March 15, 2006

New Medicare Price Review Panel Proposed  

Washington – Physicians are nervous over MedPAC’s plans to change the review process for medical service values but enthusiastic over the call for an overall 2.8% medicare raise.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) called on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to establish an expert panel to help identify physician services deemed overvalued by the government. Other than this special review panel CMS receives service weighting advice from the American Medical Association’s Relative Value Scale Update Committee (RUC), which consists of a panel of practicing physicians who represent a broad range of medical specialties.

RUC panel specialists have in the past tended more readily highlight services for which Medicare pays too little rather than for those who the program pays too much, according to MedPAC’s March annual report to Congress. MedPAC’s proposed solution is to have a seprate panel whose members have a different perspective on medicare payment.

Despite calling for the extra check on the RUC review process, MedPAC is not saying physicians as a whole are being adequately reimbursed. Instead of the roughly 5% overall rate reduction set to go into effect on 2007, the commission is calling for a 2.8% increase based on growth in practice costs.

Subscribers can read more at: American Medical News

ASIPP to Offer Associate Certificates to Non-Physicians

In a regularly scheduled meeting, ASIPP Board of Directors voted last night to allow non-physicians to sit for exams that could render associate certification in controlled substance management and fluoroscopy.

ARNP’s, PA’s, RN’s, and LPN’s will now be allowed to, not only participate in the controlled substance management review course, but also to sit for the exam. Upon successful completion, these non-physicians will earn an Associate Certificate in Controlled Substance Management. Also voted on and overwhelming passed, RT’s, MA’s, and NA’s, along with ARNP’s, PA’s, RN’s and LPN’s, will now be offered the opportunity to test for an Associate Certificate in Fluoroscopy.

ASIPP Chief Executive Officer Laxmaiah Manchikanti explained that the board had approved the certification in order to teach non-physician healthcare professionals needed interventional pain knowledge that would benefit not only themselves and their overseeing physicians, but also the field of Interventional Pain Management and the patients who are treated. “What we will be teaching the non-physicians is the knowledge not the techniques,” Manchikanti stressed.

Subspecialties on the Rise

While the number of family medicine residency programs declines, the numbers for subspecialties are going up.

Based on data from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, Graduate Medical Education Data Resource Book 2004-05, the AMA News reported recently on the rise in subspecialties. During the academic year 2004-05, 150 resident programs won first-time accreditation. Most of these programs were in subspecialties. At the same time, 70 programs lost accreditation. Family medicine saw the most losses as eight programs, or 2% of all family medicine residencies, closed. Here are some of the top gainers among the newly accredited programs.

See ACGME

Harvard – ASIPP Epidural Steroid Injection Practices Survey

Practicing Interventional Pain Physicians are invited to participate in a nationwide survey regarding epidural steroid injection practices. This is a Web based survey with 73 questions that can be completed in one or multiple sittings with the use of a username and password.

To participate, use the following link: http://www.solutionslabs.com/survey_portal.html You will get a box explaining that the site certificate is self-signed. Choose “Accept” - you'll then receive a prompt for a username and password to gain access to the site.

The username is: esisurvey

Password is: participant

Once inside the survey space (which resides in an internal server for security purposes), you may register a private username and password which will enable you to take the survey completely or stop mid-survey and continue later as time allows.

Thank you for you anticipated participation. If you have any questions or concerns, please send them to the following e-mail address esi_survey@solutionslabs.com

Make Plans to Attend ASIPP Annual Meeting- Register Online

The ASIPP 8th Annual Meeting and SIPMS 1st Annual Meeting will be held on June 24-28 in Washington, DC. Along with the Annual Meetings, plan to attend the Legislative Session and take part in the Capitol Hill visits. This year promises to be a memorable event with the second day of our legislative session moving to Capitol Hill.

On Tuesday, June 27, the ASIPP annual meeting will convene in the Cannon Caucus Room on Capitol Hill where we will be honored with the presence of several congressional speakers. This will be an informative and exciting event and we encourage you to register early.

The Annual Meeting Brochure along with registration and hotel information can be found on the ASIPP Web site. Register online today!

ABIPP Part I To Be Administered in August

ABIPP Part 1 exam will be administered in St. Louis on Aug. 10, 2006 and registration is still open.  The minimum requirements for eligibility are:

1. A primary ABMS board certification.
2. An active license to practice medicine in the United States.

For more information regarding eligibility or the ABIPP exam follow this link…ABIPP

Comprehensive Pain Medicine Board Review Course

In conjunction with the Aug. 10 ABIPP Part I examination, ASIPP is offering a Comprehensive Pain Medicine Board Review Course on Aug. 5 – 9 in St. Louis. This five-day intensive Board Review Course is a CME activity to prepare physicians seeking board certification, re-certification, or can also serve an in-depth review of the specialty of pain medicine.

For more information on the review course or to register on-line, visit our Web site…Meetings

Intensive Review Course Open to Internists and Family Practitioners

The Intensive Certification Review Courses in Controlled Substance Management and Coding, Compliance and Practice Management, which will be held in Chicago on May 4-8, will now be open to Internists and Family Practitioners. Review Course brochures will be mailed to Internists and Family Practitioners within a 100 mile radius of Chicago.

This four-day intensive review course is intended to present interventional pain management specialists and other healthcare providers an in-depth review of multiple areas of interventional pain managements.  Early registration discount is available until March 31.

To view the May brochure or register online, go to meetings on the ASIPP Web site.

ABIM to Link Board Certification to Pay-for-Performance

Physicians  will be able to use the performance data they report to maintain their board certifications also to qualify for bonus payments, the American Board of Internal Medicine announced last month.

The performance measurement known as the Comprehensive Care Practice Improvement Module (PIM) will be recognized by the Bridges to Excellence (BtE) as part of their pay-for-performance (P4P) programs. The link between PIM and BtE will reduce the measurement burden internists face, and make it much easier for them to apply for recognition by BtE.

Bridges to Excellence is an influential private sector purchaser that rewards providers for high quality care. Read the ABIM press release…

‘Highly Accessed’ Articles

More than 7,900 people have accessed the article “A randomized, controlled trial of spinal endoscopic adhesiolysis in chronic refractory low back and lower extremity pain,” earning it a “highly accessed” flag on BioMed Central’s online journal, Anesthesiology. The article, authored by Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Mark V. Boswell, Jose J. Rivera, Vidyasagar Pampati, Kim S. Damron, Carla D. McManus, Doris E. Brandon and Sue R. Wilson, has been on the web site since Aug. 1. The “highly accessed” graphic appears on the journal’s table of contents and search results to identify those articles that have been especially highly accessed, relative to their age, and the journal in which they were published. See it at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcanesthesiol/

Also “highly accessed” on BioMed Central’s Musculoskeletal Disorders online journal site is the May 2004 article “Prevalence of facet joint pain in chronic spinal pain of cervical, thoracic and lumbar regions” by Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Mark V. Boswell, Vijay Singh, Vidyasagar Pampati, Kim S. Damron and Carla D. Beyer.  Musculoskeletal Disorders has been accessed by more than 19,000 people. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2474/5/15

You can also access the article, “Risk of whole body radiation exposure and protective measures in fluoroscopically guided interventional techniques: a prospective evaluation.” The article, written by Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Kim A. Cash, Tammy L. Moss, Jose Rivera, and Vidyasagar Pampati, was published in 2003, has been viewed by more than 9,500 people, and is available to open access on the BioMed Central Web site. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2253/3/2

State Society Updates

If your state society has any news you would like to share, please e-mail your news items to mmartin@asipp.org

The Massachusetts Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (MASIPP) will hold its annual meeting on April 8th at 12 p.m. at the Sheraton Framingham Hotel. ASIPP President Dr. David Kloth, will be the guest speaker. Officers will meet at 11 a.m. – the lunch meeting is free for all MASIPP members.

RSVP by April 1 to Jim Murphy via e-mail at: jmurphy@pain-management-center.com or by phone at 508.824.0035. To view the invitation click here…