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 8 or Thursday, June 15.  

Register for the upcoming webinar 

Sign up for the NIPM-QCDR or request more information

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.

Contextualizing the first-round failure of the AHCA: down but not out

Abstract

On 8 November 2016 the American electorate voted Donald Trump into the Presidency and a majority of Republicans into both houses of Congress. Since many Republicans ran for elected office on the promise to ‘repeal and replace’ Obamacare, this election result came with an expectation that campaign rhetoric would result in legislative action on healthcare. The American Health Care Act (AHCA) represented the Republican effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Key elements of the AHCA included modifications of Medicaid expansion, repeal of the individual mandate, replacement of ACA subsidies with tax credits, and a broadening of the opportunity to use healthcare savings accounts. Details of the bill and the political issues which ultimately impeded its passage are discussed here.  

JNIS

Related article

Critical Analysis of Obamacare: Affordable Care or Insurance for Many and Coverage for Few?  

Excerpt from Abstract

The ACA is applauded for increasing the number of insured, quite appropriately as that has occurred for over 20 million people. Less frequently mentioned are the 6 million who have lost their insurance. Further, in terms of how health insurance is been provided, the majority the expansion was based on Medicaid expansion, with an increase of 13 million. Consequently, the ACA hasn’t worked well for the working and middle class who receive much less support, particularly those who earn more than 400% of the federal poverty level, who constitute 40% of the population and don’t receive any help. As a result, exchange enrollment has been a disappointment and the percentage of workers obtaining their health benefits from their employer has decreased steadily. Access to health care has been uneven, with those on Medicaid hampered by narrow networks, while those on the exchanges or getting employer benefits have faced high out-of-pocket costs.  

Pain Physician

GOP Leaders to Present Senate Republicans With Proposals to Shape Health-Care Bill

WASHINGTON—GOP leaders are planning to present to Senate Republicans options for the major policy decisions shaping their health-care bill during a closed-door lunch Tuesday, Senate GOP lawmakers and aides said Monday.

The proposals are expected to include a prolonged phaseout of the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion. There is also growing interest in possible steps to shore up fragile individual insurance markets, according to people familiar with the discussions. 

Wall Street Journal

Access to this article may be limited

Police on Tuesday were hunting for whoever is responsible for sending a wave of drug overdoses crashing through middle Georgia that killed at least two people and sickened dozens more.

In a cascade of chaos spanning 48 hours, emergency responders used "massive doses" of the emergency opioid overdose treatment naloxone to revive victims who were unconscious or who had stopped breathing altogether, the state Health Department said in a statement. 

NBC News

As if the hefty settlement fine execs had to pay wasn’t enough, the vendor also has to offer free upgrades, transfer customer’s data to rival EHR vendors for free, and employ an independent personal watchdog.  

EHR vendor eClinicalWorks got slammed Wednesday with a $155 million penalty by the federal government, but that is far from the worst part of the deal it struck with officials. Rather, the vendor accepted some curious terms in a 5-year settlement agreement that the Office of the Inspector General called innovative.

The fine stemmed from a whistleblower suit alleging that it falsely obtained certification for meeting certain criteria as part of the meaningful use EHR reimbursement program. eClinicalWorks disputes the charges but said it settled anyway to avoid the “cost and uncertainty inherent in protracted litigation.” 

Healthcare IT news

Citing Medicare Advantage contracts' role in improving quality and cost in healthcare, groups representing doctors, hospitals and accountable care organizations are pressing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to essentially treat those contracts as alternative payment models.

That step, they say, would keep Medicare Advantage relevant, to the benefit of patients in the Medicare program.

The groups -- including the American Medical Association, the Medical Group Management Association and the American College of Surgeons -- outlined their case in a May 31 letter to CMS administrator Seema Verma. They contend that CMS has both the authority and the legal grounds necessary to treat Medicare Advantage as an Advanced APM. 

Healthcare Finance

• Lens and cataract procedures (99.9% performed in outpatient settings)
• Excision of semilunar knee cartilage (98.7%)
• Tonsillectomy (95.6%)
• Inguinal and femoral hernia repair (92%)
• Cholecystectomy (60.8%).

JAMA Internal Medicine links persistent pain with progressive cognitive declineand dementia. But the mechanism is quite unclear. There are actually a few possibilities, as F. Perry Wilson, MD, discusses in this 150-second analysis.

• 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.