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November Courses in Las Vegas: 3 Choices
More information COMING SOON!
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2017 ASIPP Washington Legislative trip
Set for Sept 12-13, 2017
At no other time in the history of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians has it been more important for you, as members, to get involved in our advocacy efforts. Our specialty has been gravely affected by drastic and severe coverage cuts. These cuts so radical, they have hurt more than just our bottom lines; some practices and surgery centers have been forced to close their doors.
The election of President Trump and his appointment of Representative Tom Price as Health and Human Services Secretary and Seema Verma to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services have given us some hope and an opportunity to achieve some of our goals, and possibly reverse these cuts retroactively and reinstate the previous reimbursement or even improve reimbursement for 2018.
Now is our chance! Let your voices be heard!
We have scheduled a legislative conference September 12 and 13. To participate in this conference, you must to be in Washington on Tuesday, September 12 in order to attend the preparation session. Wednesday, September 13, we will head to Capitol Hill to hear speeches and meet with Senators and Representatives. Some appointments may continue through Thursday. If you would like to leave on Wednesday, please do not plan on leaving before 6 pm.
Each member is expected to visit two senators and one member of Congress for a total of three visits.
ASIPP will be booking a block of rooms for those who choose to attend. You will be responsible for travel expenses.
Please let us know as soon as possible if you will be attending so that we can begin making the appointments. Contact Kasi Stunson
kstunson@asipp.org.
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CMS To Revise Intercostal Neuralgia LCD
Once again, we are seeing what can be accomplished when action is taken at the grassroots level!
After we sent a letter from the ASIPP membership, as well as the state societies of interventional pain physicians of Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont, CMS has made the decision to revise the LCD to include intercostal neuralgia. Their decision came in a letter copied below:
Dear Dr. Manchikanti,
As requested, we will add ICD-10-CM code G54.8 which should represent intercostal neuralgia to the referenced LCD. The revised LCD will be published for October 1, 2017 due to coding changes related to the annual ICD-10-CM code update. However, the effective date for the aforementioned ICD-10-CM code will be retroactive to the original effective date of the LCD (i.e., May 1, 2017) which will be noted in the "Revision History Explanation".
Thank you for your interest in the Medicare Program.
Valerie
Valerie R. Krushinsky
Medical Policy Analyst
Medical Policy Unit
National Government Services, Inc.
So as you see once again, the efforts of ASIPP members and interventional pain physicians across the country have made a major difference and resulted in change that greatly impacts our specialty.
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Medicare Advantage Plans cover all Medicare services
Medicare Advantage Plans must cover all of the services that Original Medicare covers. However, if you’re in a Medicare Advantage Plan, Original Medicare will still cover the cost for hospice care, some new Medicare benefits, and some costs for clinical research studies. In all types of Medicare Advantage Plans, you're always covered for emergency and .
The plan can choose not to cover the costs of services that aren't under Medicare. If you're not sure whether a service is covered, check with your provider before you get the service.
Most Medicare Advantage Plans offer extra coverage, like vision, hearing, dental, and/or health and wellness programs. Most include Medicare prescription drug coverage (Part D). In addition to your Part B premium, you usually pay a monthly premium for the Medicare Advantage Plan.
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What Should We Conclude From ‘Mixed’ Results In Payment Reform Evaluations?
Now that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) repeal-and-replace process is coming to an end, perhaps it’s a good time to turn to an area of health policy where there is considerably more bipartisan consensus: payment reform. Even here, however, challenges remain. A recent spate of evaluations, reviews, and published perspectives have cast doubt on the promise and spending-reduction potential of
care coordination initiatives,
shared savings accountable care organizations (ACOs),
patient-centered
medical homes, and
bundled payments in particular. As the Trump administration, members of Congress, states, and other health care stakeholders formulate their own approaches to payment and delivery reform 3.0 (remember pay-for-performance?), it is important to avoid being overly discouraged in the face of the mixed results we have seen so far.
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Managed Care Companies Should Publish Lessons Learned From Studying Their Own Big Data
Act and pursued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the value and relevance of these data in improving health is likely greater than ever. That is why we agree that
managed care companies have an imperative to participate in quality improvement initiatives, conduct rigorous, transparent research with our data, and widely share and disseminate those findings so that others may learn from and build on our experiences. Managed care companies should publish findings on real-word effectiveness in their large beneficiary populations to quantify the benefits to individuals of specific population health initiatives.
Valuable Data
Data sources are myriad. They include claims from providers along with pharmaceutical and medical device purveyors that yield direct insights into patients’ use of products, services, and levels of care. Managed care companies also collect data from participants using web-based programs or mobile phone applications that motivate healthy behavior. Partnerships with provider groups also generate substantial clinical data from medical records. Companies already routinely use these data sources to assess quality improvement initiatives in an effort to achieve the triple aim of improved health outcomes, better patient experience, and lower costs, and to comply with reporting requirements of regulatory agencies such as the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set measures.
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The ‘Tanning Tax’ Is A Public Health Success Story
Among the lesser known provisions in the now-rejected
Republican House and
Senate health care bills was a plan to eliminate an excise tax on tanning bed use. Tanning first became fashionable
when Coco Chanel popularized the practice in the 1920s, making lounging outside in the sun a symbol of leisure, relaxation, and health. In the late 1970s, pioneering businesses began to offer ultraviolet (UV) radiation beds as a shortcut to fashionable tanned skin; by the 1990s, indoor UV tanning services were ubiquitous staples of the American beauty industry.
Despite its popularity, research has shown that exposure to UV radiation is the primary environmental cause of skin cancer and tanning beds are
“the main source of deliberate exposure to artificial UV radiation.” Melanoma risk is particularly high among individuals who use tanning beds for the first time before age 35. The practice remains
most common with female college students in the United States, with more than 50 percent reporting having used indoor tanning beds. Furthermore, despite their higher risk for melanoma, tanning companies aggressively target this demographic through the use of tailored marketing and advertising techniques.
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Public expects physicians, nurses to protect them during active shooting events
Results of a new national survey by the Hartford Consensus about views of the public and healthcare professionals on active shooter events in hospitals show that:
- 61% of the public and 62% of professionals believe physicians and nurses have a special duty to protect patients during an active shooting event.
- 39% of the public and 27% of professionals believe that physicians and nurses should accept a “high” or “very high” degree of personal risk to try to help patients who cannot get out of harm’s way.
- 45% of OR, 36% of ICU, and 22% of unit physicians and nurses believe a “high” or “very high” level of risk should be assumed to protect patients.
A total of 1,017 adults and 684 healthcare professionals were surveyed.
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Where to Cut Costs to Increase Boost Bottom Line
Although medical practices typically focus on billing and collections to maintain and increase income, they should not forget about reducing what they pay for pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and equipment, and other aspects of running a practice.
“For every dollar you bill, you get back 50 cents, but for every dollar you save, you get a dollar,” said Chris Zaenger, principle at Z Management Group Ltd, in Elgin, Illinois.
Zaenger said he got involved with helping doctors cut costs years ago when working with a large physician's office that did some of its own lab work and contracted out the rest. The doctors billed patients and the lab billed the doctors. The doctors then paid the lab for the tests. He found many mistakes. He went through 3 months of bills and found $30,000 in missed charges on $100,000 worth of labs. He also found incorrect lab codes and charges on the lab's bill for tests not ordered.
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JULY ISSUE NOW AVAILABLE!
Interventional Pain Management Reports is an Open Access online journal, a peer-reviews journal dedicated to the publication of case reports, brief commentaries and reviews and letters to the editor. It is a peer-reviewed journal written by and directed to an audience of interventional pain physicians, clinicians and basic scientists with an interest in interventional pain management and pain medicine.
We would like to invite you to submit research case reports, brief commentaries and reviews to
Interventional Pain Management Reports
Journal
. Your article will be published
‘
FREE’ of charge.
Led by Editor in Chief: Kenneth Candido, MD, Chairman and Professor, Department of Anesthesiology , Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, IPM Reports focuses on the promotion of excellence in the practice of interventional pain management and clinical research.
Interventional Pain Management Reports is an official publication of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) and is a sister publication of
Pain Physician.
Interventional Pain Management Reports
Interventional Pain Management Reports is an open access journal, available online with free full manuscripts.
The benefits of publishing in an open access journal that has a corresponding print edition journal are:
- Your article will have the potential to obtain more citations.
- Your article will be peer-reviewed and published faster than other journals.
- Your article can be read by a potentially much larger audience compared with traditional subscription-only journals.
- Open Access journals are FREE to view, download and to print.
So submit today your:
Case Reports
Technical Reports
Editorials
Short Perspectives
Click
HERE to read the Instructions for Authors for article submission
Click
HERE to submit a manuscript
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September 15-17, 2017: California
CASIPP 8th Annual Meeting
September 15-17, 2017 Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel
September: Michigan
The Michigan Society of Interventional Pain Physicians will meet Saturday, Sept. 23, 2017 at 11 am at Gilbert & Blake’s , 3554 Okemos Road, Okemos, MI.
Distinquished speakers will be Orlando Florete, MD, President of the Florida chapter and Shevin D. Pollydore, president of the Georgia chapter.
RSVP to liwan@javerypain.com
October 7, 2017: New York
The 2017 The Art and Science of Pain Management: A Clinical and Research Update will be Oct. 7, 2017 at The Gideon Putnam, 24 Gideon Putnam Road, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
The meeting is sponsored by Albany Medical College’s Department of Neuroscience and Experimental Therapeutics and the Office of Continuing Medical Education and the Albany Medical Center Provider Unit for Continuing Nursing Education. Registration Deadline is October 2, 2017.
For information regarding the conference, contact the Office of Continuing Medical Education by phone at (518) 262-5828, fax at (518) 262-5679 or e-mail at
pricej@mail.amc.edu.
Send in your state society meeting news to Holly Long, hlong@asipp.org
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The NIPM-QCDR, a new offering from ASIPP®, is specifically tailored for interventional pain physicians. Your practice can use the NIPM-QCDR to fulfill the 2017 requirements of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS).
- Meet CMS MIPS mandates for Quality and Improvement Activities
- Receive credit toward Advancing Care Information
- Report on specialty-specific measures developed by ASIPP
- Understand and adjust your 2017 performance to optimize future CMS reimbursement with real-time reports available on-demand
- Be better prepared for CMS quality reporting in future years when penalties and incentives get even larger
- Improve the quality of patient care in the specialty of interventional pain managementLearn more and get started with 2017 reporting by visiting ArborMetrix.com/NIPM-QCDR.
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