Meeting the needs of persons with complex, chronic diseases is increasingly challenging in a healthcare environment where the demand for high-quality comprehensive services is coupled with dwindling resources. According to the Institute of Medicine, “the ability to plan care and practice effectively using multidisciplinary teams takes on increasing importance as the proportion of the population with chronic conditions grows.”1 This kind of collaboration is increasingly important to ensure high-quality, cost-effective, comprehensive patient-centered care.
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Professional Partners
Rheumatologists and nurse practitioners team up to improve workflow and patient care
What Has the ACR Done for You Lately?
The world in which we currently practice is not the same one we knew five to 10 years ago. Insurers second-guess our decisions and create numerous hurdles for us to overcome before our patients can be treated. Government agencies are seeking ways to reduce healthcare expenditures and improve what they perceive as a lack of quality and consistency in healthcare delivery. These groups, as well as Congress and employers (who purchase benefits for their employees), have begun a concerted effort to grade rheumatologists on the basis of what they perceive to be quality and efficiency and then pay us according to those criteria.
ARHP Positioned for Continued Success in 2007
The ARHP is committed to advancing the knowledge and skills of health professionals in the area of rheumatology in order to improve health outcomes for people with or at risk for rheumatic disease and musculoskeletal conditions. In 2005, the ARHP Executive Committee developed a three-year, long-range plan, which identified the following priorities for our organization…
The World is Round
How to stay grounded when communications and information fly
Medicare D-lemmas
Rheumatologists and patients report mixed experiences with the new prescription drug benefit
Consumers Add Perspective to Arthritis Research
It has been my distinct pleasure to work with consumer collaborators—people living with arthritis—on research projects, advisory boards, and review panels, in consensus meetings to establish research agendas, and as co-educators in health professional programs. Those I work with have chosen the term “consumer collaborator” to reflect their contribution to and eventual use of our partnerships, although others might call them patients or clients.
Take the Reins
Rheumatologists must guide the quality movement to improve patient care
The Rheumatologist
One of many information resources from ACR
Control Quality Anxiety
Rheumatologists positive but cautious about their brushes with the quality movement