At the 18th Annual Ambulatory Surgery Centers Conference in Chicago on Oct. 28, Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, chairman of the board of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, gave a presentation titled "Interventional Pain Management — What the Next Few Years Will Look Like." He discussed several major issues facing interventional pain physicians today, including healthcare reform legislation, Independent Payment Advisory Board, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and reimbursement to physicians. "PCORI is one of the biggest issues because it can draft a report saying a treatment doesn't work and insurance companies will stop paying for those procedures," he said. "Congress is working on introducing a bill for repealing PCORI now."
Additional issues Dr. Manchikanti covered were:
• ICD-10 conversion
• Single dose vials
• Electronic medical records
• Transition to government payor programs
The future of interventional pain management depends on several things, Dr. Manchikanti said, including the willingness of physicians to fight the current healthcare policy and advocate for their work. He discussed how evidence based medicine, Institute of Medicine and new billing regulations, which will all impact the physician's practice. "Make your voice heard," he said. "It all boils down to local politics: things happen 24 hours per day. Who is our worst enemy? Fear, time and apathy. The cost of inaction is to our profession and our patients."
Here are four steps he recommended to advocate for interventional pan management:
• Become an activist
• Value your organization
• Give to the political action committee
• Know your congressional delegation
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Additional issues Dr. Manchikanti covered were:
• ICD-10 conversion
• Single dose vials
• Electronic medical records
• Transition to government payor programs
The future of interventional pain management depends on several things, Dr. Manchikanti said, including the willingness of physicians to fight the current healthcare policy and advocate for their work. He discussed how evidence based medicine, Institute of Medicine and new billing regulations, which will all impact the physician's practice. "Make your voice heard," he said. "It all boils down to local politics: things happen 24 hours per day. Who is our worst enemy? Fear, time and apathy. The cost of inaction is to our profession and our patients."
Here are four steps he recommended to advocate for interventional pan management:
• Become an activist
• Value your organization
• Give to the political action committee
• Know your congressional delegation
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