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.

Long-Term Opioids May Not Help in Polyneuropathy

Patients had worse functional outcomes than controls; some became dependent  

Long-term opioid therapy in patients with polyneuropathy appears to increase the risk of adverse outcomes without benefiting functional status, researchers said.

Data from a retrospective, population-based cohort study showed that 18.8% of 2,892 patients with polyneuropathy received opioids continuously for at least 90 days compared to 5.4% of 14,435 controls. They were also more likely to rely on gait aids and have difficulty climbing stairs (adjusted HR 1.7) and experience depression (adjusted HR 1.53), opioid dependence (aHR 2.85), and opioid overdose (aHR 5.12) compared to controls, Christopher J. Klein, MD, of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn, and colleagues reported online in JAMA Neurology.  

MedPage Today

About 68 percent of U.S. consumers would consider leaving their healthcare provider if it was negatively impacted by ransomware, according to a survey of 5,000 U.S. consumers conducted by end-point security vendor Carbon Black. The survey was conducted, Carbon Black said, to gauge the public’s perception of ransomware and expectations they place on organizations to keep their data safe following the recent WannaCry ransomware outbreak.

Approximately 7 out of 10 consumers in the survey trust their financial institutions and healthcare providers to keep data safe; only 52 percent trust retailers.

Healthcare IT News

Ohio’s attorney general said the state is suing five drugmakers, alleging they fueled the opioid crisis by misrepresenting the addictive risks of their painkillers.

The lawsuit targets Purdue Pharma LP, Endo Health Solutions, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Cephalon and Allergan PLC, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Mike DeWine said. The companies couldn’t immediately be reached to comment. 

Wall Street Journal

Access to this article may be limited.

Ketamine may alleviate depression, pain, and adverse effects associated with opioid treatment, and may thus represent an attractive adjunct therapy for pain management, according to a novel population analysis recently published in Scientific Reports.1

Nearly half of all patients with depression taking conventional antidepressants discontinue their treatment prematurely.2 Researchers have sought alternatives to standard antidepressants, for which therapeutic effects are delayed by 2 to 10 weeks.3    

Cohen IV, Makunts T, Atayee R, Abagyan R. Population scale data reveals the antidepressant effects of ketamine and other therapeutics approved for non-psychiatric indications. Sci Rep 2017;7:1450.

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