CHICAGO—“You never know when things might happen,” began Kamala M. Nola PharmD, MS, vice chair and professor in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at Lipscomb College of Pharmacy, Nashville, at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. Dr. Nola explained that on May 1, 2010, the Arthritis Foundation Arthritis Walk held on her university’s campus was moved…
At the close of my first year in fellowship, a co-fellow opened a packed cabinet behind her desk, and untold volumes of methodically annotated medical articles burst forth. Impressed not only by her diligence but also by the sheer volume of paper, I made a mental note to read more and to read more efficiently….
The ACR recognizes that data are more important now than ever. As we enter what has been called the Fourth Industrial Revolution—a period of digitalization in which technology is embedded everywhere in our everyday lives—we are not just hearing constantly about the importance of data and its capabilities, we are experiencing it every day, firsthand…
We spend a good portion of our day in front of screens—televisions, computers, tablets, phones and more. Social media (#SoMe) use has been on the rise, and its marriage to medicine seems inevitable. Merriam-Webster, aka America’s most trusted online dictionary, defines social media as forms of electronic communication through which users create online communities to…
Don’t forget: The submission window for the Quality Payment Program Performance Year 2018 closes on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. Submissions must be complete by 8:00 PM EDT. We encourage all MIPS-eligible clinicians to double-check their status and final scores with the CMS by logging into their EIDM account. Not sure how to review your final score?…
Last year the ACR’s nonpartisan political action committee, RheumPAC, raised nearly $150,000 from individual contributors. Starting in 2019, the addition of the RheumPAC Advocacy Fund, where rheumatology practices and state societies can contribute corporate dollars, is expected to support RheumPAC fundraising efforts in an effort to surpass this dollar amount, giving rheumatology an even stronger…
In the next few weeks, you may be selected to participate in an AMA/Specialty Society RVS Update Committee (RUC) survey for physician office visits (99202-99205, 99211-99215) and a new prolonged services code (99XXX). As you may know, the components of the Medicare Physician Payment Schedule are physician work, practice expense and professional liability insurance. This…
Join us for the Rheumatology Documentation and Coding Workshop taking place during the 2019 State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium, Friday, April 5 in Chicago. The Rheumatology Documentation and Coding Workshop will take a deep dive into the new Medicare coding and documentation requirements for evaluation and management coding, medical decision making and specificity in diagnosis coding. Due…
Did you know a laboratory can perform one of two different tests when a provider orders an HLA-B27 blood test? The ACR Insurance Subcommittee has received several complaints regarding commercial payer coverage for these tests, depending on which methodology the lab employs. To avoid administrative burden, members should familiarize themselves with lab practices and payer…
(Reuters)—U.S. health spending is expected to grow at an average rate of 5.5% every year from 2018 over the next decade and will reach nearly $6 trillion by 2027 as more people become eligible for Medicare, a government health agency said on Wednesday. Rising income levels, better employment rate and more people enrolling for Medicare,…