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American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians News | September 28, 2016
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National Coverage Analysis (NCA) for Percutaneous Image-guided Lumbar Decompression for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis (CAG-00433R)
CMS has proposed an extension of Coverage with Evidence Development (CED) and the introduction of new requirements for coverage for Percutaneous Image-guided Lumbar Decompression for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis. The recently completed CMS-approved study (MiDAS ENCORE) fulfilled the original requirements for CED as stated in the Decision Memo for Percutaneous Image-guided Lumbar Decompression for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis (CAG-00433N).
The results of this study and the existing body of literature clearly establish mild® as reasonable and medically necessary. Efficacy and safety are comparable or exceed currently covered surgical, interventional, and conservative therapies. As such, unrestricted coverage without the need for additional studies under CED should be granted. We therefore respectfully request that you change your draft coverage policy on PILD to a final coverage policy that grants full coverage for the mild® procedure without the requirement of doing another study. Not reversing this illogical and inappropriate decision is deleterious to patient access and investment in innovations.
Here is our draft comment letter to Tamara Syrek Jensen, JD, Director, Coverage and Analysis Group, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, on the Proposed Decision Memorandum for Percutaneous Image-guided Lumbar Decompression (PILD). The attached letter details our opposition to the proposed extension of Coverage with Evidence Development (CED) and the new requirement for coverage.
We need your support on this measure and we need to move quickly ahead of the upcoming comment period deadline. Please look over the letter and let us know if you would like to support this letter by having your name added.
For your name to be included, please send your name and those who are willing to sign on, including titles, as well as your city and state to Kasi Stunson at kstunson@asipp.org by October 2 at 5:00 pm CST.
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Room Deadline Extended to Oct. 5 for ASIPP® October Spinal Cord Stimulation Course
Register today to attend the
Spinal Cord Stimulation Cadaver Workshop and Online Lectures, Oct. 21, 22 in Orlando, Florida. The hotel for this meeting will be the Caribe Royale.
407-238-8000 Direct | 800-823-8300 Reservation
6850 Lake Nona Blvd, Orlando, FL 32827
Click HERE to register for the course
Click HERE to view brochure.
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Register for the ASIPP® Interventional Pain Management Hands-on Cadaver Workshop and Online Lectures set for Oct. 22 in Orlando, FL
Room Deadline Extended to Oct. 5!
This one-day hands-on cadaver workshop will be for Basic, Intermediate and ABIPP Exam Preparation (Advanced). The course includes video lectures and PDF copies of the video presentations.
407-238-8000 Direct | 800-823-8300 Reservation
6850 Lake Nona Blvd, Orlando, FL 32827
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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
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Start Planning NOW!
ASIPP® Abstracts Submission for 2017 Annual Meeting OPEN
Registration will be open for Abstract Submissions is now available.
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. Submissions will be in two categories: Resident/Fellow and Physician. Selected posters will be on display forall meeting participants during all breaks 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.
Click
HERE to submit and review this year's rules.
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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.
Related story:
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United States Settles False Claims Act Allegations Against Coastal Spine And Pain For $7.4 Million
Jacksonville
, FL
- United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces today that Physicians Group Services, P.A., doing business as Coastal Spine and Pain ("Coastal"), has agreed to pay $7.4 million to the government to resolve
allegations that Coastal violated the False Claims Act by performing medically unnecessary drug screening procedures.
The settlement relates to Coastal's use of "Quantitative Drug Tests," or tests that identify and count particles of illicit drugs in patients' urine. The use of quantitative drug tests - tests that are very specific and also very expensive - is appropriate only if there is reason to doubt the more general and cheaper qualitative drug test screens. The government contends that Coastal appropriately performed qualitative drug tests for its patients. However, the United States contends that, regardless of the result of the less expense qualitative test, Coastal performed and billed for quantitative drug tests for all patients. The government contends this was medically unnecessary, as there was no reason to question or further confirm previous qualitative urine drug testing screens.
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September ASIPP Podcast Available
On the September ASIPP Podcast we'll talk to Ashley Brenton, PhD of Proove Biosciences about genetic tests that can help you decide a patient's treatment plan; in the news segment we'll learn about a common NSAID that could be important in the fight against cancer, giving codeine to children, pain perception in patients with Alzheimer disease and more; and we'll end with a story about an elaborate cheating scheme during medical school exams.
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Technology and Health Care: The View From HHS
As the chief technology officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,Susannah Fox is carrying on a mission that has long been a passion: helping people navigate health care and related technology.
Before being tapped for the federal post last year, she briefly served as entrepreneur in residence at the health-care-focused Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, but had her longest tenure at the Pew Research Center as associate director of the Internet Project from 2000-2014. There, Ms. Fox, who has a degree in anthropology, pioneered research methods to explore how information technology and social media affect the health-care industry and the consumer health-care experience, with a special focus on finding innovative ways to deliver care to people living with chronic illness.
Access to this article may be limited
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Doctors spending over $32,000 on health information technology
Medical groups need to spend a lot of money to outfit, maintain and manage health information technology in their practices-more than $32,500 per year in for every single full-time doctor in the practice, according to a recent study.
Furthermore, that total, from a survey of physician groups conducted by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) of Englewood, Colo., may not even capture the true costs of technology.
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Medical Record Mix-Ups a Common Problem, Study Finds
A patient in cardiac arrest was mistakenly not resuscitated because clinicians confused him with a patient who had a do-not-resuscitate order on file.
Another patient was given an okay to undergo surgery based on a different patient's records and was found dead in his hospital room the next day.
Such patient-identification mix-ups are common and can have deadly consequences,according to a report from the ECRI Institute, a nonprofit research group that studies patient safety.
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Anthem, Cigna Have Accused Each Other of Merger Breach
Anthem Inc. and Cigna Corp. have accused one another of violating the terms of their merger agreement, according to a legal filing by the Justice Department, which is suing to block the health-insurance deal on antitrust grounds.
In the filing, Justice attorneys say that in a telephone conference on Aug. 16, Cigna's lawyers disclosed "further deterioration" in the relationship between the two companies, which have for months been engaged in behind-the-scenes sniping amid efforts to pull together their $48 billion deal. The filing says that the companies' in-house attorneys had apparently "exchanged letters accusing each other of breaching the merger agreement."
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State Society News
Please send your State Society meetings and news to: Holly Long at hlong@asipp.org
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Physicians Wanted To view or post a job, please go to: http://jobs.asipp.org/home To receive a member discount for posting a job, use member code: 20Member |
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