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·  Arkansas Orthopedic Surgeon Sentenced to 10 Months in Prison for Fraud

·  New Jersey Anesthesiologist Charged with Conspiring to Sell Prescription Drugs

·  Deadline for IPM Practice Benchmark Survey Next Friday

·  Doctor Convicted on Violating KASPER

·  Medicaid EMR Guidelines Spell Out State Help for Doctors

·  Opinion: The Medicare Reform illusion

·  Study: Dramatic Shortage of Anesthesiologists, Surplus of Nurse Anesthetists Projected by 2020

·  HHS to Help Keep Heath Insurance in Place for Early Retirees

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Arkansas Orthopedic Surgeon Sentenced to 10 Months in Prison for Fraud

A federal judge has sentenced a Fayetteville surgeon Friday to 5 months in prison and 5 months in home detention with electronic monitoring after being charged with health care fraud.

Dr. Robert J. Tomlinson, 51, is an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in knee and shoulder sugeries. According to United States attorneys, Tomlinson would perform surgeries and bill federal insurance programs like Medicare and Medicaid for services that were not performed.

In addition to his prison term, he is ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $66,497. After his 10 month term is up, he will also serve a term of three years supervised release.

Becker's Orthopedic & Spine Review

New Jersey Anesthesiologist Charged with Conspiring to Sell Prescription Drugs

Anesthesiologist Barry K. Ray Jr., MD, of Tinton Falls, N.J., has been charged with conspiring to sell prescription drugs, according to a news release from the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office.

Dr. Ray was practicing at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune City, N.J., until the charges were filed, which resulted in his termination. An undercover detective met with Dr. Ray, who provided prescriptions for pain medications for a fee based on the number of pills sold by the detective, according to the release. Dr. Ray received more than $1,000 for the purported sales of the pills by the detective. During a lawful search of Dr. Ray's home, other violations were discovered.

Becker's ASC Review

Deadline for IPM Practice Benchmark Survey Next Friday

This is your chance to get the voice of Interventional Pain Management heard. Please participate in the second Interventional Pain Management Practice Benchmark Survey. 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.

We urge you to complete the attached Interventional Pain Management 2010 Practice Benchmark Survey and send to Gary Janko at the earliest possible date, but certainly by the submission deadline of September 10, 2010.

Doctor Convicted on Violating KASPER

Aug. 21--HARTFORD -- A jury has found Dr. Eric Norsworthy, a Beaver Dam physician, guilty of distributing prescription information about a woman who sued him, claiming Norsworthy sexually abused her.

But Norsworthy and Cynthia Likens, a member of his staff, were found not guilty of 13 counts of illegally accessing the Kentucky All-Schedule Prescription Electronic Records database, or KASPER. Norsworthy had been accused of accessing KASPER, a state prescription drug database, to examine the pharmaceutical usage of Connie Fulkerson, who told the Kentucky State Police she had been fondled by Norsworthy during an medical examination on Feb. 20, 2007.

Over the next 13 months, Norsworthy's office accessed KASPER on multiple occasions to look at Fulkerson's record and examined KASPER records for Fulkerson's husband and children as well. The KASPER reports were accessed during the time Fulkerson's complaint was being investigated by the Kentucky State Police and the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure and after Fulkerson had filed a civil suit against him.

Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer

Medicaid EMR Guidelines Spell Out State Help for Doctors

Washington -- The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has published details for state Medicaid directors on what they should expect from the federal government as they administer the Medicaid portion of the electronic medical records incentive program starting in 2011.

The incentive program stipulates that the federal government will pay the full cost of Medicaid bonuses to eligible physicians who adopt certified EMR technology in a way that meets the government's "meaningful use" criteria. It also will pay 90% of states' eligible administrative expenses. Aspects of the latter have been a source of particular confusion for state agencies, which is why CMS chose to issue the additional guidance on Aug. 17, according to policy experts familiar with the incentive program.

AMA

Opinion: The Medicare Reform illusion

Despite the report from Medicare's trustees this month that the hospital insurance trust fund will not be depleted until 2029, 12 years later than was predicted just last year, Medicare is no better off than it was a year ago.

The administration credits Medicare's seemingly healthier financial outlook to changes made by the new health-care law. In fact, the legislation has weakened the program. Worse, its changes create the perception of progress, making it more difficult to pursue the reforms that would put Medicare on sound financial footing so future generations of seniors will benefit.

The problem begins with double counting. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the health law will reduce Medicare spending by about $450 billion over 10 years. But all of those savings, plus massive tax increases, are used in the new law to pay for an expansion of Medicaid and a new entitlement program to subsidize insurance premiums for low-income households.

Washington Post

Study: Dramatic Shortage of Anesthesiologists, Surplus of Nurse Anesthetists Projected by 2020

A study by RAND Corp. finds a current shortage of 3,800 anesthesiologists in the United States and projects a possible shortage of 12,500 anesthesiologists by 2020, according a news release from the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

Assuming demand for anesthesiologists' services grows at the rate of 1.6 percent, RAND's baseline projection, the 2020 shortage would be close to 4,500 anesthesiologists; but if the growth in demand is assumed to be 3 percent to account for the aging population, the shortage could reach 12,500 anesthesiologists.

Becker's ASC Review

HHS to Help Keep Heath Insurance in Place for Early Retirees

The Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that some 2,000 businesses, local governments and union pension funds have been approved for a new program to help keep health insurance in place for early retirees.

The program, which was enacted as part of the health care reform law, provides $5 billion in financial assistance to help companies and organizations keep down the costs of coverage for early retirees age 55 and older who are not eligible for Medicaid.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the program would be an important "bridge to 2014," when government-run exchanges for health insurance will be in place to keep costs down for older workers.

HHS