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An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Allergan Bid to Use Tribe to Shield Drug Patents

Lawrence Hurley  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—The U.S. Supreme Court has cast aside pharmaceutical company Allergan Plc.’s unorthodox bid to shield patents from a federal administrative court’s review by transferring them to a Native American tribe. The justices left in place a lower court ruling upholding the authority of a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office tribunal to decide the validity…

FDA Greenlights Osteoporosis Drug for Postmenopausal Women

Saumya Joseph  |  

(Reuters)—The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has approved Amgen’s osteoporosis treatment for postmenopausal women who are at high risk of fracture. Evenity (romosozumab-aqqg), developed jointly with Belgium-based UCB SA, helps reduce the risk of fracture by increasing bone mass and mildly inhibiting the break down of bone minerals. Romosozumab-aqqg belongs to a new…

State Step Therapy Laws: Not All Are Created Equal

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Step therapy reform has been a hot topic and major focus of the ACR’s advocacy activity in states this legislative session. Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin and Florida are all considering step therapy bills that stand good chance of passing this legislative year. Virginia and Georgia have already passed step therapy laws. When these two new laws…

Value for Service: ACR Update on RUC & CPT Activities

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The American Medical Association (AMA) Relative Value Update Committee (RUC) and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) meet three times a year to keep the CPT code set up to date and review resource costs for physicians. The two-step meetings of the CPT Editorial Panel and the RUC allow physicians to provide direct input to the Centers…

Closed Case? ACR Fights CMS Proposed Changes for E/M Reimbursement

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When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed coding and documentation changes to consolidate evaluation and management (E/M) services last fall, the ACR was among many specialist societies actively involved in advocating against the proposed ruling. The changes to E/M coding were part of a larger initiative to reduce the documentation burden on…

Advocacy Begins at Home

Chris Morris, MD  |  

As the frustration with changes in healthcare grows, and after speaking with the vociferous advocates who are part of the ACR, you have decided that you need to become involved in advocacy for your patients, your practice and your profession. Welcome to the fold. How to Help from Home Many people indicate they aren’t more…

Tracking Bone Deterioration in Patients with Ankylosing Spondylitis

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Trabecular bone score and high-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography may be effective for evaluating bone impairment in patients ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Rheumatologists may be able to use these methods, complementary to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, to identify bone quality deterioration in AS patients.