IN THIS ISSUE 

1. FDA Schedules Public Hearing on Epidural Steroids on Nov. 24-25: ASIPP Files Citizen Petition with FDA Regarding Safety Warning
2. ASIPP Resident/Fellow Governing Counseling Seeking Officer Nominations
3. CCI 4th Quarter Updates Now Available 
4. ICD-10 Preparation Webinar Set for Nov. 4
5. Smile and Say Price-Fixing 
6. Medicaid Backlogs Could Worsen as Health-Law Sign-Ups Resume 
7. Common Painkillers Combined With Other Drugs Increase Risk of GI Bleeding 
8. The Most Transparent Administration Puts a Gag Order on HealthCare.govTesting 
9. Teva announces initiation of new drug application and positive results from second human abuse liability study for CEP-33237
10. My journey to Bemidji: Doctors views of EHRs, regulatory burdens 
11. Friday Feedback: Rehabilitate the EHR 
12. WHO Says Ebola Outbreak is Killing 70% of People Who Contract Disease 
13. Ebola Brings HIPAA to the Forefront 
14. Painkiller deaths drop for first time since 1999
15. Call for Abstracts! Make Plans Today to Participate in 17th Annual Meeting Abstract Session 
16. ASIPP Launches Career Center to Connect Job Seekers and Employers in Interventional Pain Management
17. State Society News 
18. Physician Wanted 

FDA Schedules Public Hearing on Epidural Steroids on Nov. 24

ASIPP Files Citizen Petition with FDA Regarding Safety Warning

The FDA Advisory Committee has called for public hearing on epidural steroid injections, on November 24 and 25, 2014. Please contact the FDA if you are interested in attending or presenting. 

As you know, ASIPP has filed an FDA Citizen Petition requesting the Commissioner withdraw the present Safety Warning for steroid epidural injections. 

As we work to resolve this issue, it is important to discuss the advantages and disadvantages with our patients, explaining to them this is a common off-label use, which we have been doing for some time in our practices. You can also submit comments to FDA on the Regulations.gov Web site: http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-2013-S-0610-0001

ASIPP will attend and has requested the opportunity to provide a presentation during the public comment section of the hearing.

For more information on this the following references will be helpful:

Health Policy Opinion: Epidural Steroid Injections Safety Recommendations by the Multi-Society Pain Workgroup (MPW): More Regulations Without Evidence or Clarification Click HERE TO READ

Health Policy Review: Epidural Steroid Warning Controversy Still Dogging FDA Click HERE TO READ

Letter to the Editor: The Food and Drug Administration's Recent Action on April 23, 2014 Failed to Appropriately Address Safety Concerns about Epidural Steroid Use Click HERE TO READ

We have also created a fact sheet or your reference.

ASIPP Resident/Fellow Governing Counseling Seeking Officer Nominations

Interested in pursuing a career in pain management? Want to advocate on behalf of your profession and patients? Trying to distinguish yourself from other fellowship applicants? Enjoy networking with prominent members of your profession? Want to learn about prominent issues in pain medicine?

If you answered "yes" to any of these, consider joining the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) and serving as a member of the Residents and Fellows (RFS) Governing Council. The Governing Council will be tasked with creating content recommendations for this year's annual conference and improving resident and fellow membership in ASIPP.

We are soliciting nominations for the following positions (one year term):

Chair- directs the section and implements the agenda as outlined by the board

Vice Chair- assists the chair and lead membership recruitment

Secretary - responsible for accurate record keeping of the section activities

Member At-large - responsible for arranging RFS activities at the annual meeting

Treasure - responsible for accurate financial management of funding designated to the section

Please submit your CV and a 250 word maximum statement of interest to sunnyjha@gmail.com by October 31st. You can express interest in any and all positions. 

Governing Council members must be members of ASIPP, members of an accredited residency and/or fellowship program but must commit to attending the ASIPP Annual Meeting April 9-11 in Orlando, FL. ASIPP offers drastically reduced registration fees for the meeting to residents, fellows, and medical students. Governing Council members receive complimentary registration. 

Joining ASIPP as a resident and fellow is free and is easy, simply go to www.asipp.org and follow the links.

CCI 4th Quarter Updates Now Available

These new edits have been effective since 10/1/2014 and will be effective through 12/31/2014.

As a member benefit, we are providing you with the 4th quarter updates for IPM codes.

For detailed analysis of NCCI for most commonly used interventional techniques, please follow the following link

ICD-10 Preparation Webinar Set for Nov. 4

WEBINAR HIGHLIGHTS 

• Background on ICD-10
• Technology readiness to make sure the products are ready
• The new 'Road to 10' tool to create a custojmized action plan for ICD-10
• Key steps to ensure a successful transition
• Resources to help with a smooth implementation
• Discover the top ICD-10 areas likely requiring documentation updates for pain management providers
• Technology readiness to make sure the products are ready
• What are the testing procedures needed with payers
• Practice determining the correct ICD-10 diagnosis codes in common pain management conditions

WEBINAR FEE:   $175     

WEBINAR DATE: November 4, 2014  

TIME:   11:00am-12:30am CST

CREDIT HOURS: 1.5 CEUs

LENGTH: 90 Minutes

SPEAKER:

Marvel J Hammer, RN, BS, CPC, CCS-P,  ACS-PM, CPCO   

Click HERE to register:

It's not every day the Federal Trade Commission stumbles onto the right side of an antitrust case. And on Tuesday the Supreme Court hears arguments in an FTC case about whether dentists can band together as a cartel and prevent other businesses from offering a service, even as they claim a special exemption to price-fixing laws.

Since the 1990s cosmetic tooth whitening has become big business for dental offices, lucrative and simple to perform. Salons and spas entered the business, often at a lower price. In reaction the dentists decreed that whitening should be performed exclusively by licensed dental practitioners. In 2006 the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners, representing dentists, banned the whitening practice by nondentists and issued cease and desist letters to the spas and mall kiosks.

Wall Street Journal

Hundreds of thousands of people who signed up for Medicaid months ago still don't have coverage, a problem that could worsen when insurance sign-ups under the Affordable Care Act restart next month.

California and Tennessee are facing lawsuits from residents who say they have seen long delays for coverage after signing up for Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the low income and disabled. Some say they have been waiting since late 2013.

The delays stem from various technical problems and the sheer volume of Medicaid applications states must process.

Wall Street Journal

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) increase one's risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. However, when taken in combination with other drugs, this risk is significantly higher, according to a study published in the October issue of the journal Gastroenterology.

"These findings may help clinicians tailor therapy to minimise upper gastrointestinal bleeding, and are especially valuable in elderly patients who are likely to use multiple drugs at the same time," said lead author Gwen Masclee, MD, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. "Defining risk factors is a critical step towards improving care and decreasing NSAID-associated complications and deaths."

DG News

With the second Obamacare open-enrollment beginning on November 15th, the enrollment system's testing begins with insurance companies this week.

Of course, last year the enrollment system testing was a real mess resulting in a humiliating Obamacare launch for the administration.

Up until now I wasn't expecting any major problems with HealthCare.gov's consumer enrollment system given all of the lessons learned and the new people running things.

Health Policy and Market Blog

Teva announces initiation of new drug application and positive results from second human abuse liability study for CEP-33237

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., has announced the initiation of a rolling New Drug Application (NDA) submission to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for hydrocodone bitartrate extended-release tablets designed with Teva's proprietary technology providing potential abuse-deterrent properties (CEP-33237) as allowed for fast track designated products. Teva expects to complete the NDA submission by the end of 2014. CEP-33237 is an investigational, 12-hour, acetaminophen-free, formulation of extended-release (ER) hydrocodone for the management of pain severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment and for which alternative treatment options are inadequate.

Teva also announced positive results from a nasal Human Abuse Liability (HAL) study which supports the NDA. The nasal HAL study found that in nondependent, recreational opioid users, abuse potential for crushed intranasal CEP-33237 was significantly lower than intranasal immediate-release (IR) hydrocodone.

Medical News Today

My journey to Bemidji: Doctors' views of EHRs, regulatory burdens

Among the many privileges of serving as a president-elect of the AMA is traveling the country to meet fellow physicians in their own backyards. A couple weeks ago, those travels brought me to Bemidji, a small town of roughly 13,500 residents in rural upstate Minnesota. Bemidji is Paul Bunyan country (you know, the big lumberjack with the big blue ox), lying along the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

Richard Stennes, MD, a fellow emergency physician and longtime AMA delegate, graciously hosted me and introduced me to the joys of small-town America: great people, great hospitality and great community. People there know each other and look after one another. It was a genuine pleasure to have this small glimpse into the special glue that holds folks together.

While in Bemidji, I spoke with physicians from a variety of specialties and backgrounds and was struck by both the similarities to and differences from what I see and hear from other doctors across the country. Among the most common topics we discussed were the challenges of our rapidly changing health care system, the crushing burden of excessive government mandates and regulations, and the unique aspects of health care in rural America.

AMA Wire

Electronic health record (EHR) systems came under fire when Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital stated that a "glitch" may have contributed to Ebola patient Thomas Duncan's discharge from its emergency department. Though the hospital has since retracted its statement that the EHR was to blame, questions linger about how electronic records can be better integrated into clinical care.

We reached out to physicians by email to ask:

If you could change one thing about your EHR system, what would it be?

MedPage Today

ZURICH-The Ebola virus is killing 70% of the people who contract the disease, the World Health Organization said Tuesday, and as many as 10,000 new cases a week could be reported by early December.

Dr. Bruce Aylward, the WHO assistant director-general in charge of the organization's response to the epidemic, said the Ebola virus is "still moving geographically, still escalating" in some bigger cities. He expressed concern the disease could spread to countries that share borders with Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, the epicenters of the current outbreak, singling out Côte d'Ivoire as particularly vulnerable.

Dr. Aylward pushed for adoption of the WHO's goal to safely bury 70% of the people killed by Ebola and treat 70% those with the disease within 60 days, a plan it has dubbed 70-70-60, to help prevent the spread of the disease.

Wall Street Journal

When does the safety of many trump the privacy of one? That is the challenge to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in the age of Ebola.

Passed in 1996 amid a storm of controversy from the very beginning, HIPAA critics of all ideologies panned the law, which set out rules for protecting the privacy of patient health records, according to Daniel Solove, JD, of George Washington University in Washington.

"Privacy advocates were disappointed that HIPAA allowed many uses and disclosures of information without patient consent," Solove, who is also the founder of TeachPrivacy, a privacy/data security training company, wrote last year in the Journal of AHIMA, published by the American Health Information Management Association.

MedPage Today

Painkiller deaths drop for first time since 1999

ew federal data show deaths from prescription painkillers have decreased for the first time since 1999, while heroin deaths have surged, suggesting some addicts may have turned to illicit drugs as new federal and state restrictions made prescription narcotics harder to get.

Abuse of prescription opioids, such as the powerful painkiller OxyContin, fueled a surge in overdose deaths, which quadrupled from 4,030 deaths in 1999 to 16,917 deaths in 2011. The numbers are based on mortality data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In 2012, the latest year available, deaths from prescription painkillers dropped 5% to 16,007, according to CDC data made public Wednesday by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy. Deaths from all categories of prescription drugs dropped 3%, the data shows.

USA Today

Call for Abstracts! Make Plans Today to Participate in 17th Annual Meeting Abstract Session

Make your plans now to participate in the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians abstract and poster presentation at the 17th Annual Meeting, April 9-11 in Orlando Florida.

This year's abstract session will be bigger and better. In response to your many suggestions, the top 20 posters will be on  display through our new  electronic poster presentations with Q & A time with poster presenters. They will also be published in Pain Physician journal.

In addition the Top 8 posters will be presented for judging during Friday's session. The top three abstracts will receive cash prizes.

Posters will be on display during the meeting on both Thursday and Friday in the exhibitor hall.

The abstract submission deadline will be February 6, 2015.

For a complete set of rules and to access the online submission application, please go to:  http://www.asipp.org/0415-Abstract-registration.htm
 

ASIPP Launches Career Center to Connect Job Seekers and Employers in Interventional Pain Management

The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP) today announced the launch of the ASIPP Job Board, a new online career center designed specifically to connect employers and talent in the field of Interventional Pain Management.   

The ASIPP Job Board is powered by JobTarget, the leading provider of job websites and career centers for organizations that serve niche audiences.  It can be found at http://jobs.asipp.org/home/  and can be accessed by ASIPP members and non-members alike.  

Members use coupon code "20Member" to receive 20% off the listed prices for job postings.