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American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians News | July 20, 2016
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Legislative Session and Capitol Hill Visits - Your Chance to Make Your Voice Heard
A legislative conference is scheduled for September 7 and 8. To participate in this conference, you must to be in Washington on Tuesday, September 6 in order to attend the 5 pm preparation session. We will have Capitol Hill visits and speeches, etc., on Wednesday morning and afternoon (Sept. 7). We will be preparing you for the presentation on Tuesday evening at 5:00 pm. We will be attending Capitol Hill with speeches in the morning of Wednesday and Capitol Hill visits with individual members of the Congress on Wednesday afternoon. Some appointments may continue through Thursday. If you would like to leave on Wednesday, please do not plan on leaving before 6 pm. If you want to stay, that would be wonderful as visits will continue on Thursday for those who are available to stay.
Each member is expected to visit two senators and one member of Congress for a total of three visits.
ASIPP will book and pay for your room at the Phoenix Park Hotel in Washington, DC. You will be responsible for your own travel expenses.
It is crucial that we have as many people as possible in attendance for this legislative conference. Please block your schedule as soon as possible so that you can attend.
While many of the members and committees are important, we are specifically focusing on the following senators and members.
Click here for the list.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you will be attending so that we can begin making the appointments. Contact Melinda Martin at
[email protected] to RSVP
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Blog: Holy MACRA! Half of docs have never heard of Medicare payment reform
Half of non-pediatric physicians have never heard of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015-a new CMS payment plan that will put 4% or more of their Medicare reimbursement at risk beginning in 2019, according to a new survey by Deloitte.
With CMS preparing final rules this autumn, just 21% of self-employed or small-group physicians and 9% of physicians employed by hospitals or larger groups were even somewhat familiar with the pending reimbursement changes, the survey showed.
Physicians with a high share of Medicare payments were just as clueless about MACRA as those with lesser exposures, Deloitte found. The consultancy surveyed 600 physicians through its Deloitte Center for Health Solutions.
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ROOM BLOCK ENDS JULY 27!
This comprehensive four day Regenerative Medicine Review Course. will run August 18-21, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada at The Caesars Hotel and the state-of-the-art Oquendo Center.
These unique courses meets the continuing needs of interventionalists, based on input and needs assessment over the years and are cutting edge educational programs. It entails two days of didactic courses and two days of hands-on workshops covering various aspects of regenerative medicine. The first two days involve comprehensive review courses in regenerative medicine and hands-on with live models.
This two day course is an essential component for interventional pain physicians and provides education opportunities to assist you in providing high-quality, competent, safe, accessible, and cost-efficient services to your patients. The next two days will be a Cadaver Workshop fashioned to techniques of regenerative medicine.
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Room Block Ends July 27! Click HERE for reservations at Caesar's Palace Las Vegas
This Hands-On Cadaver Workshop in Interventional Techniques, including online lectures will run August 20 through August 21, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada at Caesars Palace Las Vegas and the state-of-the-art Oquendo Center. These unique courses meets the continuing needs of interventionalists, based on input and needs assessment over the years and are cutting edge educational programs. It entails the equivalent of two days of online lectures and two days of hands-on workshops covering various interventional techniques.
The 2 day Cadaver Workshop involves comprehensive review of interventional techniques. This two day 2 day Cadaver Workshop is an essential component for interventional pain physicians and provides education opportunities to assist you in providing high-quality, competent, safe, accessible, and cost-efficient services to your patients. Online Lectures from a recent Interventional Techniques couse are supplied for viewing prior to the cadaver workshop and will be available indefinitely after the meeting.
The Cadaver Workshop is fashioned to accommodate training levels and capacity of participants. Physicians can choose from basic, intermediate, or ABIPP examination preparation course levels to mirror your needs and skill level. it registration
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Room Block Ends July 27! Click HERE for reservations at Caesar's Palace Las Vegas
The ASIPP®Comprehensive Review Courses and Competency Examination in Controlled Substance Management and Practice Management will be held in Las Vegas, NV, on August 18-20, 2016. These unique courses meet the continuing needs of interventionalists, based on input and needs assessment over the years and are cutting edge educational programs. They entail two days of didactic courses and a competency examination. Only physicians on the track to meet ABIPP requirements may take the combined examination. Others may take the single examination. The Practice Management course is so beneficial to practices, both officebased and ASCs, that many physicians send their staff early to keep them current on the cutting edge aspects of practice management.
These intensive review courses are designed to present interventional pain management specialists and other health care providers an in-depth review of multiple areas of interventional pain management-the areas we were never taught, yet are crucial for our survival. In addition to the review course, the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (for physicians) and the American Association of Allied Pain Management Professionals (for non-physicians) offers the opportunity for examination in order for physicians to obtain competency certification to and non-physicians to obtain associate certificates in Controlled Substance Management and/or Practice Management. Only physicians on the ABIPP track wanting to fulfill the ABIPP requirements may take the combined examination.
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Are You Ready for October 2016: Honeymoon is Coming to an End
Order Your Pocket Guide Today!
 October 1, 2016, is coming. Along with it comes the end of the honeymoon period for ICD-10-CM is also coming. It essentially means you have to get ready for proper coding for the upcoming years.
Starting October 1, 2016, you must have a specific diagnosis for each condition you treat and for each procedure you perform.
You don't need to hit the panic button; there is help for preparation. But you should act now!
You can be prepared for the challenges of ICD-10-CM by purchasing the most definitive ICD-10-CM resource for interventional pain physicians.
If you have not already purchased and reviewed the ICD-10-CM for Interventional Pain Management: A Practical Guide, a pocket guide which will fit nicely in your pocket, you should order it immediately, not only for yourself, but for your staff, electronic and hard copy versions.
This exhaustive guide for interventional pain physicians will assist you with numerous intricacies of coding for interventional pain management. If you are not immediately ordering this practice guide, answer the following questions:
1. If you perform caudal epidural injection and cervical interlaminar epidural injection in a cervical and lumbar post surgery syndrome patient, can you use the same code for both procedures and get paid?
2. Can you perform lumbar transforaminal epidural injections at L5 and S1 in a patient with lumbar radiculitis at L5 only?
3. Can you use disc herniation and radiculopathy codes in the same patient in the same region?
If you answer "yes" for any of the above questions, you urgently need to prepare yourself and review these guidance.
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ABIPP Certification Made Simple
The American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP) has developed certification programs that recognize accepted levels of knowledge and expertise in the interventional pain management profession, with the goal of improved patient care. Hundreds of qualified physicians have made the commitment to become ABIPP certified. ABIPP is recognized in 11 states. Ten states have no statutes governing specialty boards. Approval is pending in remaining states.
ABIPP is a Specialty Board providing certifications in the following areas:
Board Certification in Interventional Pain Management
Either with ABMS pain medicine board certification or ABMS primary certification only
Competency Certification in:
* Interventional Pain Management
* Regenerative Medicine
* Controlled Substance Management
* Coding, Compliance, and Practice Management
* Fluoroscopic Interpretation and Radiological Safety
* Endoscopic Spinal Decompression
Click HERE to view Pathway to ABIPP Certification
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Clinician calls for retraction of "flawed" BMJ study of medical errors in the U.S.
In a scathing blog post on the Pennsylvania Medical Society's website, Shyam Sabat, MD, associate professor of neuroradiology at Pennsylvania State University in Hershey, Penn., has called for a retraction of a study on medical errors published by the BMJ in May 2016.
The study, titled "Medical Error: The Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.," made national headlines with its conclusion that
medical errors kill more than 250,000 people annually in the United States, making medical errors the third leading cause of death in the country.
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California will get nearly $2 billion in uncompensated-care funds
meant to reform the state's
Medicaid program.
State officials were informed last week of the decision that seemed unlikely since the federal agency had been reluctant to pay for the uninsured now that the
Affordable Care Act has provided coverage to more Americans. Officials in Tennessee and Texas waiting to hear their fate on similar decisions are celebrating.
California had to make its case for keeping the funding. In 2014, the state expanded Medicaid to people who made 138% of the federal poverty level. That covered an additional 3 million people under Medi-Cal.
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ASIPP July Podcast Now Available
 On the July ASIPP Podcast, we'll be talking with ASIPP's current president, Dr. Aaron Calodney. Our news segment this time has a number of medical marijuana stories, as well as stories about depressed medical residents, a gene that holds the key to potential pain treatments, and more. Plus, how getting a tattoo could be the key to curing the common cold.
Click HERE to access podcast.
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TV Watching Stunts Bone Growth, Study Finds
Long periods of television watching could have the same negative effects on kids' bone growth as total bed rest, an Australian study found.
Australian research presented in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research shows decreased bone mass in young adults who spent more of their childhood hours in front of a television set.
Of more than1,000 young men and women scanned at age 20 those who had watched 14 or more hours of TV each week as children and adolescents had less bone mineral content than their peers.
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Start Planning NOW! ASIPP to Begin Accepting Abstracts for 2017 Annual Meeting
Registration will be open for Abstract Submissions beginning August 1, 2016.
The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians will hold its 19th Annual Meeting April 20-22 in Las Vegas at Caesar's Palace.
This year, we will be making significant changes to the Abstract and Poster Sessions. Anyone who submits their Abstract for consideration will be included in the electronic poster presentations. The posters are available to all meeting participants during all bring and meal times.
The Abstract Committee will select the top 25 for publication in Pain Physician and of those 10 will be selected for Abstract presentation and judging during the Annual Meeting. The top 3 will receive cash prizes.
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CMS Announces 2017 Proposed Fee Schedules
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the proposed payment rates for 2017 for physician payment, hospital outpatient department (HOPD) and ambulatory surgery center (ASC).
CMS proposed updating the HOPD rates by 1.55% in 2017, 1.2% for ASCs, and $35.78 a 0.15% reduction from $35.83.
Even though there are no major shockers, it is a mixed bag for interventional pain management on physician fee schedule.
One of the most important issues is that there are new codes for epidural injections with or without fluoroscopy. There is no significant change in payment, either for the procedure performed in a facility setting or office setting. It remains pretty much the same. There are small increases around 3% for the majority of the procedures performed in an office setting; whereas there are decreases of less than 2% for the majority of the procedures for physician fee.
Another good news at a smaller level is the approval of lumbar endoscopic decompression with a new CPT code and CMS coverage for the procedure: 630X1 Ndsc dcmprn 1 ntrspc lumbar
- ASC - $3,623.63
- HOPD - $5,199.03
- Physician - $688.31
On the HOPD and ASC front, HOPDs continue to do extremely well, whereas ASCs are losing some ground.
In this new schedule they also have equalized the payments for facet joint nerve blocks and epidurals as they were higher for facet joint nerve blocks in 2016.
One major blow is to one-day percutaneous adhesiolysis. CPT 62263 and 62264 face major cuts being paid the same as epidural injections and vertebral augmentation procedures with a 17% and 24% reduction. At this time, even 2 or 3-day procedure have taken a beating with the same reimbursement in ASC and HOPD for one-day or 2 or 3-day procedures. There are also multiple other changes where payments are less for sympathetic blocks and intercostal nerve blocks compared to epidural injections.
As days pass on we will send you further information on these issues. You will have the opportunity to comment on these issues and we will provide you the information on how to do so.
Following are the proposed fee schedules for physicians, HOPDs, and ASCs for interventional pain management procedures. Click below for schedules:
Physician Payment Rates
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Coprescribing Naloxone to Opioid Users Helps Reduce ER Visits
HealthDay News -- Patients on long-term opioid therapy who receive prescriptions for naloxone are less likely to return for emergency care related to opioid use, according to a study published online June 28 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
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Phillip Coffin, MD, of Substance Use Research with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and colleagues tracked outcomes after 38.2% of 1,985 patients on opioids for chronic pain at San Francisco clinics received prescriptions for naloxone.
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Patient's Death Lands Clinician in Court for Advising Cessation of Aspirin Therapy
Dr. L felt rushed. The 49-year old general practitioner always seemed to feel rushed these days. The primary care practice where she was employed had several physicians and nurse practitioners, but it never felt like enough. Dr. L often wished that she had a chance to more carefully review a patient's records, or spend more time speaking with a particular patient, but the crowded waiting room prevented it.
On this specific day, she wished that she had a little more time to look over her patient's chart before talking to him in the exam room. This particular patient, Mr. F, 59, had been in the hospital six days ago and this was his first appointment since being released. Dr. L tried to take a minute to review his records while her medical assistant was taking the patient's vitals, but there was a lot to look through.
"I heard you were in the emergency department last week," she said to Mr. F, as she skimmed the records sent from the hospital. "What happened?"
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Under-Utilization of Effective Pharmacy Programs to Identify Opioid Abuse
HealthDay News -- Pharmacy programs to reduce opioid abuse are effective but underused, according to a new study published in the July issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
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Stephanie Nichols, PharmD, of the Husson University School of Pharmacy in Bangor, Maine, and colleagues found that opioids were prescribed to 22.4% of Maine residents in 2014, enough to provide every person in the state with a 16.1-day supply. While that percentage is down slightly from 2010, "it is still a very large number," Dr Nichols said in a journal news release. However, even though Maine has had a prescription drug monitoring program since 2004, it was used by only 56.2% of 275 pharmacists surveyed by the researchers in 2014.
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