Video: Every Case Tells a Story| Webinar: ACR/CHEST ILD Guidelines in Practice

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

Doubts Mount over Merger of Health Insurers Anthem, Cigna

Bill Berkrot  |  

(Reuters)—Wall Street expressed growing doubts about a pending $54 billion merger of U.S. health insurers Anthem Inc. and Cigna Corp. on Monday as news of management squabbles added to concerns over its review by antitrust regulators. Cigna shares closed down 4% at $126.15, well below Anthem’s original $188 per share offer of cash and stock…

Patient Can’t Always Access Complete Medical Records, Doctors Say

Lisa Rapaport  |  

(Reuters Health)—Technology makes it possible for patients to access medical records online, but a thicket of legal issues may still keep people from always seeing everything in their chart, some doctors say. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) gives U.S. patients the right to access their medical records and control who else has…

Running Barefoot May Protect Against Some Musculoskeletal Injuries

  |  

Running barefoot may conjure images of summer and childhood, but since Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia set a world record running barefoot in the marathon in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome (Olympic gold medal in a world-record 2:15:16.2), many runners have adopted the style. A recent study found that running barefoot may be associated with significantly fewer overall musculoskeletal injuries than running shod…

ABIM Announcement: Alternative MOC Assessment Starting January 2018

  |  

The American Board of Internal Medicine announced plans to offer a new Maintenance of Certification (MOC) assessment for internal medicine—and possibly other specialties—starting January 2018. Specific details are expected by Dec. 31, 2016, following a public comment period. The ACR will continue to push for access to clinical decision-making tools as an open-book, take-home assessment or for continuing medical education activities with assessment components to be considered appropriate options…

Autoantibodies in Pregnant Woman May Put Infant at Risk for Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus

  |  

A recent case study revealed that an infant from a donor egg developed neonatal lupus erythematosus (NLE) and a congenital heart block, which may have been due to the presence of antibodies to Ro and La in the birth mother—not the genetic mother. The results suggest that a gestational mother with a history of autoimmune disease is sufficient to trigger the pathology of NLE…

TNF Blocking Drugs Persist in Infants after Exposure In-Utero

Anne Harding  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Babies born to mothers who took anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) agents during pregnancy have detectable drug in their bodies up to 12 months of age, new findings show. These infants should therefore not receive live vaccines during their first year of life, Dr. Mette Julsgaard of Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark and…

Drug Company Gifts Linked to Doctors’ Prescribing Habits

Andrew M. Seaman  |  

(Reuters Health)—Doctors who receive payments or gifts from pharmaceutical companies are more likely to prescribe brand name medications, a new study suggests. Dr. James Yeh, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, and colleagues write May 9 online in JAMA Internal Medicine that some states require doctors to report what they receive from drug companies….

Rheumatology Coding Corner Question: Documentation Improvement

  |  

A 55-year-old female patient returns for her second infliximab infusion. Her temperature is 98°F, her height is 5’6″ and her weight is 151 lbs. She received 210 mg infliximab via infusion. The patient arrived at the clinic at 8:15 a.m. and left at 10:55 a.m. Can this encounter be coded correctly? Yes No A 38-year-old…