The RISE of Data: The RISE (Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness) registry is growing exponentially. Thanks to more than 800 providers from 225 practices, the RISE registry has more than 7 million total patient encounters (including 2 million RA encounters) representing 1.5 million patients (including 250,000 RA patients). These numbers grow every day. The RISE registry has become the source of big data in rheumatology. It is QCDR certified by CMS and helps members meet quality metrics and several reporting requirements of MIPS under MACRA.
Strategic Planning: The ACR adopted a new strategic plan this year. This five-year plan has the following themes to lead the ACR: Data-Driven Approaches, Increased Membership in Targeted Categories, Education Enabled by Technology (How, Where and When Desired), Personalized Content and Targeted Member Interactions, and Sustained Future of Rheumatology. It also includes a new mission, vision and, for the first time, a brand promise.
Research, Workforce & Training: The annual Rheumatology Research Workshop provided early career investigators with an opportunity to network with established senior investigators, obtain insights on mentorship and career development, and sharpen their communication skills for scientific presentations.
An ACR white paper titled, The Science Behind Biosimilars: Entering a New Era of Biologic Therapy, is currently under review at Arthritis & Rheumatology. The paper will inform ACR members about the efficacy, safety and other clinical issues regarding biosimilars, including regulatory pathways for approval, drift and evolution, immunogenicity, extrapolation of indications, substitution and interchangeability, switching, economics of biosimilars and patient access.
A Drug Discovery and Development Symposium was held for fellows in training at this year’s Annual Meeting. This innovative symposium allowed multiple pharmaceutical companies to share their expertise, lessons learned and successes along the path of therapy development, while also bringing in experts in rheumatology and the FDA to discuss how research led to breakthroughs and the FDA approval process.
The ACR continued its global rheumatology community efforts by facilitating three successful exchange programs with EULAR (European League Against Rheumatism), IRA (Indian Rheumatology Association) and PANLAR (Pan American League of Associations of Rheumatology).
Advocating for Members, Patients & Rheumatology: Thanks to our members who joined the AMA, we have been able to retain our seat in the AMA House of Delegates for the next five years. This gives us a seat on the Relative Value Scale Update Committee and CPT Committee. It’s very important to be at the table where decisions that affect practice and reimbursements are made.
