Rep. Scalise, Four Others Shot in Ballfield Ambush
Rep. Steve Scalise, a very good friend of ASIPP, is currently listed in critical condition after the shooting this morning during a practice for the Republican baseball team. Please join us in praying for Rep.
Scalise, who was shot in the hip by the gunman, in addition to the four others who were wounded during this terrible act of violence.
Rep. Scalise of Louisiana is the House Majority Whip and has been a faithful supporter of ASIPP on the Hill.
Here are more details in the story published in the Wall Street Journal today:
ALEXANDRIA, Va.—A gunman opened fire on a group of congressional Republicans during a Wednesday morning baseball practice, officials said, injuring the GOP’s third-ranking House member, Rep. Steve Scalise, and four others before he was mortally wounded by police officers. Mr. Scalise, a 51-year-old from Louisiana, was shot in the hip and was in critical condition after surgery, a Washington hospital said. Also injured in the shooting were a congressional aide, a lobbyist and two Capitol Police officers, according to officials.
Officials didn’t disclose a motive for the shooting, which they said was carried out by
James T. Hodgkinson, a 66-year-old home inspector from Illinois. A social-media profile purportedly belonging to Mr. Hodgkinson showed him to be active in several groups opposing President Donald Trump and Republicans.
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500,000 providers will get 2% payment cuts under Medicare's quality reporting system
More than 500,000 physicians and other providers face a 2% cut in their Medicare payments this year due to poor performance under the Physician Quality Reporting System.
Under PQRS, which is being phased out, clinicians choose from a list of quality measures they want to be evaluated by, such as how well they performed care management or if they helped patients keep their diabetes in check. The penalties are based on 2015 claims data.
Nearly 80% of the 501,933 providers—including physicians, chiropractors, optometrists and others—hit by the 2% decrease in reimbursement chose not to put an effort into complying with PQRS,
according to a June 9 report from the CMS.
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National Interventional Pain Management - Qualified Clinical Data Registry Receives CMS Approval
The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) with great enthusiasm announces today the approval of the National Interventional Pain Management - Qualified Clinical Data Registry (NIPM-QCDR) by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for the 2017 reporting year. NIPM-QCDR will assist interventional pain physicians fulfill requirements of the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) under the CMS Quality Payment Program (QPP).
The CMS-approved NIPM-QCDR will capture and analyze data that are clinically relevant and appropriate for interventional pain physicians. Physicians who participate in NIPM-QCDR will be able to understand and adjust their 2017 performance to improve patient outcomes and optimize future reimbursements under the CMS QPP. They will also be better prepared for CMS quality reporting in future years when penalties and incentives get even larger.
"Approval by CMS of the NIPM-QCDR is one of the most consequential achievements for the interventional pain management community. It is a historic achievement with approval of 70 percent of the proposed measures during the first year. The registry ensures the high quality of evidence based interventional pain management, benefitting interventional pain physicians in a multitude of ways, allowing them to avoid penalties, potentially gain large incentives, and maintain registries for multiple interventional pain management techniques. It will ultimately improve the quality of care with fewer hassles," said Dr. Laxmaiah Manchikanti, Chairman of the Board of ASIPP.
NIPM-QCDR will include general MIPS measures, as well as nine specialty-specific measures developed by ASIPP that are relevant, clinically appropriate, and meaningful to interventional pain physicians and their patients. To read all nine non-MIPS measures, click here.
Participate in NIPM-QCDR
For more information or to sign up for NIPM-QCDR, follow the link below, or register to attend an upcoming "Measure What Matters" webinar on Thursday, June 15.
Register for the upcoming webinar
Sign up for the NIPM-QCDR or request more information
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Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder Course: Waiver Qualifying - July 26, 2017!
Learners will be able to:
- Apply for a wavier to prescribe buprenorphine to their patients with opioid use disorders
- Identify and assess patients who are appropriate for treatment with medications
- Have specific knowledge concerning the use of medications to manage patients with addiction involving opioid use
- Discuss the psychiatric and medical co-morbidities associated with opioid addiction
This course is SAMHSA-supported and meets the requirements needed to obtain the waiver to prescribe buprenorphine in office-based treatment of opioid use disorders.
This is an 8-hour blended course combining 4 hours of online learning followed by 4 hours of live learning. The live portion of the course builds off the content delivered in the online portion. Course faculty are expecting you to come to the live course with the online portion completed.This is an 8-hour blended course combining 4 hours of online learning followed by 4 hours of live learning. The live portion of the course builds off the content delivered in the online portion. Course faculty are expecting you to come to the live course with the online portion completed.
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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 Releases 1991-2014 Health Care Spending by State
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) Office of the Actuary (OACT) released state-level health care spending data for the period 1991-2014. The data shows that while most states experienced faster growth in 2014 due to Medicaid expansion and enrollment in Exchange plans, per capita health spending in Medicaid expansion and non-expansion states grew at similar rates. The report also found that the most recent economic recession, which ended in 2009, and modest recovery since then, had a sustained impact on health spending and health insurance coverage. Every state experienced slower growth in per capita personal health care spending from 2010-2013 than experienced during the period 2004-2009.
David Lassman, the lead author of the report noted that, “recent economic and health sector factors have had clear impacts by state, both by payer and in the rates of overall per capita personal health care expenditure growth; however, during the 2009 to 2014 period, the variation in spending between the lowest and highest states was virtually unchanged.”
The report, published as a web first in Health Affairs, offers vital context for understanding how health spending varies across states. The analysis updates previous estimates published in 2011 and examines personal health care spending (or the health care goods and services consumed) through a resident-based view. These estimates are also presented both by type of goods and services (such as hospital services and retail prescription drugs) and by major payer (including Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurance) for the individuals who reside in a state.
The OACT data and analysis
An article about the study also being published by Health Affairs here: http://content.healthaffairs.org/lookup/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0416
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'Help is on the way' for Americans as Senate writes its healthcare reform bill, Pence says
Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday touted the American Health Care Act as a solution to the rising premium costs and insurer exits from marketplaces, telling HHS employees that Obamacare is in a "death spiral."
Pointing to recent CMS data showing Affordable Care Act exchange enrollment was declining, Pence told HHS employees that the Trump administration is committed to repealing and replacing the healthcare law. The administration is motivated by Americans' stories about how coverage has become unaffordable since the ACA rollout.
Pence told HHS staffers during remarks at the agency's headquarters about a woman he met last weekend who said she went without healthcare coverage last year so she could buy Christmas presents for her family.
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Can a Single Injection Conquer PTSD? The Army Wants to Find Out
FORT BELVOIR, Va.—The U.S. Army has commissioned a study to determine whether an anesthetic injection to the neck alleviates symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder—a treatment that, if proven effective, could be a big step toward easing an affliction affecting hundreds of thousands of troops who have returned from combat.
The $2 million Army study constitutes the first large-scale randomized control research into use of the shots—called stellate ganglion blocks—to treat PTSD. The injections have been used for decades for arm pain and shingles. In recent years, some military doctors have begun treating PTSD patients, particularly Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets, with the injections. The shots interrupt messages along nerve fibers that control the fight-or-flight response.
Wall Street Journal
Access to this article may be limited
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Ambulances are so 2016. After a cardiac arrest, the fastest way to send help is on a flying drone
The best medicine for a person who goes into sudden cardiac arrest is an electric shock. That jolt temporarily stops the heart, along with its rapid or erratic beat. When the heart starts itself up again, it can revert to its normal rhythm and resume pumping blood to the brain and the rest of the body.
The sooner this happens, the better. When a patient is shocked within one minute of collapse, the chance of survival is nearly 90%. But if it takes 10 minutes to administer a shock, the odds or survival fall below 5%.
If a victim is are lucky, he’ll collapse in a mall, airport, school or other public venue that’s outfitted with an automated external defibrillator, or AED. These user-friendly machines can assess the cause of cardiac arrest, determine whether a shock is appropriate and deliver it if necessary.
LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-drones-with-aeds-20170613-story.html
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A First Look At the CMS Estimate of the AHCA
The Chief Actuary of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
released its score of the House-passed American Health Care Act (AHCA) today. We'll be reviewing an analyzing this report in the coming days, but below we have taken a preliminary look at CMS's budgetary score and how it compares to that of
Congressional Budget Office (CBO). A few important caveats to our analysis below, which result in CBO and CMS
not being fully apples-to-apples, are:
- CBO does its scores on a fiscal year basis while CMS uses calendar years.
- Each agency uses a different baseline for their analysis for starting assumptions. Perhaps most importantly for this estimate, the CBO baseline assumes that under current law (the Affordable Care Act) more states will expand Medicaid over the next decade, while CMS assumes no further expansion. As a result, CBO estimates higher initial Medicaid costs (and presumably coverage) than CMS, and thus there is more potential for savings (and coverage loss).
- CMS only estimates some provisions, and in particular it does not estimate most of the tax components of the AHCA.
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget
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After Record Year for Fatal Overdoses, New York City Targets Opioids
New York City will spend $38 million annually to combat an opioid epidemic that killed more than 1,000 New Yorkers last year, city officials said Monday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said the initiative, dubbed HealingNYC, would reduce the number of opioid deaths by 35% during the next five years. The funding will support the distribution of 100,000 kits of naloxone, the
drug-overdose-reversal drug, to treatment programs, city shelters and pharmacies. All 23,000 New York Police Department patrol officers also will be equipped with the kits.
Access to this article may be limited
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You’re Fired! When Doctors Let Patients Go
It is something nine out of 10 primary-care practices have said to at least one patient in the past two years, albeit more politely. According to research published last month in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, 67% of nearly 800 practices reported dismissing one to 20 patients over two years while 15% reported dismissing 21 to 50 patients. About 10% reported dismissing no patients over the course of two years and 8% said they dismissed 51 or more patients. The study was inspired by worries that patient dismissals may rise because some insurers are starting to reimburse doctors for health outcomes rather than services provided. That shift has been in the works, before the Affordable Care Act became law in 2010.
Access to this article may be limited
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6 latest hospital bankruptcies, closures
Here are six hospitals that filed for bankruptcy protection or closed since March 1, beginning with the most recent.
1. Omaha, Neb.-based CHI Health closed
CHI Health Creighton University Medical Center in Omaha at 7:00 a.m. on June 9. At the same time, CHI Health opened a new 20-bed emergency department less than a mile away at Creighton University Medical Center University Campus.
3. Milledgeville, Ga.-based
Oconee Regional Medical Centerfiled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection May 10. Prime Healthcare Foundation, the nonprofit affiliate of Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare Services, is in the process of acquiring Oconee Regional Medical Center.
5.
Green Valley (Ariz.) Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy April 3. In its bankruptcy documents the hospital says it was "poorly managed" and "undercapitalized" since it opened about two years ago.
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Nearly 2 million dropped Obamacare coverage through mid-March
The CMS reported late Monday that of the
12.2 million people who enrolled in a health plan during the 2017 open enrollment period, 10.3 million
paid their premiums and had an active policy as of March 15.
A second CMS report also released late Monday showed that consumers who dropped off the insurance rolls were less likely to receive financial assistance from the federal government to pay for coverage, so their premiums were higher than most.
Moreover, 60% of consumers who terminated coverage after paying premiums for at least one month said during an
online exit survey by the CMS that they dropped coverage because they obtained employer-sponsored insurance. The CMS collected survey data from more than 18,000 individuals who dropped coverage from August 2016 to April 2017.
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Why Mayo Clinic owns and operates a 56-bell bell tower
There are roughly 180 carillons — musical instruments made up of at least 23 bells that do not swing, but rather are struck by clappers to create music — in the United States and Canada, but only one is owned by a medical center.
Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., holds that distinction. Its Plummer Building houses the
56-bell carillon that can be heard throughout campus on weekdays, tolling the time as well as songs. Mayo Clinic is so devoted to its carillon that it employs its own carillonneurs, or carillon player, to play live music in addition to the carillon's automated tunes. The medical center has had four such employees since 1928.
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The march of rising healthcare costs has slowed, but it's still unsustainable
While the era of double-digit growth in healthcare costs seems to have ended, the "new normal" pace of around 6% to 7% a year is still unsustainable, according to a
new study.
PricewaterhouseCoopers Health Research Institute projected that medical costs in 2018 will increase by 6.5% from 2017. Insurers use the annual cost growth rate as a benchmark to help set premiums. While the medical cost trend has declined from 11.9% in 2007, it will still outpace economic growth, which means employers, providers and insurers must work together to reduce costs over time, the study found.
HRI's analysis measures anticipated spending growth in the employer-based market, which covers about half of all Americans. The study did not factor in changes to government payers and ACA exchanges.
Modern Healthcare
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CMS actuary predicts 13 million will lose coverage under Republican repeal bill
The CMS Office of the Actuary on Tuesday
estimated that 13 million people will lose health insurance coverage by 2026 under the House-passed American Health Care Act—10 million less than the
Congressional Budget Office's prediction.
But the actuary estimated that average net premiums paid by consumers in the individual insurance market in 2026 would be about 5% higher than under current law, and that average cost-sharing amounts would be about 61% higher.
The CMS actuary's report projected that the AHCA, narrowly passed by House Republicans last month with no Democratic votes, would reduce federal Medicaid spending by $383.2 billion from 2017 through 2026. The spending reductions would stem mainly from repealing the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion to low-income adults. That's far less than the $834 billion in Medicaid cuts projected by the CBO.
Modern Healthcare
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High Costs, Lack of Affordability Most Common Factors that Lead Consumers to Cancel Health Insurance Coverage
CMS issues two new reports on health insurance enrollment trends
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published two reports, the Effectuated Enrollment report and The Health Insurance Exchanges Trends report. These reports show that after selecting a plan on the Exchanges during open season which ended January 31, 2017, less than two months later nearly 2 million people had not paid their insurance premium to effectuate and maintain their health coverage. This number will be adjusted for individuals who effectuate their coverage in March 2017. Exit survey data also contained in the reports indicate that cost is the top reason cited for ending their coverage. Taken together, these reports provide a better understanding of why consumers are leaving the Exchanges.
“Consumers are sending a clear message that cost and affordability are major factors in their decision to cancel or terminate coverage,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.
The Effectuated Enrollment Report shows that 12.2 million individuals selected a plan at the end of Open Enrollment, but only 10.3 million followed through to pay the premiums necessary to maintain coverage as of March 15, 2017. This means 1.9 million people had not paid or did not continue paying for the insurance coverage they selected on the Exchange. Additional individuals may effectuate coverage for March of 2017.
CMS
To read the Effectuated Enrollment report, visit: https://downloads.cms.gov/files/effectuated-enrollment-snapshot-report-06-12-17.pdf
To read the Health Insurance Exchanges Trends report, visit: https://downloads.cms.gov/files/cost-disruptions-trends-report-06-12-17.pdf
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Massachusetts General Hospital faces lawsuit for double-booking surgeries: 5 key notes
At least five orthopedic surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston are accused of repeatedly double-booking surgeries, leaving patients under anesthesia longer than they would have been if the surgeon was only focused on one case, according to the
Boston Globe.
Here are five key notes:
1. Lisa Wollman, MD, filed the lawsuit against Massachusetts General Hospital after witnessing surgeons perform simultaneous operations without the patients' consent.
2. Dr. Wollman alleges that the surgeons defrauded the government by submitting bills for surgeries in which the surgeons were not in the operating room for critical portions of the procedure.
3. On June 7, Massachusetts General Hospital released a statement saying, "The Massachusetts General Hospital continues to believe that its practices comply with all applicable laws and regulation, and the hospital will defend the claims accordingly."
4. University of Virginia, in Charlottesville, researchers found no increase in complications in operations that overlapped by 45 minutes.
5. The American College of Surgeons last year issued its first-ever guidelines saying concurrent surgeries are broadly permissible, within limits, recommend the surgeon tell the patient if they plan to run more than one operating room at a time.
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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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OHSIPP Meeting
August 25-27, 2017
The Ohio Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (OHSIPP) has set the dates for its 2017 meeting.
Dates are Friday Aug 25 thru Sunday Aug 27, 2017.
The meeting will be held in Cincinnati at the Westin Hotel, 21 E 5th St , at Fountain Square .
Contact Michelle Byers for more information MichelleHByers@gmail.com
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