For decades, the U.S. has served as a beacon to the international scientific community. With drastic cuts to scientific investment proposed and implemented, the U.S. stands to lose not only immigrants considering careers in research, but also homegrown scientists. Christina Downey, MD, reflects on the cuts and invites members to be part of the solution.
In response to agency requests for feedback on how to streamline regulations and reduce administrative burden on Medicare program stakeholders and small business owners, the ACR called for the removal of certain regulations related to prior authorization, pharmacy benefit managers and Medicare Part B and Part D access.
Registration is now open for the first-ever Practice Innovation Summit, which will dive into operational and financial strategies to grow and sustain private and community-based practices.
Aetna recently notified practices about the launch of its Combined Benefit Management Drug List, which will result in romosozumab-aqqg (Evenity) and infliximab (Remicade) moving to pharmacy-only coverage on July 1. The ACR is working to oppose this change.
Aetna recently expanded its Claim and Code Review Program, which results in the downcoding of certain level 4 and 5 evaluation and management claims. Practices are advised to monitor remittance documents for appropriate reimbursement.
Syphilis, an ancient disease caused by the spirochete Treponema pallidum, has been historically referred to as the great mimicker given its heterogenous presentation. Both systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and syphilis can have multi-systemic involvement. Both parvovirus B19 and syphilis have been reported to cause histologic features similar to those seen in lupus nephritis. We present…
Renal arteriosclerosis is common in patients with lupus nephritis and occurs two decades earlier than it does in people without the condition, say investigators in a study that examined the prevalence of renal arteriosclerosis in patients with lupus nephritis compared with healthy controls.1 The finding suggests that renal arteriosclerosis could be used as a biomarker…
In this study, Fava et al. investigated longitudinal autoantibody profiles in a racially diverse cohort of patients with lupus nephritis to define noninvasive serological biomarkers of histologic class and one-year treatment response to standard of care. In addition, the researchers determined how these biomarkers changed over time to provide further insights into treatment response and…
AURORA 2 Voclosporin, a novel calcineurin inhibitor (CNI), is associated with a favorable metabolic profile with regard to lipids and glucose, and a predictable pharmacokinetic profile, resulting in no need for the therapeutic drug monitoring required of other CNIs. AURORA 2, a double-blind, phase 3 study, evaluated the longterm safety, tolerability and efficacy of voclosporin…
At a session of ACR Convergence 2024, speakers shared key elements of the new guideline on the screening, treatment and overall management of lupus nephritis in children and adults.1 This guideline attempts to balance the risks of medication side effects with the important goal of preserving kidney function. This is the ACR’s first lupus guideline…