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

Main Fund for U.S. Medicare Program to Run Out of Money in 2030

Reuters Staff  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—A slowdown in healthcare spending has shored up the funding outlook for the federal program that pays elderly Americans’ hospital bills, trustees of the program said on Wednesday. The Medicare program’s trust fund for hospital care will run out of money in 2030 the trustees said in a report. That was the same year…

Americans Want Medicare to Help Negotiate Down Drug Prices

Kylie Gumpert  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters)—A vast majority of Americans say the Medicare health program for the elderly should be able to negotiate with drug companies to set lower medication prices, a practice currently prohibited by law, according to a survey released on Friday. The poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation found that 87% of people surveyed…

Did Reports of Side Effects Contribute to Drop in Bone Drug Use?

Lisa Rapaport  |  

(Reuters Health)—Media reports raising safety concerns about osteoporosis drugs known as bisphosphonates may have contributed to a sharp drop in their use—even though U.S. doctors and drug regulators haven’t recommended against taking them, a study suggests. Fosamax (alendronate sodium) won U.S. marketing approval in 1995. Widespread use of the drug and others like it over…

Certolizumab Pegol Effective for Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis

Reuters Staff  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Certolizumab pegol, a humanized anti-TNF antibody fragment conjugated to polyethylene glycol, is effective for treating early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with poor prognostic factors, according to results from the C-OPERA study. Certolizumab is approved in the U.S. and other countries for treating inflammatory diseases, including RA, but its effectiveness in methotrexate-naïve early RA…

Fulfilling ‘Three Wishes’ Helps ICU Staff Honor Dying Patients

Randi Belisomo  |  

(Reuters Health)—Doctors and nurses in a Canadian intensive care unit found that asking dying patients—or their families—to make three simple wishes, and then fulfilling those wishes, helped bring peace to the end-of-life process and ease grief. Patients and families were invited to participate in the “Three Wishes Project” after a decision was made to withdraw…

Tofacitinib Not Tied to More Malignancies in RA Patients

David Douglas  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The oral Janus kinase inhibitor tofacitinib (Xeljanz, Pfizer) does not increase the risk of malignancies, according to pooled data from more than 5000 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. In an April 22 online paper in Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Dr. Lisy Wang of Pfizer, Groton, Connecticut, and colleagues noted that in RA…

Bigger May Not Be Better for China’s ‘Super Hospitals’

Alexandra Harney  |  

ZHENGZHOU, China (Reuters)—Just before midnight, the pavement outside the glowing high-rise towers of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University is littered with slumbering bodies. Splayed on colourful mats or tucked into folding cots, these are patients’ relatives. Inside, beds line hallways and crowd elevator lobbies, while relatives share gurneys with patients and doze in…