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Wednesday | May 19, 2021
Drs. Manchikanti and Soin invite you
to the ASIPP 23rd Annual Meeting

Topics will include COVID-19, ECONOMICS, BURNOUT, SOCIAL MEDIA, METABOLIC HEALTH, REGULATORY ISSUES, SCIENTIFIC ADVANCES in IPM, and MUCH MORE

Mark your calendars (June 24-26), book your room, and click here to register!

The ASIPP Annual Meeting will feature
THREE INNOVATION SUMMITS during the afternoon breakout sessions each day.

Learn about the
LATEST TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS
to help you in your practice.

Multiple technologies will be highlighted in the areas of SPINAL CORD STIMULATION,
PERIPHERAL NERVE STIMULATION, and
MINIMALLY INVASIVE TECHNOLOGIES.

More than 1,000 have died since the start of the pandemic, likely an underestimate

A total of 270 doctors in India have died since the country's latest surge of COVID-19 began in early April, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) announced.

That includes past IMA president K. K. Aggarwal, MBBS, MD, a 62-year-old cardiologist who had been on a ventilator at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi for a week before he died Monday night, according to a statement on his Twitter profile.


Also giving $3 billion in block grants for state, local government behavioral health efforts

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is launching a Behavioral Health Coordinating Council to address the mental health and substance use disorders that have increased during the pandemic, Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine, MD, said Tuesday.

The council's primary goal "is to facilitate collaborative, innovative, transparent, equitable, action-oriented approaches to addressing the nation's behavioral health needs," Levine said on a Zoom call with reporters. "This council will be comprised of senior leadership from across HHS operating and staff divisions ... Establishing a new behavioral health Coordinating Council will assure that right and correct prioritization guidelines are in place to provide pathways to prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery services." Levine will co-chair the council along with Tom Coderre, Acting Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use.


The agency has lurched from over-caution to abandoning all caution

This opinion piece will be sharply critical of the new CDC guidance on masking for individuals who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, so I want to begin by saying the agency has been, and remains, the envy of the world. There's good reason why China, Korea, Europe, and Africa all named their public health agencies after the CDC. When CDC speaks, scientists fall behind in lockstep, and the public trusts and follows its advice.

But not this time. Its mask guidance has been greeted by scientists and the public alike as confusing, inconsistent, and frankly, unsupported by scientific evidence.







As we (hopefully) see the light at the end of the COVID-19 pandemic tunnel, America appears to have a major problem. In a new survey released this week by the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, we found that America has a trust gap when it comes to public health. 

We found that most Americans want to spend substantially more money on public health at the federal level and have a very high level of appreciation for the field. But at the same time, the public has extraordinarily low levels of trust in the institutions that lead this field and in the current performance of the public health system.



A daily roundup of news on COVID-19 and the rest of medicine

Several Republican lawmakers, in an act of apparent protest, flouted mask rules on the House floor Tuesday during a voting session and then took a photo in front of the Capitol steps.

"Best $500 I ever spent," Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., said after he left the chamber, a reference to the fine House members face for breaking mask rules set by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The fine is $500 for a first offense and $2,500 for a second offense.


The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has again delayed a rule that would significantly accelerate Medicare coverage for breakthrough medical devices.

The rule was initially set to take effect March 15 after being finalized in mid-January but was pushed back to May 15. In a filing (PDF) Tuesday, CMS has further delayed the start date to Dec. 15.

The rule would allow devices that secure approval through the Food and Drug Administration's "breakthrough" pathway to also gain immediate Medicare coverage approval. Typically, it can take a year or more for new devices to be approved in Medicare once they are OK'd by the FDA.

Pain Medicine Case Reports (PMCR) and Editor-in-Chief Alaa Abd-Elsayed, MD, PhD would like to invite you to submit case reports and case series to the PMCR journal. Your article will be published free of charge.

Open access journals are freely available online for immediate worldwide open access to the full text of published articles. There is no subscription fee for open access journals. Open access journals are no different from traditional subscription-based journals: they undergo the same peer-review and quality control as any other scholarly journal.

Interested in becoming a member of the PMCR Editorial Board?
Editorial board members are asked to review 2-6 manuscripts per year. Please submit your most up-to-date CV to sgold@asipp.org for consideration.

For more information or to submit your articles, click here.
| CASE REPORT |


Kim T. Nguyen, MD, Louise M. Hillen, MD, and Antoun M. Nader, MD

Abstract
BACKGROUND: Stellate ganglion block is an option for refractory ventricular tachyarrhythmia. Approaches include using anatomical landmarks or image-guidance with fluoroscopy, computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, or ultrasonography.

CASE REPORT: We describe a case of a 70-year-old man with multiple comorbidities presenting with sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) who received a cervical sympathetic chain block at bedside. This resulted in ablation of his refractory VT and return to a paced rhythm, allowing him to be discharged from the intensive care unit.
| SYSTEMATIC REVIEW |


Daniela Yucuma, MD, Irene Riquelme, MD,
and Martin Avellanal, MD, PhD
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The etiological diagnosis of painful primary total hip arthroplasty and its management is a complex clinical challenge for pain physicians. Extrinsic sources of pain in the hip joint might be efficiently treated by clinical pain units, although the topic remains controversial.

OBJECTIVES: To conduct a literature review and suggest an evidence-based algorithmic approach to managing painful hip arthroplasty.

| RETROSPECTIVE STUDY |


Chengyue Ji, MD, Yuluo Rong, MD, Jiaxing Wang, MD, Shunzhi Yu, MD, Guoyong Yin, MD, Jin Fan, MD, Pengyu Tang, MD, Dongdong Jiang, MD, Wei Liu, MD, Fangyi Gong, MD, Xuhui Ge, MD, and Weihua Cai, MD

Abstract
Background: In the aging population, osteoporosis and related complications have become a global public health problem. Osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures are among the most common type of osteoporotic fractures and patients are at risk of secondary vertebral compression fracture.

Objectives: To identify risk factors for secondary vertebral compression fracture following primary osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures.




Since this malpractice insurance program officially launched in November 2018, ASIPP has signed up hundreds of providers with an average savings of 30%. This is professional liability insurance tailored to our specialty and will stand up for us and defend our practices.

Norcal Mutual is 'A' Rated by AM best and is license in all 50 states. To read a few important points to keep in mind about the program, including discounts, administrative defense, cyber coverage, aggressive claims handling, and complimentary award-winning risk management CME activities, click here.

ASIPP® is now offering our members the benefit of a unique revenue cycle management/ billing service. We have received a tremendous amount of interest in the ASIPP® billing and coding program.

Click here to learn more about the negotiated rate for practices and more!

ASIPP® has formed a partnership with Henry Schein and PedsPal, a national GPO that has a successful history of negotiating better prices on medical supplies and creating value-added services for the independent physician. Working with MedAssets, PedsPal provides excellent pricing on products like contrast media that alleviate some of the financial pressures you experience today.
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