Clear. Complete. Concise. These three Cs describe ideal patient record keeping, which is why they are among the key reasons to implement a clinical documentation information (CDI) program into your rheumatology practice. Not only will CDI help you accurately document the full picture of each patient’s clinical status, but it also promotes high-quality care and…
Proposed CMS Physician Fee Schedule May Offer Slight Increases
All eyes are on the new physician fee schedule proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which will be finalized this year and go into effect Jan. 1. The ACR is reviewing the proposal and will be providing comments and recommendations to CMS. And many rheumatologists have payment and coding questions: Will…
Healthy Clones: Dolly the Sheep’s Heirs Reach Ripe Old Age
LONDON (Reuters)—The heirs of Dolly the sheep are enjoying a healthy old age, proving cloned animals can live normal lives and offering reassurance to scientists hoping to use cloned cells in medicine. Dolly, cloning’s poster child, was born in Scotland in 1996. She died prematurely in 2003, at age 6, after developing osteoarthritis and a…

Nanomedicines May Reset the Immune System to Treat Disease
New research examines how nanomedicines may be able to reprogram disease-causing white blood cells, a process that may reset the immune system to a healthy state and enable targeted treatments for many autoimmune diseases…

Ethics Forum: Unexpected Ethical Issues in Private Practice, Clinical Research
Ethical issues that arise in the average rheumatology practice and in clinical research are often straightforward. The AMA Code of Medical Ethics and the Office Practice and Procedures Manual offer useful information.1 In research, the Protocol and Investigators Agreement spells out who you can enroll and how the trial must be conducted. But still—even when…
Rheumatology Coding Corner Answer: Physical Examination with Infliximab Infusion
Take the challenge. CPT: 99214-25, 96413, 96415 x 1, J1745 x 35 ICD-10: M07.68, K51.80 Billing Overview It is appropriate to bill for an E/M visit for this day of service along with the infusion procedure. Modifier 25 should be appended to the E/M, indicating that the patient received a significant, separately identifiable E/M service…
Rheumatology Coding Corner Question: Physical Examination with Infliximab Infusion
A 12-year-old male established patient with inflammatory bowel disease with associated juvenile spondyloarthropathy returns to the office for a follow-up visit for his infliximab infusion. The patient reports moderate pain in his right hip after walking for extended periods of time or after sports activities. He denies any other joint pain and denies any joint…

Practicing Telemedicine Raises Legal Considerations for Rheumatologists
With the evolution and advancement of technology, it was only a matter of time before such changes affected the medical industry. Although the concept of telemedicine dates back more than 50 years, emphasis on cost-effective quality healthcare coupled with technological advancements has caused a resurgence of telemedicine in recent years. What constitutes telemedicine largely depends…

3D Printing in Rheumatology Holds Promise for External Devices, Joints
When Abby Paterson, PhD, started her doctoral work in product design and technology at Loughborough University in the United Kingdom in 2009, she says 3D printing was little known by clinicians or the general public. Now, the technology is seemingly everywhere. For Dr. Paterson, the advancing science has led to a promising project focused on…

Medicare Sets Standards for Overpayments Received by Physicians, Healthcare Providers
In February 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published the final rule on Medicare Reporting and Returning of Self-Identified Overpayments. This final rule from CMS has now established official policy for timely reporting and returning of Medicare overpayments received by healthcare providers, with a goal to provide clear requirements for reporting and…
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