• ASIPP 10th Annual Meeting Celebration
• Practice Management for Interventional Pain Physicians and Professionals
• Interventional Techniques
• Gala Celebration
• Abstract Presentations
• Legislative Session and Capitol Hill Visits

• Board Review Course
• Coding, Compliance and Practice Management
• Controlled Substance Management
• ABIPP Competency Examinations
• ABIPP Part I Examination

• Review Course and Cadaver Workshop

• Review Course and Cadaver Workshop In Spinal Cord Stimulation

Plans are underway for the ASIPP 10th Annual Meeting on June 21-25, 2008. This year marks an important milestone; ten years as "The Voice of Interventional Pain Management."

This year's highlights include:

• ASIPP 10th Annual Meeting Gala Celebration
• Practice Management for Interventional Pain Physicians and Professionals
• Abstract Presentations
• Awards
• Congressional Speeches
• Legislative Session and Capitol Hill visits
  

We encourage you to register soon as we must begin making Capitol Hill appointments. This year it is our desire to have representation for each state. We encourage to plan today to attend. If you have never visited Capitol Hill before, don't miss this opportunity. For those of you who have participated in the past, we don't have to tell you what a wonderful experience this will be.

Brochure and online registraion are now available.

Register Online Today!

Congress is currently discussing a Medicare reimbursement legislation to address the pending cuts. A decision will be made soon which means they need to hear form their constituents immediately. Senator Jim Bunning and Rep. Ed. Whitfield has created ASC language that if added on the the Medicare legislation, would save interventional pain management from the drastic cuts we currently face. We can not afford to put this off until a later date. This issue will affect your future as well as the future of your patients.

It is important that we begin contacting the members of the Senate Finance Committee immediately. The language must be added to the Medicare legislation by this committee before it can move forward. For committee members and contact information click here.

We need members who are constituents in the committee members' states to contact their senators as soon as possible. We have also created a new Capwiz letter in an effort to notify our legislators of this situation . We are facing devastating physician reimbursement cuts and even greater cuts to ASC and office-based procedures. While it may seem that ASCs are only the problem of those working in surgery centers, this is not the case. We must face the reality that our true problem is the consistent unfair cuts to IPM procedures ACROSS the board.

It will take a concerted effort on the part of the entire ASIPP membership if we are to get the ears and eyes of Congress and convince them to act. If someone on the committee is your state senator, please take the sample letter provided, place it on your letterhead and send it directly to him or her today. A direct call to their office is also encouraged. (contact information is provided in the links above).

You may send a letter addressing the issues through Capwiz: http://capwiz.com/asipp/issues/alert/?alertid=11058511&type=CO

Our government officals need to hear from our patients as well. This is easy to accomplish; print out the patient letter we have provided and ask all your patients to sign it (the last page of the word document for your state, see link in paragraph above). After you obtain these signatures your staff can send them as a Capwiz letter using the following link: http://capwiz.com/asipp/issues/alert/?alertid=11058731&type=CO

If you have any questions, call the ASIPP office for assistance: 270-554-9412.

ASIPP, AAPM, ISIS, the American Medical Association (AMA), and more than 70 other medical specialty societies are conducting a comprehensive multi-specialty survey of America's physician practices. From late January through late March, approximately 1,000 interventional pain management physicians have received survey packets from Dmrkynetec. If you recieved a survey ASIPP encourages you to participate.

We need at least 100 surveys to be completed and returned which is only one-tenth of the surveys mailed. To date, it appears that only 38 have been returned. As you know, this survey is conducted in combination by AMA, ASIPP, ISIS, and AAPM.

The results will be used to positively influence national decision makers to ensure accurate and fair representation for all physicians and patients, and to articulate the challenges of running a practice that provides expert patient care, while operating a business that is sustainable. Of particular importance is the section of the study pertaining to practice expenses and the amounts that are attributable to you. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has indicated that it will use the results of this study to help determine physician payment. The survey firm, dmrkynetec, will contact randomly selected physicians and practice managers to collect responses. All responses will remain confidential.

Please inform your staff of your desire to participate in this survey and the importance of accepting incoming calls, faxes or e-mails from dmrkynetec, the firm administering the survey.

If you have been selected to participate in this important effort and have any questions about this survey, please call 1-877-816-8940 toll-free and ask to speak with one of dmrkynetec's executive interviewers about the 2008 Physician Information and Practice Expense Survey.

For more information

Insurers won't pay claims with old IDs after May 23

Starting May 23, physicians must use only their National Provider Identifiers in place of any other IDs when filing all electronic claims and some paper claims with Medicare and other payers. The Bush administration already has extended this deadline by a year, but organizations representing doctors and others warn that even more time is needed before they will be ready to make the final transition. (Glendinning, AMNews, May 12, 2008 issue)

amdnews.com

If primary care physicians improved the way they refer patients to pain management specialists, effective therapies could begin early enough to prevent serious damage and the need for prolonged programs, experts believe. (Heller, Pain Medicine News, Volume 06:04)

(You can access this article by with a free registration)

Pain Medicine News

New Yorkers would be let in on the secret when their doctor is charged with misconduct under a proposal by New York Gov. David Paterson expected to be announced Wednesday.

The measure, already drawing concern among physicians, would end the protection doctors have had against disclosure of the charges until a final determination is made.

pressconnects.com

A physician who operated a clinic in San Fernando has been indicted on federal narcotics charges for allegedly writing prescriptions for the powerful and addictive painkiller oxycodone for people he did not examine and who simply paid him as much as $300 for a prescription.

DEA

An appeals court in Texas overturned a $7.75 million verdict against Merck & Co involving its withdrawn pain drug Vioxx ruling that evidence presented at trial failed to prove the medicine caused the heart attack suffered by the plaintiff's husband. (Reuters, May 14, 2008)

Yahoo.com

ASIPP's updated opioid guidelines were recently included on the National Guidelines Clearinghouse (PGC). Opioids in the Management of Chronic Non- Cancer Pain: An Update of American Society of the Interventional Pain Physicians' (ASIPP) Guidelines The authors are: Andrea M. Trescot, MD, Standiford Helm, MD, Hans Hansen, MD, Ramsin Benyamin, MD, Scott E. Glaser, MD, Rajive Adlaka, MD, Samir Patel, DO, and Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD

View Opioid Guidelines

More than 2% of all doctors practicing in New York state in 2007 landed on the state medical board's watch list due to problems such as substance abuse, mental health concerns or their professional conduct. The data, released by the Federation of State Medical Boards, shows that the percentage of doctors being monitored in New York was twice the national average and seventh highest among all states. (Hakim, The New York Times, May 7, 2008)

The New York Times

Take advantage of ASIPP's online payment method to renew your dues. It's quick and easy just click on the link below and submit.

No password is required to renew. If you have questions or need assistance contact the ASIPP office at 270-554-9412 Ext. 208

Renew Membership

Connecticut Pain Society to Meet May 15

Location: Sage American Grill & Oyster Bar / 100 South Water Street / New Haven, CT 06519 / 203-787-3466 / www.sageamerican.com

Agenda: Officer elections, ACOEM, WC, and a new PMP to begin July 1, 2008.

ASIPP is offering a new feature for those who advertise on our Postions Wanted section of the ASIPP Website. As a service to our advertisers and our members, we will list the link to each current job posting.

National Pain Institute — Florida

Fellowship Trained Physician — Northwest Indiana

Outpatient Interventional Pain Physician — Atlanta, Georgia

BC/BE Physiatrist — Shrewsbury, New Jersey

100% Pain Practice — Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Partnership Opportunity — Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Interventional Pain Physiatrist Wanted — Nevada

Interventional Pain Specialist — Bethlehem, Pennsylvania

Pain Management Opportunity — Pennsylvania

Interventional Pain Specialist — Paducah, KY and Marion, IL

Interventional Pain Medicine Physician — St. Cloud, Minnesota