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

ACR Advocacy: 2019 Year in Review

Blair Solow, MD  |  

As a new year begins, Government Affairs Committee chair Blair Solow, MD, takes stock of ACR advocacy wins in 2019 and issues to watch in 2020.

2019 MIPS Reporting with the RISE Registry

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The Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) 2019 MIPS submission tool will open in mid-January. RISE staff are in the process of completing final data refreshes and reviews to ensure data accuracy. The ACR will notify all practices as soon as the submission tool is open. Practices are requested to complete their submission by March…

Gender Disparity in Invited Commentary Authorship

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A case-control study found only 23% of invited commentaries for peer-reviewed medical journals had women as their corresponding authors. The study also revealed women are 21% less likely to write such commentaries as men with similar expertise and author seniority…

New ACR/EULAR IgG4 Classification Criteria Introduced

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Immunoglobulin G4-related disease (IgG4-RD) can cause fibroinflammatory lesions in nearly any organ. Correlation among clinical, serologic, radiologic and pathologic data is required for diagnosis. ACR/EULAR classification criteria for IgG4-RD have now been developed and validated in a large cohort of patients…

Immunoassay May Help Identify Pediatric Lyme Arthritis

Marilynn Larkin  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—In Lyme disease-endemic areas, a C6 peptide enzyme immunoassay (EIA) test may help guide initial management of children with acute arthritis, an observational study suggests.1 “Children with Lyme disease frequently present to the emergency department with an inflamed joint,” Lise Nigrovic, MD, MPH, of Boston Children’s Hospital tells Reuters Health by email….

U.S. Accuses CVS of Defrauding Medicare over Prescriptions

Jonathan Stempel  |  

NEW YORK, Dec 17 (Reuters)—CVS Health Corp. and its Omnicare unit were sued on Tuesday by the U.S. government, which accused them of fraudulently billing Medicare and Medicaid for hundreds of thousands of drugs without valid prescriptions. The U.S. Department of Justice joined two whistleblower lawsuits accusing Omnicare of failing to obtain new prescriptions from…

Declining Numbers of Americans Have a Primary Care Provider

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(Reuters Health)—In a little over a decade, the number of patients in the U.S. with primary care providers dropped by 2%, a new study finds. Between 2002 and 2015, fewer and fewer Americans of all ages, except for those in their 80s, had a primary care provider, researchers report in JAMA Internal Medicine.1 Although 2%…