The transition from pediatric to adult care can be a rocky one. For many rheumatology patients, any problems in the move can cause gaps in care. To address this issue, the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) joined the American College of Physicians’ (ACP) Pediatric to Adult Care Transitions Initiative. The Initiative is a project spearheaded…
Documenting evaluation and management (E/M) services involves many factors, and it’s important to code to the most appropriate level of service to avoid compliance risks. To assist providers with documentation, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provides its 1995 and 1997 Documentation Guidelines for Evaluation and Management Services. For billing purposes, either version…
Due to serious side effects from the combined use of opioids and benzodiazepines, the FDA has issued boxed warnings for both types of medication…
WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. hospital chain Tenet Healthcare Corp. and two of its Atlanta-area units will pay more than $513 million to resolve criminal charges and civil claims relating to a scheme to defraud the U.S. and pay kickbacks in exchange for patient referrals, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Monday.1 Tenet had disclosed in August…
Adalimumab-atto, a biosimilar to adalimumab (Humira), has been approved by the FDA to treat multiple autoimmune diseases…
After winning the initial patent infringement lawsuit filed by Janssen, Celltrion Inc. is now shipping Inflectra (infliximab-dyyb), a biosimilar of Remicade (infliximab), to the U.S…
In a clinical trial, subcutaneous abaloparatide has proved effective in treating postmenopausal women with osteoporosis. Also in the U.K., draft guidelines for treating ankylosing spondylitis will recommend the use of secukinumab…
For arthritis patients who live in farming communities, just getting to rheumatologist Lynne Peterson, MD’s, office in Bismarck, N.D., can take a lot of time and energy. “Because of the shortage of rheumatologists, patients living in rural areas tend to receive inadequate rheumatologic evaluation and care,” says Dr. Peterson, whose clinic is located at Sanford…
Picket Lines: June 27 was marked on my calendar as the day to watch. No doubt the union organizers shrewdly selected it to be their strike day because of its proximity to July 1, an auspicious date for teaching hospitals, when rookie interns and residents anxiously assume their heightened roles of responsibility within the medical…
A recent analysis compared the care of patients with RA with that received by patients with gout, finding that hospitalization and costs for patients with gout have increased, but both are decreasing for patients with RA. Unlike RA, significant advances in treatment have not been made for gout, despite its increasing prevalence, and patients may land in the hospital unnecessarily…