds Six More Major Changes to Reconciliation Bill

·  Timeline: How Health Care Reform Will Affect You

·  Employers Paid More for Healthcare in 2009

·  State High Court Overturns State's Tort Reform

·  Pain, Money Woes Among Factors in Utah Drug ODs

·  RAC Audits Now a Potential Risk for Physicians

·  Winners and Losers in the Affected Industries

·  Upcoming State Society Meetings

·  Physicians Wanted

House Passes Bill to Delay Physician Pay Cut

The House passed H.R.4851 Titled Continuing Extension Act of 2010 to provide a temporary extension of certain programs including the Physician Pay Cuts.

The bill now goes on to be voted on in the Senate. Keep in mind that debate may be taking place on a companion bill in the Senate, rather than on this particular bill.

3/16/2010--Introduced. Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to extend through April 30, 2010: (1) the 0% update to the conversion factor in the Medicare physician payment computation; and (2) the Medicare physical therapy services caps exceptions process.

Manchikanti to Present Webinar Tuesday on Evidence-Based Interventional Techniques: An Algorithmic Approach To Keeping It Simple, Safe, and Successful

The next ASIPP Webinar is scheduled for 7 pm ET March 30. Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Chairman of the Board, American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, will present a session on Evidence-Based Interventional Techniques: An Algorithmic Approach To Keeping It Simple, Safe, and Successful'. The webinar is worth 1.5 CMES

Cost for the 90-minute session is $145. Dr. Manchikanti advocates a step-by-step implementation of guidelines to apply pain management techniques based on the best available evidence. While it may not apply to every patient, the evidence-based approach promotes validity of treatment and compliance, while avoiding unnecessary procedures.

Discussion points will include:

• How Medicaid, Medicare and private insureres apply Evidence Based Medicine (EBM) and Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER)
• Comparative Effectiveness and The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009
• Daily reading strategies to stay current in EBM and CER

Register Here

With Senate 'Fixes' Bill, GOP Sees Last Chance to Change Health-Care Reform

Hours after President Obama signed sweeping health-care legislation into law Tuesday, the Senate began a debate on another piece of the package, giving Republicans one last chance to alter the bill before it begins to transform insurance coverage for millions of Americans.

In the short term, GOP senators are aiming to gut the "fixes" package, a 150-page addendum to the new health-care law. Because the fixes bill was written under special budget reconciliation rules, it cannot be filibustered. But Republicans vowed to take full advantage of their right to offer unlimited amendments, intending to sabotage the package and create turmoil among Democrats who are counting on its passage.

Washington Post

Make Plans 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. 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!

Early Registration Deadline Tuesday for April Meetings

There's less than one week to take advantage of ASIPP's special room rate. Make your plans today to attend the Comprehensive Review Course and Cadaver Workshop (Basic, Intermediate, and Comprehensive Interventional Pain Management Examination Preparation Course) or the Documentation for Dummies Review Course April 23-25, 2010 - Memphis, TN

Both meetings will be held at the historic Peabody hotel in Memphis and the MERI Center. Special room rate expires March 30, 2010.

The Documentation for Dummies session is not only an essential element in Interventional Pain Management, but also beneficial to you as a physician and to your practice. Coding, compliance, and practice management are areas which are critical to our field yet ones in which few have adequate training. In todays environment of ever-changing regulations and litigations, we cannot afford to ignore these important and complex subjects.

The intensive review course and comprehensive cadaver workshop is planned as a CME activity to prepare physicians seeking board certification by ABIPP, and/or as an in-depth review of interventional techniques. During this 2½-day event you can improve existing skills, learn new skills, prepare for the interventional techniques certification examination, or prepare for the board examination.

Click HERE to register for the Cadaver review course.

Click HERE to register for the Cadaver review course.

Register Online Today!

Submit your Abstract for Consideration Today

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.

This year we are offering an early bird deadline of March 31, 2010. This early deadline will ensure that your abstract gets first preference and an opportunity to grab one of our limited spots for presentation.

A final abstract submission deadline will be April 30, 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!

House Committee Adds Six More Major Changes to Reconciliation Bill

Before the House approved the reconciliation bill on Sunday, the House Rules Committee added provisions that will affect insurers and payments.

The Senate will debate these changes and the dozens of other provisions in the bill starting today.

Health Leaders Media

Timeline: How Health Care Reform Will Affect You

(CNN) -- President Obama signed sweeping health care reform into law Tuesday. The Senate must now pass a package of changes that will reconcile the differences between Senate and House bills. If those changes are worked out, here is how health care reforms will affect you:

CNN

Employers Paid More for Healthcare in 2009

ANN ARBOR, MI - Average healthcare costs for U.S. employers increased 7.3 percent in 2009, with small employers hit the hardest, according to Thomson Reuters.

The year-over-year healthcare cost increase topped the 2008 rate of 6.1 percent and occurred in a year when the U.S. inflation rate was negative, said Chris Justice, director of practice leadership for the Healthcare & Science business of Thomson Reuters and author of a new study detailing the cost increases.

Healthcare Finance News

State High Court Overturns State's Tort Reform

A unanimous Georgia Supreme Court on Monday struck down limits on jury awards in medical malpractice cases, the cornerstone of the state's sweeping 2005 tort reform law.

The state high court determined that a $350,000 cap on noneconomic damages, which includes compensation for a plaintiff's pain and suffering, violates the right to a jury trial as guaranteed under the Georgia Constitution.

Atlanta Journal Constitution

Pain, Money Woes Among Factors in Utah Drug ODs

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Financial troubles, chronic pain, substance abuse and mental illness are common factors among people who died recently after overdosing on prescription drugs in Utah, health researchers said Monday. Of more than 2,000 deaths reviewed by the state medical examiner's office between October 2008 and October 2009, 430 were drug overdoses. More than half involved only legal painkilling narcotics known as opioids.

Utah Department of Health officials are trying to understand why prescription-drug overdose deaths have jumped more than 500 percent over the last decade or so. Utah residents are now more likely to die from drug overdose than in a traffic accident.

Fox 13 Now Utah

RAC Audits Now a Potential Risk for Physicians

Earlier this year, two of the four RACs added Medically Unlikely Edits (MUE) to their list of CMS-approved issues. The approval of these issues now gives RACs a new set of issues to study, which includes physician services.

MUEs are units of service edits for HCPCS codes when a single provider / supplier render the services to a single beneficiary on the same date of service, according to CMS. Physicians are affected by the approval of MUEs by CMS.

HCPro

Winners and Losers in the Affected Industries

After more than a year battling Democratic health-overhaul proposals, insurers face changes that will reshape their market. But they also realize it could have been worse.

With the legislation and the expected package of changes, insurers stand to get more than 20 million new customers. New health-insurance "exchanges," where consumers can shop for policies, will provide an easy way to reach these new customers. And the penalty for people who don't buy in is somewhat tougher than laid out earlier.

Wall Street Journal