American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine August 2016 - 3

President's Message
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Take 2
THE GOOD
The 41st Annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain Medicine
Meeting, which took place on March 31-April 2, 2016, in New
Orleans, Louisiana, was another success. A total of 1,016 attendees
(yes, we broke the 1,000 bar again), of which 36% were firsttime attendees, joined us at the Roosevelt Hotel, a wonderful and
historic site. Of 551 respondents, 99% would recommend the event
to others, and 98% (n = 548) indicated they would attend the event
again. This is a reflection of the high-quality program crafted by the
members of the Scientific/Educational Planning Committee led by
Dr Anahi Perlas. On behalf of the Society, I thank them for the many
hours of work that they invested in shaping such a high-quality
product.
During the Excellence in ASRA Awards Luncheon, we honored Dr
Vincent Chan with the Gaston Labat Award, an activity attended
by 152 individuals who thoroughly enjoyed his presentation. If
you were not able to attend, you can listen to a recording on our
website and also look for the
contents of his lecture in a
future issue of the Regional
Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
journal.
Not everything at the meeting
was about science. We had
about 220 meeting attendees
and guests join us for our-
now traditional-Saturday
Celebration, aptly named "Let
the Good Times Roll." It was a
great party with dinner followed
by dancing...and an open bar!

the Napa and Sonoma wine country,
along with music, dancing, and
exceptional views of San Francisco.
Speaking of meetings, Dr Ricardo
Vallejo and his Scientific/Educational
Planning Committee have a wonderful
Pain Medicine Meeting planned for
you this fall. We will meet in San
Diego on November 17-19, 2016, at
the Hilton San Diego Bayfront Hotel.
This year's program offers many
Oscar de Leon-Casasola, MD
alternatives to allow you to interact
ASRA President
with experts in the field, with topics
ranging from regenerative medicine
to the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Guidelines for
Opioid Prescriptions, as well as the impact of the Affordable Care Act
on documentation, coding, and compliance and how to measure your
pain data outcomes. Experts will discuss treatment of headaches,
including migraines; the benefits and concerns of cannabis therapy;
complications in pain medicine;
and regional alternative
medicine and its application for
spinal and nonspinal conditions.
Hands-on workshops
feature ultrasonography and
fluoroscopy as well as highly
technical procedures such as
vertebral augmentation and
minimally invasive lumbar
decompression. We are very
proud to offer substantial
Practice Management content
within the program this year.
These highly practical and
interactive sessions will include
critical information to help you be compliant with the new Merit-Based
Incentive Payment System (MIPS). We continue to welcome PAs and
NPs to the program, as well as once again offering one complimentary
"Ask the Expert" interactive session for those who register by July
29. Don't miss the Saturday Excellence in ASRA Awards Luncheon,
featuring this year's John J. Bonica Award Lecturer, Honorio Benzon,
MD, as well as what promises to be another night to remember: the
Saturday Fiesta on the Bay. We're already accepting abstracts on the
ASRA website, and the deadline for submission is September 7. Do not
miss the opportunity to showcase your research or share a case report
at our meeting! To register for the meeting, go to www.asra.com/
register.

"The ASRA Board and our administrative
office are committed to participate in
the ongoing discussions with CMS on
this topic, and we will work with the
American Society of Anesthesiologists
and other pain societies to present a
unified front to CMS."

We look forward to hosting you on April 6-8, 2017, in San Francisco
for the 42nd Annual Regional Anesthesiology and Acute Pain
Medicine Meeting. Dr Andres Missair and his Scientific/Educational
Planning Committee already have a great program in the works,
including offering a Practice Management Portfolio within the
program, which will teach you how to develop, manage, and
grow your acute pain practice by mastering Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid (CMS) compliance and maximizing reimbursement,
along with workshops on Point of Care Ultrasound. The visionaries
who first described the pectoral, serratus plane, iPACK, quadratus
lumborum, and transverse oblique lumbar plexus blocks have been
invited to be workshop faculty. There will be more chronic pain
medical management sessions in response to our growing role as
inpatient pain physicians and key players in enhanced recovery
after surgery models. Of course, we also will have our-now
famous-Saturday Night Celebration, which will include tastes of

THE BAD (WELL, NOT SO BAD IF YOU ARE PREPARED)
In January 2015, the Department of Health and Human Services
announced new goals for value-based payments in Medicare. The

American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine
2016

https://www.asra.com/page/268/archived-webcasts http://www.asra.com/register http://www.asra.com/register

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine August 2016