American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians | September 26, 2018

OCTOBER MEETINGS UPDATES

LUMBAR ENDOSCOP IC SPINAL DECOMPRESSION
DUE TO HIGH DEMAND ANOTHER STATION HAS BEEN ADDED.
HURRY! ONLY ONE OPENING REMAINS.
|   BROCHUREREGISTRATION  |   HOTEL |   EXHIBITOR |

COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW COURSE ( 7.75 A MA PRA Category 1 Credits™)
AND CADAVER WORKSHOP ( 11 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™)
INTERVENTIONAL TECHNIQUES
1 OPENING IN ADVANCED LAB. REVIEW COURSE IS OPEN
|   BROCHUREREGISTRATION  |   HOTEL |   EXHIBITOR |

COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW COURSE ( 7.75 A MA PRA Category 1 Credits™)
AND CADAVER WORKSHOP ( 11 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™)
NEUROMODULATION. LAB IS FULL.
REGENERATIVE MEDICINE. LAB IS FULL.
3 Boston hospitals fined nearly $1M for letting 'Boston Trauma' film on-site, breaching HIPAA

HHS' Office for Civil Rights fined three Boston-based hospitals — Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital — a total of $999,000 to settle a potential HIPAA violation after they allowed the TV show "Save My Life: Boston Trauma" to film on premise.
This marks the second HIPAA case involving an ABC medical documentary series. In 2016, OCR fined New York City-based New York-Presbyterian Hospital over the filming of "NY Med."
Here is a breakdown of the three fines, listed in alphabetical order:
1. Boston Medical Center: $100,000
2. Brigham and Women's Hospital: $384,000
3. Massachusetts General Hospital: $515,000

HHS Awards Over $1 Billion to Combat the Opioid Crisis

This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded over $1 billion in opioid-specific grants to help combat the crisis ravaging our country. The awards support  HHS's Five-Point Opioid Strategy , which was launched last year and enhanced this week. New data unveiled recently by HHS suggests that efforts are now yielding progress at the national level.

"Addressing the opioid crisis with all the resources possible and the best science we have is a top priority for President Trump and for everyone at HHS," said Secretary Alex Azar. "The more than $1 billion in additional funding that we provided this week will build on progress we have seen in tackling this epidemic through empowering communities and families on the frontlines."

NuVasive welcomes CEO of Google, Johnson & Johnson partnership company to board

NuVasive introduced Scott Huennekens as its newest board of directors member, effective Oct. 1.
Here's what you need to know:
  1. Mr. Huennekens comes to NuVasive with more than 25 years of experience in the medical device industry.
  2. Currently, he serves as CEO and board chairman of Verb Surgical, an independent startup formed by Google and Johnson & Johnson in 2015.
  3. Previously, Mr. Huennekens served as president and CEO of Volcano Corp., a diagnostic and therapeutic solutions company.
  4. Mr. Huennekens also spent time as president and CEO of Digirad Corp, leading the first solid-state gamma cameras for nuclear cardiology imaging to commercialization.
  5. He also serves as a board member of the Medical Device Manufacturer's Association, and previously served as its chairman.

Ultrasound-Guided Pulsed Radiofrequency May Be Effective for Thoracic Post-Herpetic Neuralgia Pain

Ultrasound-guided pulsed radiofrequency applied to intercostal nerves may be safe and effective for managing thoracic postherpetic neuralgia-associated pain, according to a study published in the Clinical Journal of Pain.

For this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 43 patients with postherpetic neuralgia for >6 months who attended an institutional pain clinic were enrolled. Investigators randomly assigned patients to receive ultrasound-guided pulsed radiofrequency (n=21) or a sham control (n=22) after 2 weeks of treatment with 150 mg pregabalin for 12 hours. Patients receiving radiofrequency underwent 2 cycles of the treatment at 42°C for 120 seconds over the intercostal nerves of the affected thoracic dermatome had been localized using ultrasound. Participants in the control group received a sham intervention that was of a similar duration.

Doctors Often Not Discussing Risk Factors With Patients

HealthDay News — Patients report that doctors are routinely not discussing known risk factors for common causes of death, according to a survey conducted by ImagineMD.
ImagineMD conducted a survey of 3,000 patients to examine whether doctors adequately address the leading causes of preventable death in America with their patients. Respondents were categorized by age: 15 to 44 years old and 45 to 64 years old.

According to the survey results, just 9 percent of respondents in the younger age group reported that their doctors have raised the subject of opioids with them. Even fewer respondents reported that their physicians spoke with them about preventable road traffic issues, like wearing a seat belt (8 percent) or distracted driving (5 percent). Among the older respondents, smoking was discussed in just 37 percent of conversations, alcohol in 27 percent, and stress in 40 percent.

CMS to Scale Back H&P Regulations
Agency estimates savings in excess of $1 billion per year

WASHINGTON -- Physicians and other clinicians in ambulatory surgical centers may soon have more discretion over when to conduct comprehensive medical histories and physical assessments (H&Ps), if proposed changes to the Medicare Conditions of Participation and Conditions for Coverage are implemented.

In new draft regulations issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) concerning minimum quality and safety standards that U.S. hospitals must meet to participate in Medicare and Medicaid, the agency suggested dropping the requirement for physicians and other clinicians to complete a comprehensive H&P for each patient within 30 days of a scheduled surgery.
The agency also proposed mandating that each ambulatory surgical center define and put to use its own policies for identifying patients who should receive H&Ps prior to surgery, as noted in an agency fact sheet .

These efforts build on President Trump's executive order in January 2017 aimed at reducing regulations in government as a means of reining in costs.

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. 

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

How California surgery centers are accredited might surprise you. A look at one Rancho Mirage surgeon

The Facebook page for Dr. Rim Marcinkus’ Desert Plastic Surgery Center in Rancho Mirage is packed with images of patients. Each is photographed twice: First, before a nose job or facelift and second, good as new, after the face has healed.

Dr. Marcinkus, on the other hand, has some scars to show.

A February 2016 accusation filed against the physician by the Medical Board of California alleges Dr. Marcinkus “committed gross negligence” in the treatment of two patients in 2011 and 2012 – including that a doctor at his surgery center used general anesthesia during a breast augmentation surgery even though the center wasn’t accredited until 2013.

But about a week before the state accused Dr. Marcinkus of gross negligence and incompetence, a surgery center he owned in Rancho Mirage at the same address as Desert Plastic Surgery Center, Eurolift Med Inc., had its medical accreditation renewed by a private, state-approved agency, San Francisco-based Institute for Medical Quality.

Eurolift Med remained accredited for nearly a year after the state complaint, according to a database maintained by the Medical Board of California.

Dr. Marcinkus is not an anomaly. An investigation by Kaiser Health News found California is the only state in the country that has given private accreditors like the Institute for Medical Quality a lead role in overseeing more than 1,000 surgery centers – an approach to oversight that has resulted in laxity.

How a Houston-based spine surgeon plans to optimize direct-to-consumer marketing & other key growth areas

Neil Badlani, MD, is a minimally invasive spine surgeon in Houston, practicing at The Orthopedic Sports Clinic, an affiliate of Houston-based Nobilis Health.

Here, he discusses how his practice will evolve over the next few years.

Question: How do you plan on growing your practice over the next two to three years? What are the best opportunities in your market?

Dr. Neil Badlani: We plan to grow our practice through continued direct-to-consumer marketing. Healthcare is becoming an increasingly consumer-driven industry. Patients have access to healthcare information everywhere, are more educated about their healthcare choices and they have higher expectations and want to be active as long as they possibly can. Healthcare dollars are also being shifted more toward our patients in the form of higher deductibles and co-insurance payments. This trend of consumerism in healthcare is not going away, and physicians should be equipped to handle it.
As physicians, it is our responsibility to educate our patients with accurate and comprehensive information about their conditions and treatment options. Direct-to-consumer marketing is an increasingly important way to provide that patient education and an opportunity for physicians to grow their practices for continued success.

The best opportunities in our market are to continue to become a comprehensive healthcare provider. Offering a full gamut of services including physical therapy, advanced imaging and surgical facilities allows us to control the patient experience from start to finish and provides significant ancillary revenue streams. Strategic hospital alliances can help our independent practice facilitate this growth and provide this complete array of healthcare services.

Pain Physician
July/August 2018 Issue Features

Health Policy Review
  • Reframing the Prevention Strategies of the Opioid Crisis: Focusing on Prescription Opioids, Fentanyl, and Heroin Epidemic
Systematic Reviews
  • Is Unilateral Percutaneous Kyphoplasty Superior to Bilateral Percutaneous Kyphoplasty for Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures? Evidence from a Systematic Review of Discordant Meta-Analyses
  • Prevalence of Recurrent Herniation Following Percutaneous Endoscopic Lumbar Discectomy: A Meta-Analysi
Randomized Trials
  • Thermal Versus Super Voltage Pulsed Radiofrequency of Stellate Ganglion in Post-Mastectomy Neuropathic Pain Syndrome: A Prospective Randomized Trial
  • Evaluation of an Experimental Pain Model by Noncompartmental Analysis of Results from a Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial
  • Transforaminal vs Interlaminar Epidural Steroid Injection for Acute-Phase Shingles: A Randomized, Prospective Trial


Former pain management clinic owner pleads guilty to $51.5K healthcare fraud scheme — 5 details

Jayam Krishna Iyer, MD, 66, pleaded guilty to one count of healthcare fraud Sept. 18, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.

Here's what you should know:
  1. Dr. Iyer owned and operated Clearwater, Fla.-based Creative Medical Center, a pain management clinic.
  2. Dr. Iyer is accused of falsely billing Medicare for face-to-face visits with patients who never visited her office or underwent examinations from July 2011 through December 2017. She allegedly falsified EMRs to make it seem like those patients did visit the office.
  3. She also reportedly wrote illegal prescriptions in the beneficiaries' names and gave them to the patients' family members. The prescriptions included ones for Schedule II controlled substances like oxycodone.
  4. Prosecutors allege Dr. Iyer submitted at least $51,500 of false and fraudulent Medicare claims.
  5. Dr. Iyer faces up to 20 years in federal prison. Under the plea deal, she will forfeit her DEA registration number and her Florida medical license, and be permanently excluded from Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Could video games help treat chronic back pain?

Low back pain has become the most disabling and costly musculoskeletal condition in the United States. Older adults are most commonly affected, and over time, the condition tends to get worse, creating a significant negative impact on an individual's ability to move around and complete daily tasks.

A new study, published recently in the journal Physical Therapy, looked at chronic low back pain in people over the age of 55.

Specifically, the team studied the benefits of self-managed, home-based video game exercises on a Nintendo Wii-Fit-U. At this point, it is worth noting that the researchers received no funding from Nintendo.

In all, they asked 60 participants to carry out video game-guided exercises three times every week for 8 weeks; each session lasted 1 hour.

Senate Passes Opioid Bill in Hopes of Easing Crisis

The U.S. Senate passed the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 in a nearly unanimous vote to assuage the problem with preventive measures, including supporting research, fast-tracking prospective nonaddictive pain medications, implementing blister packs for three- or seven-day opioid prescriptions, and funding improvements to state opioid prescription monitoring systems.

State Society News 
November 8-11, 2018
NY/NJSIPP Pain Medicine Symposium 2018 
Hyatt Regency Jersey City.
CLICK HERE for more details

November 12 and 14, 2018
FSIPP Regional Meetings: 
November 12, 2 018 @6:30pm
Carrabba's Italian Grill
2370 SW College Road, Ocala, FL 34471
November 14, 2018 @6:30pm
Carrabba's Italian Grill
5820 Red Bug Lake Road, Winter Springs, FL 32708
CLICK HERE to register for either meeting

July 12-14, 2019
GSIPP 2019 - 15th Annual Meeting & Pain Summit
The Cloister Hotel at Sea Island
Sea Island, GA
For more information, contact Karrie Kirwan at karrie@theassociationcompany.com or Tara Morrison at tara@theassociationcompany.com or 770-613-0932.

July 26-28, 2019
PAIN 2019
West Virginia Society of Pain Physicians
Loews Miami Beach, FL


Send in your state society meeting news to Holly Long, hlong@asipp.org
ASIPP | Pain Physician Journal | Phone | Fax | Email