Vegas Room Block Extended to Feb. 12!  Register Today for Hands-on Cadaver Workshop for IPM Techniques and Ultrasound for Non-spinal Techniques Review 

  On Friday, Feb. 27 ASIPP will hold a course in Ultrasound for Non-spinal Techniques Review and Hands-on Workshop.  This course will feature a short session of didactics followed by a hands-on learning experience using live models. 
 

The following day, Sat. Feb. 28 - March 1, 2015 we will hold a Hands-on Cadaver Workshop for IPM. ASIPP will transport participants from the Venetian to the Oquendo Center Cadaver Lab. The course will have three levels: Basic, Intermediate, and ABIPP Exam Preparation (Advanced) plus online videos presentations.
  

Room block:

The Venetian

3355 South Las Vegas Boulevard

Las Vegas, NV 89109

Phone: 702-414-1000

Room block ends Feb. 12, 2015.
 

Click HERE  to book your room at the Venetian.

Abstract Submission Deadline THIS FRIDAY! Submit Yours Today!

 You are invited 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.

Posters will be on display during the meeting on both Thursday and Friday in the exhibitor hall.  In addition the top 8 posters will be presented for judging during Friday's breakout session.

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
 

Embrace the Future and the Sunshine!  Bring the family to Orlando  for the ASIPP 17th Annual Meeting in April

Combine your family's spring break plans with your plans to attend ASIPP's 17th Annual meetiing!

Make plans now to head down to Sunny Orlando Florida! ASIPP's 17th annual meeting is set for April 9-11. Plan to bring your family to enjoy access benefits to Universal Studies and the Loew's Royal Pacific Resort.

Your family will love the walking distance to the Universal Parks, and the hotel's gorgeous resort atmosphere while you enjoy learning about all the latest news and techniques for Interventional Pain Management.

This year's theme is Embrace the Future: Evidence, Medical necessity, Be accountable and reasonable, Research-based practice, Advocacy based on evidence, Competency and compromise based on a comprehensive approach, Ethical practice and sacrifice. (BROCHURE)

We continue to face challenges in our practices and our specialty but the best way to handle these difficulties is by staying positive and to EMBRACE THE FUTURE.  The 2015 Annual Meeting will have practical, evidence-based, and progressive education to help preserve your practice into the future. We believe you will find that this conference is quite different from the majority of other conferences. We have worked hard to design a meeting for you and your staff that covers the many aspects of your practice, from evidence-based medicine, emerging concepts and controversies, to practice management and information technology and media, and much, much more.

We also offer sessions on practical billing, coding, and practice management, and our always popular abstract presentations. This year we have a special session for our large resident and fellow members with many great speakers.

We hope you will join us for the meeting in the fun filled city of Orlando. Bring your family and spend a few days.

Click HERE to Register

Click Here to view the meeting schedule

Registration Now Open for July Board Review Course in Chicago

Make plans today to attend the 2015 Board Review Course set for July 21-24 at the Palmer House in Chicago, IL.

This intensive and comprehensive high-quality review will prepare physicians appearing for the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS)-Subspecialty Pain Medicine examination and for the American Board of Interventional Pain Physicians (ABIPP)-Part 1 examination.

* A five-day review covering anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, psychology, ethics, interventional techniques, non-interventional techniques, controlled substances and practice management

* Unique lectures by experts in the field

* Extensive educational materials

Click HERE to Register:  

WASHINGTON - President Obama is unveiling a $3.99 trillion budget that is "designed to bring middle class economics into the 21st Century," the White House announced Monday.

The proposed budget "invests in helping working families make their paychecks go further, preparing hardworking Americans to earn higher wages, and creating the infrastructure that allows businesses to thrive and create good, high-paying jobs," the White House said in a statement.

To pay for new tax credits and other programs involving education, child care, paid leave, and new road and bridge construction, the budget calls for tax hikes on wealthier Americans by closing certain loopholes.

USA Today

The Vaccination Debate

How Doctors Can Win the Vaccine Debate With Patients

The measles outbreak that has spread from California to other states has reignited the debate over vaccines, but this time with a different twist.

News stories have been focusing on the threat posed by children who are not vaccinated. While anti-vaccine advocates continue to get press attention, there are also stories which underscore the public health threat posed by parents who fail to get their children vaccinated. And a number of stories reported on the case of an immunocompromised child and his parents who feared for his life.

MedPage Today

Vaccination debate spills over into 2016 White House race

The roiling national debate over vaccinations has spilled over into the 2016 presidential race, as potential candidates clash over whether a measles outbreak underscores the need for strict vaccination policies. 

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, both potential Republican candidates, waded into the debate on Monday, saying parents should have a say in whether to vaccinate their kids. The remarks were not a departure from previously stated positions, but in light of the current measles outbreak, they drew widespread attention -- and criticism. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting 102 confirmed measles cases spread across 14 states, which follows last year's record outbreak in which 644 cases were diagnosed across 27 states -- the largest outbreak since the virus was declared eliminated in 2000. 

Fox News

FDA Approves New Formulation of Zohydro ER

Zogenix Inc. announced that the FDA has approved a new formulation of Zohydro ER (hydrocodone bitartrate) Extended-Release Capsules that uses technology that provides abuse-deterrent properties without changing the release properties of hydrocodone when the medication is used properly.
 
The technology (known as BeadTek) used in the new formulation "incorporates well-known pharmaceutical excipients that immediately form a viscous gel when crushed and dissolved in liquids or solvents," according to Zogenix.
 
The company also said the new formulation "maintains the same efficacy and pharmacokinetic profile of the original formulation," and is expected to be available in the second quarter of 2015 for all prescribed strengths of Zohydro.

HCP Live

Medical errors rank third among the leading causes of death in the United States, according to some studies cited in a recent Vox article.

They are ahead of car crashes, new disease outbreaks, breast cancer, AIDS, plane crashes and drug over doses. Here are five things to know from the article:

1. Around 2 percent to 3 percent of the people who go into hospitals receive severe harm as a result.

2. Errors can be caused by simple things such as messy handwriting or getting the drug dosage wrong in addition to wrong site surgery and infections.

3. Estimates run from 44,000 to 98,000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors, but when asked to estimate the number of medical error deaths, both physicians and the general public said around 5,000.

4. Errors with medical prescriptions were linked to 7,000 deaths annually.

5. Many medical errors go unreported, in part because physicians are embarrassed and afraid of lawsuits.

The U.S. government will begin releasing Medicare physician-payment records every year, cementing public access to how tens of billions of dollars are spent annually on everything from office visits to radiation therapy.

Last April, a year's worth of the data was released for the first time in more than three decades after Wall Street Journal parent Dow Jones & Co. challenged a 1979 injunction that prohibited Medicare from disclosing its payments to doctors. It was unclear at the time if any more records would be released.

The data provided the first comprehensive look at a central part of the taxpayer-funded program for the elderly and disabled. It detailed payments to 880,000 individuals and organizations totaling more than $77 billion from the Medicare program in 2012, covering more than 5,000 different procedures.

CMS Mulls Easing Meaningful Use Rules

WASHINGTON -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) may relax some of its rules for implementing Meaningful Use requirements, the agency announced Thursday.

"Meaningful Use" refers to provisions in the 2009 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which authorized incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid to clinicians and hospitals that use electronic health records (EHRs) in a meaningful way to significantly improve clinical care.

MedPage Today

Skipping Doses to Save $$$

Nearly 8% of adults in the U.S. did not take their medications as prescribed in order to save money in 2013, found a study by the the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Patients skipped doses, took less medicine, and delayed filling prescriptions. Adults between the ages of 18 and 64 were twice as likely to do so compared with those over 65, wrote authors Robin Cohen, PhD, and Maria Villarroel, PhD, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics in a data brief.

MedPage Today

Nearly 4 billion prescriptions were filled in the United States in 2013, and that's not the only high number when it comes to provider-issued medication. Nearly four dozen people fatally overdose each day when taking prescribed drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In response, provider and federal advocates want to reduce opioid abuse and reinforce programs and treatments that promote overdose prevention.