A belated Happy New Year to my fellow advocates! Here’s your first update for 2019 on what the rheumatology community should know is going on in Washington, D.C., right now. Current Climate On Jan. 3, the 116th Congress gaveled into session with Democrats in control of the House of Representatives and Republicans still the majority in the…
Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis: Managing OA That Develops After Joint Injuries & Reconstructive Surgery
CHICAGO—Joint trauma is one of many potential drivers of osteoarthritis disease activity and structural progression. In Post-Traumatic OA: Pathogenesis, Clinical Evolution and Management, a session at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, experts discussed the effects of sports and other injuries on even young patients’ joints. Post-traumatic osteoarthritis (OA) may account for 12% of hip, knee…
Nonsurgical Therapies for Knee OA Pain: From Medications to Bracing to Exercise, What Works & What Doesn’t
CHICAGO—Many nonsurgical therapies are available for knee osteoarthritis pain, but they vary greatly in effectiveness. “How should I proceed and figure out what to do with our patients?” asked David T. Felson, MD, MPH, professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine, during OA Management Without Surgery in 2018, a session at the 2018…
Emerging Treatments for OA: New Therapies Target Joint Pain, Not Just Structural Damage
CHICAGO—Are effective treatments for osteoarthritis (OA) on the horizon? In Emerging Treatments for Osteoarthritis at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, experts discussed potential therapies to address OA structural progression, pain and inflammation. With an aging population and rising obesity rates, “we can expect the prevalence of osteoarthritis will only increase,” said Anne-Marie Malfait, MD, PhD,…
Final 2019 Physician Reimbursement Rule Released by CMS Includes Victories for Rheumatology
On Nov. 1, after months of advocacy efforts spearheaded by the ACR and others, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the CY 2019 Medicare physician fee schedule rule, and it included several victories for rheumatology. Upon initial review, it appears the CMS has taken into account the concerns expressed by the ACR and…
Protect Your Practice: Action Update From the ACR’s Insurance Subcommittee
Both private and academic rheumatology practices face payer challenges that put the health of their patients and their practices at risk. To make sure the rheumatologist perspective is heard by payers, “the ACR’s Insurance Subcommittee (ISC) serves as the interface between payers and our members and ACR colleagues,” explains Sean Fahey, MD, a rheumatologist in…
RheumPAC Champions Recognized
Election Day 2018 has come and gone, and a new class of legislators will be joining the ranks of Congress in January. RheumPAC is the most important tool we have to establish relationships with our new legislators and this year, our ACR volunteer leaders stepped up and matched all donations to RheumPAC leading up to…
ACR Leaders Outline Advocacy Victories, Threats
CHICAGO—ACR leaders described a series of looming legislative and regulatory threats to rheumatologists and their patients—including the proposed collapsing of evaluation and management (E/M) coding and potential changes to step therapy rules—and urged everyone in the field to make their voices heard to quash the proposals. They also recounted recent victories in the policy realm…
ARHP Lifetime Achievement Award Winner: Christina H. Opava, PhD, RPT
CHICAGO—Christina H. Opava, PhD, RPT, is the recipient of the 2018 ARHP Lifetime Achievement Award, which was presented (along with the other ACR and ARHP awards) during the opening session of the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting on Oct. 20. “Receiving this award is an immense honor,” she tells The Rheumatologist. “My first thought was that…
Heart of a Champion: The 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting Kicks Off with Dramatic Keynote
“You’re probably going to die tonight. You should call your family.” Jonathan Koch, president and CCO of Asylum Entertainment LLC, told his touching and inspiring story of mysterious illness, resilience and recovery in the keynote presentation of the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting.