In the past decade, the treat-to-target concept has gained broad acceptance. Both the ACR and European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) management recommendations include adding biologic therapies to the treatment regimen for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who do not sufficiently respond to methotrexate monotherapy. “What EULAR says is that if [methotrexate use fails], you should essentially…
Dominick Sudano, MD, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona and rheumatologist at Banner University Medical Center, Tucson, Ariz., knows how tough it is for patients living in remote areas to obtain a rheumatology consultation. “It’s not unusual for patients living in rural areas of Arizona to wait four to six months for a…
Paul Sufka Named Social Media Editor for New ACR Twitter Account A clinical rheumatologist with HealthPartners in St. Paul, Minn., Paul Sufka, MD, is conversant with social media: he’s been on Twitter for almost 10 years; has hosted an online rheumatology podcast; and blogs about physician self-care and using Twitter as a tool at medical…
Eosinophilic fasciitis generally presents with the acute onset of edema followed by progressive skin induration in the setting of hypergammaglobulinemia, an elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and peripheral eosinophilia in 63–93% of patients.1,2 Skin involvement is typically limited to 20.1% of total body surface area and most commonly involves the extremities symmetrically.1,3 The condition was…
The American Medical Association’s (AMA) Relative Value Scale (RVS) Update Committee (RUC) and Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) Committee currently meet three times a year each to keep the CPT code set up to date, and to review the valuation of all the codes for the physician fee schedule. The two-step meetings of both the CPT Editorial…
(Reuters Health)—Physician Compare, a U.S. website created to help patients find high-quality doctors, is missing so much information on individual providers that it may not be helpful, a new study suggests. Quality reporting has been a work in progress for almost three decades since a landmark 1999 report from the Institute of Medicine, ‘To Err…
(Reuters Health)—Patients who have real-time video visits with their primary care providers instead of in-person exams are generally satisfied with the convenience and quality of their checkups, a new study suggests. There’s a lot about these telemedicine visits that can sound appealing: no need to get stuck in traffic on the way to the doctor;…
A post-hoc analysis of data from two large clinical trials supports treat-to-target recommendations for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The research found baseline disease activity was the strongest predictor of a patient’s insufficient response to initial therapy at six months…
CHICAGO—Medical practice consultant Owen Dahl, MBA, LFACHE, CHBC, looked out at the rheumatology practice managers and physicians, sitting around tables with white tablecloths, and asked what seemed like a simple question: “How many of you have a strategic plan?” he asked. A single hand was raised. “One? How do you know where to go tomorrow…
CHICAGO—Rheumatology healthcare providers should embrace collaborative approaches to manage chronic musculoskeletal pain in older adult patients, including models of care that involve multiple providers, patients and their caregivers. That was the message delivered by two speakers in the Interdisciplinary Management of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain in Older Adults session at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. “As…