October 20, 2010
Medical Liability Claims Information Survey Results Released |
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The AMA has released the medical liability claims information compiled from a Physician Practice Information (PPI) survey. The report was based on data collected in the 2007-2008 PPI survey, which was funded in part by ASIPP along with the AAPM, ISIS and ASA. This was part of a practice expense survey.
The claim frequency statistics in the attached figure are presented for each of 42 specialty categories, the same specialty categories for which practice expense and other data were submitted to CMS in 2009. The four measures of claim frequency are as follows.
Note that the terms "sued" and "subject to claims" are used interchangeably:
- The percentage of physicians that have ever been subject to a liability claim in their career to date ("ever sued");
- The percentage that have been sued two or more times;
- The percentage that have been sued in the last 12 months; and
- The number of claims per 100 physicians (career to date).
As you can see from the table, interventional pain medicine specialists ranked pretty well compared to anesthesiology and pain medicine, slightly below internal medicine. Obviously this may not give us any information, but that is what the statistics show.
American Medical Association |
Doctors Draw Payments from Drug Companies |
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Follow drug company money in Illinois, and it leads to the psychiatry department at Rush University Medical Center, a prominent headache clinic on the North Side of Chicago, a busy suburban urology practice and a psychiatric hospital accused of overmedicating kids.
In each of these settings, doctors are drawing an extra paycheck - worth tens of thousands of dollars a year or more - for speaking to other medical professionals about pharmaceutical products at company-sponsored, company-scripted events in Illinois and across the country.
The extent of these activities is only now coming to light as drug companies start publicly releasing data about their relationships with physicians, information that until now has been a closely guarded secret.
Chicago Tribune |
Comprehensive Review and Cadaver Workshop Early Registration Discount Ends Oct. 26 |
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Register today to attend the Comprehensive Review Course and Cadaver Workshop in Interventional Pain Management on November 19-21 in Memphis, Tenn.
This course offers basic, intermediate, and comprehensive interventional pain management examintion levels to assure a focused learning experience.
With our excellent participant/instructor ratio, you will have the opportunity for personal interaction with our highly distinguished faculty of renowned teachers and lecturers, creating a thorough and compelling educational experience.
During the 2½-day Comprehensive Review Course and Cadaver Workshop, you can improve existing skills and/or learn new techniques. Whether you have been practicing interventional pain management for many years or are new to the field with basic skills, we are confident you will find this course and workshop to be beneficial - as it is essential that we continue learning and exploring new procedures and techniques in our specialty. Click HERE to register.
The course will take place at the Memphis Peabody on Friday and at the Medical Educaton and Research Institute (MERI) on Saturday and Sunday. The ASIPP discounted room block is available until October 26. Call 901-529-4164 for reservations.
Secure your spot by registering today! |
Coding, Compliance, and Practice Management Review Course |
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Register today to attend the Billing, Coding and Practice Management Review Course on November 19-20 in Memphis, TN. This will be the last time this year this course will be offered and it will only be offered one time next year (August 3-4 in St. Louis).
The course is designed to meet the unique billing, coding and practice management needs of interventional pain physicians, health care professionals, and their staff. experience.
The Comprehensive Review Course in Coding, Compliance and Practice Management 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 is an area which is critical to our field yet one in which few have adequate training. In today's environment of ever-changing regulations and litigations, we cannot afford to ignore this important and complex subject.
On Saturday evening, November 20th, we offer the opportunity for you to sit for the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians' Competency Examination. By successfully completing the coding, compliance and practice management competency examination, you are demonstrating to your colleagues, patients, insurers, payors, etc. that you understand the complexities of this aspect of our unique specialty. This examination will not be offered again until August 5, 2011.
Click HERE to register.Register by October 26 to receive a reduced registration fee and hotel discount.
Register Online |
CHFS Receives $1 Million Federal Grant for Planning for Health Insurance Exchange |
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The Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) Office of Health Policy has received a $1 million grant from the federal government to assist CHFS, the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet and the Department of Insurance with the cost of evaluating the health insurance market and developing plans to prepare for the operation of a state health insurance exchange. If the state determines it will operate an exchange, the grant will aid in funding planning activities for the development.
Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), health insurance exchanges are required by 2014, and will serve as a new competitive consumer center marketplace where individuals and small employers may purchase health insurance.
"CHFS and the Public Protection Cabinet, under the direction of Secretary Robert Vance and Commissioner Sharon Clark, are developing a plan to determine the infrastructure needed to examine the insurance marketplace and evaluate the technology solutions necessary to support a one-stop shopping opportunity to purchase health insurance," said CHFS Secretary Janie Miller. "Exchanges are designed to help individuals and small employers compare plans and identify options that best suit their needs."
Kentucky.gov |
Kentucky Medicaid Intensifies Waste, Fraud and Abuse Detection Effort through New Contract |
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FRANKFORT, Ky.- Governor Steve Beshear today announced the hiring of a company to serve as a watchdog to detect waste, fraud and abuse and protect the state's Medicaid program.
Kentucky executed a contract with Ingenix, a Minnesota-based company, on Oct. 4 to use the latest computer technology available to review medical claims from Kentucky Medicaid providers to stop waste and detect fraud and abuse. Its program integrity services will include running algorithms, mathematical formulas designed to detect abusive practices; conducting onsite audits, desk audits and pre-payment reviews; and recovering overpayments. Ingenix also has been charged with identifying policy and system issues and making recommendations for improvement, as well as keeping the Department for Medicaid Services apprised of any changes in federal regulations.
"In a program the size of Kentucky's Medicaid program, which continues to grow both in costs and people served, having the most vigilant waste, fraud and abuse detection system in place is critical," said Gov. Beshear. "This contract represents a multi-faceted and technologically sophisticated approach to detecting and remedying any unnecessary expenditures, and that is good news for Kentucky taxpayers."
Kentucky.gov |
Obamacare Mucks Up Boeing's Health Care Plan |
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WASHINGTON - Aerospace giant Boeing is joining the list of companies that say the new health care law could have a potential downside for their workers.? ?In a letter mailed to employees late last week, the company cited the overhaul as part of the reason it is asking some 90,000 nonunion workers to pay significantly more for their health plan next year. A copy of the letter was obtained Monday by The Associated Press.
?"The newly enacted health care reform legislation, while intended to expand access to care for millions of uninsured Americans, is also adding cost pressure as requirements of the new law are phased in over the next several years," wrote Rick Stephens, Boeing's senior vice president for human resources.? ?Boeing is the latest major employer to signal a shift for its workers as a result of the legislation, which expands coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people and ranks as President Barack Obama's top domestic achievement.
Earlier, McDonald's had raised questions about whether a limited benefit plan that serves some 30,000 of its employees would remain viable under the law. That prompted the administration to issue McDonald's a waiver from certain requirements under the law.
Spokeswoman Karen Forte said the Boeing plan is more generous than what its closest competitors offer, and the company was concerned it would get hit with a new tax under the law.?
The tax on so-called "Cadillac" health plans doesn't take effect until 2018, but employers are already beginning to assess their exposure because it is hefty: at 40 percent of the value above $10,200 for individual coverage and $27,500 for a family plan.
Fox News |
Deadline for IPM Practice Benchmark Survey Oct. 31 |
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The deadline has been extended to October 31, 2010 to complete the Interventional Pain Management Practice Benchmark Survey. We ask you to take a few minutes out of your day to complete this survey if you have not already done so.
This information will be utilized to determine data for interventional pain. There is no other source for this information in the Interventional Pain Management community and we must depend on one another for this key practice information.
Our purpose is to provide the ASIPP membership with timely information that you can use to compare your practice performance with your peers. The higher the level of participation, the more value the survey will have to our membership.
Please Send Completed Survey To: ASIPP Practice Benchmark Survey c/o Gary M. Janko Executive Vice President Pain Solutions Management Group 21 Eastman Avenue Bedford, NH 03110 or email to gjanko@painsolutionsusa.com
IPM Benchmark Survey |
Health Insurance Mandate Clears Legal Hurdle |
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A federal judge in Michigan has rejected a plaintiff's request for a preliminary injunction that sought to strike down the health system reform law enacted in March.
The Oct. 7 decision from Judge George Caram Steeh in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit is believed to be the first federal ruling on a component of the health reform law.
The Thomas More Law Center, a nonprofit Christian legal advocacy group in Ann Arbor, Mich., sued the government on behalf of itself, four individuals who are Michigan residents and federal taxpayers. The four individuals said they do not have private health insurance and objected "to being compelled by the federal government to purchase health care coverage."
AMA |
Physicians Wanted |
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Visit the ASIPP Web site to find available positions for IPM physicians.
Physicians Wanted |
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Copyright © 2008
American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians ®
81 Lakeview Drive, Paducah, KY 42001
Phone 270.554.9412, Fax 270.554.5394
E-mail asipp@asipp.org
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