IN THIS ISSUE 

1. Doctors prescribing most potent painkillers face scrutiny
2. ASIPP Hosting Ultrasound for Non-spinal Techniques Review and Hands-on Caver Workshop for IPM Techniques in Vegas
3. Register Now Open for ASIPP's 17th Annual Meeting
4. 14 arrested in connection with deadly meningitis outbreak 
5. Don't Homogenize Health Care
6. Senate Passes Budget Deal; No SGR Fix Included
7. Dr. Devi in the News 
8. Docs, Guns, and Smokes 
9. 50 of the most powerful people in healthcare | 2015 
10. Medicare Overbilling Probes Run Into Political Pressure 
11. Obamacare Co-Ops Cut Prices, Turn Up Heat on Rival Insurers 
12. New Strength Available for Opioid Transdermal System 
13. Small Businesses Drop Coverage as Health Law Offers Alternatives
14. The 20% Who Spread Most Disease 
15. Submit Your Abstract Today for 17th Annual Meeting Abstract Session 
16. State Society News 
17. Physician Wanted 

Doctors prescribing most potent painkillers face scrutiny

Doctors who are the most prolific prescribers of powerful narcotic painkillers and stimulants often have worrisome records, according to a ProPublica analysis of Medicare data.

Doctors who are the most prolific prescribers of powerful narcotic painkillers and stimulants often have worrisome records, a ProPublica analysis of Medicare data shows.

In 2012, 12 of Medicare's top 20 prescribers of drugs such as oxycodone, fentanyl, morphine and Ritalin have faced disciplinary actions by their state medical boards or criminal charges related to their medical practices, and another had documents seized from his office by federal agents. These drugs have a high potential for abuse and are classified as Schedule 2 controlled substances by the Drug Enforcement Administration.

USA Today

ASIPP Hosting Ultrasound for Non-spinal Techniques Review and Hands-on Caver Workshop for IPM Techniques in Vegas

  The Ultrasound for Non-spinal techniques Review and Hands-on Workshop will be Feb. 27, 2015 and the Hands-on Cadaver Workshop for IPM with be Feb. 28 - March 1, 2015

The course will have three levels: Basic, Intermediate, and ABIPP Exam Preparation (Advanced) plus online Videos and Presentations.

Click HERE to view brochure

Room block:

The Venetian

3355 South Las Vegas Boulevard

Las Vegas, NV 89109

Phone: 702-414-1000

Click HERE for Hotel link.

Click HERE to register

Register Now Open for ASIPP's 17th Annual Meeting

The American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians' (ASIPP) 17th Annual Meeting, Embrace the Future: Survival Strategies for Interventional Pain Management, in collaboration with the Florida Society of Interventional Pain Physicians will take place in Orlando, Florida on Thursday, April 9 through Saturday, April 11, 2015 at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando® Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando®.

This year's program should prove to be one of the most exciting, enriching, and memorable of any meeting we have ever held. This year's educational events will include evidence-based medicine , practice management, drug therapy, refinement in evidence synthesis, advocacy in IPM, abstract presentations, Resident/Fellow session for emergence into practice, and much more.

The meeting will feature: 

• John J. Nance: New York Times Best-Seller Author, ABC Analyst, Professional Speaker, & Consultanthttp://www.johnnanceassociates.com
• Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil: Physician, Researcher, and Assistant Professor at NYU School of Medicine http://doctordevi.com/ 
• P. Christopher Music:Best-Selling Author, International Speaker, and Financial Prosperity Coach http://www.pchristophermusic.com/
• Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD: Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, ASIPP and SIPMS 

Lecture Series Highlights:

Thursday: Manchikanti Distinguished Lecture Series

Surviving the Affordable Care Act Earthquake: Implications and Survival Strategies for Interventional Pain Management

Speaker: John J. Nance (http://www.johnnanceassociates.com)

Friday: Raj-Racz Distinguished Lecture Series

IPM in the Age of Explosive Information Technology and Media:  Is it Indispensable or Irrelevant

Devi E. Nampiaparampil, MD (http://doctordevi.com/ )

BROCHURE COMING SOON!

Click HERE to Register

Click HERE for Exhibitor Prospectus

14 arrested in connection with deadly meningitis outbreak

Fourteen people have been arrested in connection with a deadly 2012 national outbreak of fungal meningitis linked to steroid injections from a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy, including two charged with 25 acts of second-degree murder.

Owners of the pharmacy, the New England Compounding Center, were among those arrested.

IN American medicine today, "variation" has become a dirty word. Variation in the treatment of a medical condition is associated with wastefulness, lack of evidence and even capricious care. To minimize variation, insurers and medical specialty societies have banded together to produce a dizzying array of treatment guidelines for everything from asthma todiabetes, from urinary incontinence to gout.

At some level, this makes sense. Some types of variation are unwarranted, even deadly. For example, we know that ACE inhibitor drugs improve quality of life and survival in heart-failure patients, but only two-thirds of American physicians prescribe these drugs to such patients. A study by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a nonprofit organization focused on health care, reported that 57,000 Americans die each year because the care they get is not based on the best available evidence.

NewYork Times

Senate Passes Budget Deal; No SGR Fix Included

WASHINGTON -- The Senate has passed the $1.1. trillion budget deal, clearing the way for President Obama to sign a measure that has disappointed many physician groups.

The budget bill, which was passed by the House on Thursday, passed the Senate Saturday night by a vote of 56-40. The bill lacks any fix to the widely hated sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for physician reimbursement under Medicare. Also missing in action: an extension of the current pay bump for primary care physicians who see Medicaid patients.

Anders Gilberg, senior vice president for government affairs at the Medical Group Management Association's (MGMA) Washington office, said Friday he was disappointed about the lack of an SGR fix, especially since there was already generally agreed-upon legislation to fix it.

MedPage Today

Dr. Devi in the News

Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil has been asked to comment on the following issues in recent interviews:

December 8, 2014: New Merck Drug Shows Progress Fighting Cancer 

Varney & Co., Fox Business Network

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/3930212532001/new-merck-drug-shows-promise-fighting-cancer/?#sp=show-clips

December 7, 2014:FDA May Lift Lifetime Ban on Blood Donations From Gay Men 

News, Al Jazeera America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5322nesBTg

December 4, 2014: Will This Year's Flu Shot Be As Effective? 

News, Al Jazeera America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S04B9Q5gMls

December 2, 2014: Football Player's Suicide Leads to Questions About Brain Injury

News, Al Jazeera America

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcEvAcwbrJk

November 29, 2014: Turning the Pain Switch Off

Fox and Friends, Fox News Channel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8rgVnLx0i0

November 27, 2014: New Study Links Obesity to Cancer Risk

America's Newsroom, Fox News Channel

http://video.foxnews.com/v/3913085463001/new-study-links-obesity-to-cancer-risk/?#sp=show-clips

November 7, 2014: Report: Robin Williams Had Lewy Body Dementia

CNN Newsroom, CNN

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/showbiz/2014/11/11/nr-intv-devi-nampiaparampil-robin-williams-lewy-body-dementia.cnn.html

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -- One day in clinic, 2 years ago, a patient handed Adam Goldstein, MD, MPH, a request for a concealed weapon permit, soliciting his signature.

The family physician didn't know what to do. "What do you mean fill this out on a patient? First off, what do I know about guns and safety? And second, what do I know about that patient?" Goldstein didn't sign that form, nor has he signed any others that have come into his office since.

The healthcare industry is comprised of a myriad of sectors influencing the overall landscape, including technology, payers, hospitals, health systems, labor unions, politicians, advocacy groups, researchers and more.

The 50 people on this list are from each of those arenas.

They wield an enormous amount of influence. As heads of the most powerful organizations in healthcare, the following men and women are poised to make waves in the industry as we head into 2015 - what is sure to be another year of change.

Becker's Hospital Review

When investigators suspected that Houston's Riverside General Hospital had filed Medicare claims for patients who weren't treated, they moved to block all payments to the facility. Then politics intervened.

Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Texas Democrat, contacted the federal official who oversees Medicare, Marilyn Tavenner, asking her to back down, according to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. In a June 2012 letter to Ms. Tavenner, Rep. Jackson Lee said blocking payments had put the hospital at financial risk and "jeopardized" patients needing Medicare.

Weeks later, Ms. Tavenner, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, instructed deputies to restore most payments to the hospital even as the agency was cooperating in a criminal investigation of the facility, according to former investigators and documents. "These changes are at the direction of the Administrator and have the highest priority," a Medicare official wrote to investigators.

Wall Street Journal

Obamacare Co-Ops Cut Prices, Turn Up Heat on Rival Insurers

When Anna Duleep went shopping recently for 2015 health coverage on the Connecticut insurance exchange, she was pleasantly surprised to find a less expensive plan.

To get the savings, the substitute math teacher had to change from for-profit giant Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to a fledgling carrier she'd never heard of. Still, Duleep, 37, liked saving $10 on her monthly premium of about $400 and knowing that her new plan, HealthyCT, is a nonprofit governed by consumers. She also liked that all her doctors participate. "I just figured, 'why not change?'" she said.

HealthyCT, which cut its 2015 premiums by an average of 8.5%, is one of at least a half dozen co-ops created through the Affordable Care Act that have lowered 2015 premiums in a bid to boost membership in their second year of operation. But those low premiums are upsetting so-called "legacy" insurance plans like Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliates that have traditionally dominated insurance markets.

New Strength Available for Opioid Transdermal System

A 7.5 mcg/hour dosage strength for the Butrans® (buprenorphine) Transdermal System, a CIII opioid, has recently been approved. When titrating from 5 mcg/hour, this additional dosing option gives you added flexibility to help navigate each patient's individual treatment needs.

MedPage Today

Small Businesses Drop Coverage as Health Law Offers Alternatives

For 2 decades Atlanta restaurant owner Jim Dunn offered a group health plan to his managers and helped pay for it. That ended Dec. 1, after the Affordable Care Act made him an offer he couldn't refuse.

Health-law subsidies for workers to buy their own coverage combined with years of rising costs in the company plan made dropping the plan an obvious -- though not easy -- choice.

MedPage Today

The 20% Who Spread Most Disease

When it comes to spreading viral and bacterial infections, some people are more contagious than others-much more contagious.

Known as superspreaders, they amount to roughly 20% of the population, but they account for transmission of about 80% of certain infectious diseases, scientists estimate. The phenomenon has been observed, among other contagions, during the global SARS outbreak in 2002 and 2003 and as far back as Typhoid Mary, a cook in New York who infected dozens of people with typhoid fever in the early 1900s without falling ill herself.

Now, scientists are working to find the reasons why some people spread disease more than others. Of course, circumstances play a role, such as a crowded day-care center, and some pathogens are naturally more virulent than others. Recent experiments suggest the body's immune system at times also may play a role-not just to protect against infection but also to spread more of the pathogens to others.

Wall Street Journal