Medicare and other insurers are using patient satisfaction to determine provider payment. But according to one expert, rheumatologists who look at their practice with a critical eye, listen and ask their patients the right questions may improve their patient relationships and their practice…
The ACR will seek Congressional action if the Medicare Part B demonstration project proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is not significantly altered by the agency. Today, Medicare Part B generally pays physicians and hospital outpatient departments the average sales price of a drug, plus a 6% add-on, minus reductions required…
In 2013, a collaboration began to advance the training and assessment of fellows. The result: A uniform set of educational reporting milestones for all internal medicine subspecialties was developed. Key stakeholders were then asked to develop a list of entrustable professional activities (EPAs), a set of responsibilities any specialist should be able to perform, for their subspecialties. The ACR’s Next Accreditation System working group developed 14 EPAs for rheumatology…
The FDA is strengthening its warning that canagliflozin and dapagliflozin may increase the risk for acute kidney injury in some patients. Also, the FDA has issued a warning that patients should not exceed recommended doses of loperamide due to increased risks of serious cardiac events…
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…
(Reuters)—Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc.’s experimental drug to treat psoriasis should be approved as long as certain measures are put in place to mitigate the risk of suicide, an advisory committee to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concluded on Tuesday. The FDA is not obliged to follow the advice of its advisory committees but typically…
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…
FDA Restricts Fluoroquinolone Use The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has twice previously communicated safety information about systemic fluoroquinolones—in August 2013 and July 2008. The safety issues of this medication class described in its latest Drug Safety Communication were also discussed at a November 2015 FDA Advisory Committee meeting.1 The FDA is now advising…
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…
Attracting medical residents to rheumatology has been difficult. However, Eli Miloslavsky, MD, believes enhancing the teaching skills of rheumatology fellows, enabling them to push through barriers on the ward and leverage teachable moments with residents, may improve patient care and influence a resident’s choice of subspecialty…