May 26, 2010
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New Bill Pushes Medicare Pay Cuts Out to 2014 |
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WASHINGTON -- Doctors would be spared from cuts in Medicare reimbursement until 2014 under a new bill that Congress is expected to take up before Memorial Day.
The bill -- known as the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010 -- would enact tax cuts and extend a number of expired federal programs. It would also stave off a 21% cut mandated by the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula, according to an outline of the bill, released Thursday by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Sander Levin (D-Mich.).
MedPage Today |
Early Registration for 12th Annual ASIPP Meeting Ends June 4 |
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Register today to attend ASIPP's 12th Annual Meeting, June 26-30, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, VA. Early deadline for room booking ends June 4.
The meeting features three separate sessions focused on the Future of Interventional Pain Management: Evidence-Based Medicine, Comparative Effectiveness, and Practice Management; as well as several prominent speakers including 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.
The meeting also offers 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.
Get out your dancing shoes for Sunday's gala celebration themed 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.
Then on Monday, politics comes to the forefront with the cosponsored ASIPP and NANS legislative session.
As an added incentive, those who participate in the Capitol Hill sessions will receive a $100 discount on the meeting fee and will be reimbursed for the two-night hotel stay (Monday and Tuesday) required for the Capitol Hill visits. An additional $50 discount will be given if you register before June 5. As always special rates are offered to fellows and medical students.
Register Today! |
NANS and ASIPP Join Forces for Legislative Session |
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New this year, the North American Neuromodulation Society and the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians are joining forces to bring to you the 12th Annual Legislative Session.
ASIPP's 12th Annual Meeting turns its focus to Capitol Hill beginning Monday June 28 and culminating with visits from and to legislators Tuesday June 29 and Wednesday June 30.
On Monday, June 28, make plans to attend the legislative prep sessions that will arm you with the knowledge and know-how to take our key issues to your legislative leaders. Tuesday morning beginning with breakfast on the Hill followed by visits from several Senators and Representatives.
As an added incentive, those who participate in the Capitol Hill sessions will receive a $100 discount on the meeting fee and will be reimbursed for the two-night hotel stay (Monday and Tuesday) required for the Capitol Hill visits. An additional $50 discount will be given if you register before June 5. As always special rates are offered to fellows and medical students.
All NANS members may register at ASIPP membership rates for the 12th annual meeting and Legislative Session.
For Capitol Hill security purposes, if you plan to attend the Legislative sessions, please inform our office and provide your name and address. This pertains to those who are just coming to the congressional speeches as well as those who will have scheduled meetings with their state's government officials. Call or e-mail Cindy Rogers: 270-554-9412 ext 208 or crogers@asipp.org
You won't want to miss this historical event. With NANS and ASIPP as cosponsors, this year promises to be the best and most productive meeting to date. Register today to secure your place in this event!
Register Today. |
Experts: 'Doc Fix' a Budget Band-Aid |
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The Medicare "doc fix" is back in play on Capitol Hill, and its mere mention provokes a torrent of scorn and vitriol rarely seen among the generally mild-mannered community of policy mavens who inhabit the nation's think tanks and universities.
"It's one of the worst pieces of legislation I've ever seen," said Stuart Altman, a former adviser to Congress on Medicare who now teaches health policy at Brandeis University. "I don't think I've ever felt so vindictive about a piece of legislation in my life."
Politico |
Two Chances to Participate in Webinar on Practical Documentation, Billing and Coding. |
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Make plans today to attend Practical Documentation, Billing, and Coding for Interventional Techniques: A Sensible, Safe Approach from 6 pm to 730pm CST June 9 or 10 am to 1130 am CST June 10.
This webinar is intended to present interventional pain management specialists, billing and coding personnel, and other health care providers an in-depth review of interventional pain management documentation, billing, and coding.
Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti will address the following key points:
- Discuss documentation
- Review practice management topics
- Discuss coding and billing
- Examine compliance issues
Cost for the webinar is $165. The Institute for Medical Studies designates this educational activity for a maximum of 1.5 AMA PRA Category 1 CreditsTM. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
Register today! |
Join Us in Chicago in August: 3 Courses, One Location |
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Make plans now to attend of one ASIPP's comprehensive courses to be held in the Windy City August 9-14. Meetings will be held at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel.
Comprehensive Pain Medicine and Interventional Pain Management 2010 Board Review Course August 9-13, 2010 - Chicago, IL Register | Brochure
Comprehensive Review in: Controlled Substance Management August 9-10, 2010 - Chicago, IL Coding, Compliance, and Practice Management August 12-13, 2010 - Chicago, IL Register | Brochure
Register today |
Health Reform Costs could be $100 Billion More Than Forecast |
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Washington -- Amid the final push to adopt health reform legislation earlier this year, Congress' fiscal advisers weren't able to complete all of the cost estimates lawmakers requested. Republicans warned that Democrats and the Obama administration were moving too quickly to understand the law's impact.
Now a new Congressional Budget Office report estimates that the law authorizes at least tens of billions more in spending than previously thought, and Republican leaders are saying they were right. But an Obama administration official noted that much of the spending under question isn't new.
American Medical Association |
Imaging Likely to Feel Effects of Medpac Stark Laws Plans |
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In response to a dramatic increase in the volume and cost of diagnostic imaging and other ancillary services furnished to Medicare patients in referring physicians' offices, the Medicare Patient Advisory Commission is considering ways to rein in both. MedPac, which advises Congress on Medicare payment issues, is looking at a menu of changes to the Stark laws' in-office ancillary services exception (in-office exception) and certain physician payment reforms. While MedPac can only recommend, not enact, changes, its recommendations typically receive serious consideration from Congress and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and often become law.
If Congress or CMS were to adopt the more far-reaching changes to the in-office exception under consideration, it could determine whether Medicare patients receive imaging from radiologist-only practices, multispecialty physician groups, hospitals, or free-standing imaging centers. In addition, for manufacturers, the changes could reduce the size of the market for MR, CT, and PET imaging equipment by making it illegal, less profitable, and/or more difficult for physician groups other than radiologist-only groups to use the equipment to provide services to Medicare patients and other patients subject to states' "mini Stark laws."
Diagnostic Imaging News |
FDA Approves Intranasal NSAID |
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WASHINGTON -- The FDA approved ketorolac tromethamine (Sprix), a short-term use, intranasal painkiller for moderate to moderately severe pain, for use in patients who require an analgesic at the opioid level.
The drug is an inhaled form of a non-narcotic, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory injectable analgesic for use in ambulatory patients. Drug approval was based on two phase III, placebo-controlled clinical trials of a combined 621 adult abdominal (n=300) and orthopedic (n=321) surgery patients.
MedPage Today |
Some Say Government's New Strategy to Fight Drug Addiction Needs More Funding |
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The surgeon general will produce a report to try to focus attention on the escalating abuse of legal but dangerous prescription drugs. And federal officials are urging family doctors and public clinics to help detect addictions early by paying closer attention to whether their patients use illicit drugs.
Washington Post |
Recorded ASIPP Webinars Available |
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If you missed a previous ASIPP Webinar, you can still view it online or order the CD at http://asipp.peachnewmedia.com/store/provider/provider09.php?. If you had previously registered for the webinar and missed it there will be no additional charge and you can view it at your convenience. The pdf document of the powerpoint presentation is also available. If you need help to access the recorded version you can click HERE to contact our customer support team or call us at 1-866-702-3278.
If you did not register previously, you may order the recorded webinar and view it online at your convenience or order the CD. The pdf document of the presentation will be available, as will the CME and/or CEU credit certification.
Each new webinar will be archived for future reference or purchase. Current webinar topics available are:
- Staying Ahead Of Government Enforcement Efforts. Speaker: Vicki Mykowiak, JD
- Evidence-Based Interventional Techniques: An Algorithmic Approach To Keeping It Simple, Safe, and Successful. Speaker: Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, ASIPP CEO and Chairman of the Board
- Coding: Be Prepared for 2010. Speaker: Joanne Mehmert CPC, CCC-PM, ACS-PM
Order Webinar |
Using Web to Curb Waiting-Room Times |
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A new Web-based tool seeks to help patients spend less time in the waiting room before seeing their doctor. The application, called MedWaitTime, allows patients to check before their appointment whether their doctor is running late, akin to getting a flight-status update before going to the airport.
Patients can access the site, medwaittime.com, up to two hours ahead of their appointment. If the doctor is running late, patients can be instructed to arrive later than their scheduled appointment.
Wall Street Journal |
Physicians Ask Patients: What is This Visit Worth? |
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How much do patients think primary care is worth? A handful of physicians decided to find out by asking patients, for one day, to pay only as much as they could.
"We were talking on a [practice management] listserv about how underappreciated primary care is and how underreimbursed we are," said Gary Seto, MD, a family physician in South Pasadena, Calif. "And someone posed the question that it would be interesting to experiment and see how people really value primary care. What would happen if patients paid whatever they thought it was worth? And I thought I would give it a try."
American Medical Association |
Upcoming State Society Meetings |
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WVSIPP Plans Annual Meeting June 11-13, 2010
Mark your calendars now and make plans to attend West Virginia Society of Interventional Pain Physician annual meeting at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas, June 11-13, 2010.
Featured topics include SCS for Angina, Facial Pain, Peripheral Nerve Pain, Epigastric and Abdominal Pain, Pelvic Pain, Pulsed Radiofrequency, Minimally invasive techniques for spinal disease and much more. Session fees discounted for WVSIPP and ASIPP members. For more information email Michelle Byers, Director of Education: michellebyers@roadrunner.com To Register
NJSIPP Annual Meeting June 8
The New Jersey Interventional Pain Society will be holding its annual meeting on June 8th at the Pines Manor in Edison, NJ starting at 6:30 PM. Lectures will include Diagnostic Radiology
Training on reading MRI's for Extremities and the Use of Ultrasound for Diagnosis and procedures in the office. Legislative updates on the future of ASCs, PIP, and out of network insurance status Non Members Invited to attend and join Society. Call 732-297-2600 and ask for Lisa.
Mark Your Calendar for Georgia State Chapter Meeting
The Annual GSIPP meeting will be August 6-8 at the Lake Oconee Ritz-Carlton at Reynold's Plantation.
Click HERE for more information. Or contact Laurel Smith at lsmith@centersforpain.com. |
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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