Bill to Reduce Regulatory Burdens and Provide Better Medical Care for Patients Introduced in Congress

NEW YORK, Jan. 30, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, Chairman of the Board and CEO of American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians (ASIPP), commended Kentucky Representative Brett Guthrie (R-2nd) for introducing bill, H.R. 3827, in Congress. The bill would repeal the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) and comparative effectiveness research (CER) funding. 

This bill is supported by ASIPP a national physicians group of over 4,500 members dedicated to the promotion, development and use of safe and appropriate pain treatments.

Dr. Manchikanti stated, "Doctors concerned for individualized patient care have been against PCORI since it was established in 2010. ASIPP believes that quality patient care is hurt when medical decisions are focused first on dollar costs and then combined with evaluation of medical treatments by individuals without expertise in the area they are reviewing." 

PCORI was established by Congress through the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and by law is an independent, non-profit organization. PCORI and CER have been described as government-driven solutions that do not follow the principles of evidence-based medicine and which have an extensive focus on costs rather than quality. Decisions made by PCORI will be used by third party payors to override the physician's best medical judgment and patient's best interest.  Stakeholders in PCORI will set an agenda that is not based on medical science, but rather on political science and not governed by congressional authority, leading to unprecedented negative changes to healthcare.

"It should be noted that the overhaul of the U.S. health care system is in part based on the United Kingdom's National Health Services (NHS) and National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) with PCORI and CER being inspired by them. Unfortunately, the state of health care in the United Kingdom is currently undergoing massive modifications because of its shortcomings and so modeling after this system makes no sense," added Dr. Manchikanti.

ASIPP believes that prior attempts by government health care programs, such as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (AHCPR) have been nothing more than expensive experiments and PCORI, like them, will not advance quality patient care in the U.S.

About the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians

ASIPP's mission statement is to promote the development and practice of safe, high-quality, cost-effective interventional pain management techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of pain and related disorders, and to ensure patient access to these interventions. 

Founded in 1998 by Chairman of the Board and CEO Laxmaiah Manchikanti, MD, ASIPP is a rapidly growing not-for-profit organization that supports access to interventional techniques and the needs of physicians who practice Interventional Pain Management across the country.

Since its inception, the organization has had a substantial impact on the practice of interventional pain management, resulting in an impressive list of major achievements.  In 2005, ASIPP succeeded in passing The National All Schedules Prescription Electronic Reporting Act (NASPER), which provides and improves patient access to quality care, and protects patients and physicians from the deleterious effects of controlled substance misuse, abuse and trafficking.  ASIPP is headquartered in Paducah, KY and currently has 4,500 members.  For more information, visit www.asipp.org or call 270.554.9412. Ext. 215

SOURCE American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians