Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare disease affecting about 49,000 U.S. adults, and it is strongly associated with high levels of morbidity and mortality.1 Of the few available antifibrotic therapies, none is targeted for SSc. However, reason for optimism exists for antifibrotic treatments in early development and clinical trials, says Jörg H.W. Distler, MD, Heisenberg Professor…
Are you a physician with a patient who no longer requires medical treatment? Do you have a patient you believe would be better served by another physician, specialist or practice due to a developing condition? Do you want to terminate a patient relationship because it is costing more than it is worth to your practice?…
At present, the U.S. has approximately 5,000 full-time adult rheumatologists. By the year 2025, that number will decline to roughly 3,600.1 Sounds dire, right? Hold that thought. Question: What country has 99 million people and no adult rheumatologists? Answer: Ethiopia.2 The Nigerian Story And then there is Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, with roughly 170…
When he worked for a multi-specialty practice, Jonathan M. Greer, MD, FACR, FACP, president, Arthritis and Rheumatology Associates of Palm Beach, and affiliate clinical professor of medicine, Nova Southeastern University, Boynton Beach, Fla., found that there were too many restrictions and controls and no way to enhance the revenue stream for rheumatologists. So he moved on…
The second annual ACR Division Directors’ Conference took place in Chicago on March 10–11. The conference opened with a presentation on the use of the ACR’s Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) Registry in academic medical centers by Salahuddin “Dino” Kazi, MD, from UT Southwestern Medical Center, and Jinoos Yazdany, MD, MPH, from the University of California…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health—Telemedicine follow up based on patient-reported outcome (PRO) is noninferior to conventional outpatient care for tight control of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with low disease activity or remission, new findings show. “Even though patients in the [telemedicine] follow-up groups requested more acute visits, they over-all had a more than…
(Reuters Health)—A daily supplement of pharmaceutical grade chondroitin is as good as celecoxib (Celebrex) at relieving arthritic knee pain and doesn’t have dangerous side effects, researchers say. Dr. Jean-Yves Reginster of Liege State University in Belgium and colleagues recruited 604 people over age 50 with knee osteoarthritis (OA) from five European countries and randomly assigned…
A recent study examined the level of anti-drug antibodies (ADAs) in RA patients taking the TNF inhibitors adalimumab, infliximab and etanercept. Study patients without ADAs experienced better clinical outcomes, while patients with detectable ADAs had significantly lower serum trough drug concentrations…
The FDA has approved infliximab-abda, a biosimilar for treating multiple rheumatic diseases, as well as abaloparatide for treating postmenopausal women with osteoporosis…
Greetings from your advocacy team in Washington, D.C.! The tectonic plates of the U.S. political landscape continue to shift. The latest: President Trump fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday, May 16; since then, Congress and journalists have had very little bandwidth for much else. But healthcare advocates remember just several news cycles ago when…