Hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccination persists nationwide, although it varies among regions and sociodemographic groups.

Hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccination persists nationwide, although it varies among regions and sociodemographic groups.
Over the past 18 months, the ACR’s Quality of Care (QOC) Committee has helped produce an impressive number of resources that will help rheumatologists deliver the best possible care. Working through specific projects supervised under its Criteria, Guideline, Guidance, and Quality Measure subcommittees, the QOC Committee has developed new sets of disease criteria, clinical guidelines,…
Although we can expect to learn much more, preliminary data are now available on the potential safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines in rheumatology patients. The picture is likely to be nuanced, with not all types of immunosuppressive treatments having identical impacts on vaccine response. Rheumatologists should use caution in interpreting early reports, while continuing…
Elizabeth (Blair) Solow, MD |
Beginning in the late 1800s, Eliza Ruhamah Scidmore, U.S. diplomat and writer, spent 24 years advocating for sakura, or Japanese cherry trees, to be planted in Washington, D.C. After unsuccessfully petitioning every U.S. Army Superintendent of Public Buildings and Grounds for over two decades, she wrote a letter to First Lady Helen Herron Taft about…
David R. Karp, MD, PhD, & Christine Stamatos, DNP, ANP-C |
One thing that became clear very quickly this past year was that the COVID-19 pandemic would change the way we deliver care to patients. What has not changed amid an evolving healthcare landscape is our driving focus to ensure our patients’ access to rheumatology care and the availability of state-of-the-art treatments. We know you share…
Elizabeth (Blair) Solow, MD |
Sequestration, workforce issues and step therapy reform are just some of the areas in which the ACR’s activities, via the Government Affairs Committee and member action, have made a positive difference for rheumatology practitioners.
Independence Day. I can’t wait. Generally, it’s not a holiday that carries a lot of meaning for me. Having grown up in New York and Boston, the smaller firework displays that take place in Baltimore fail to impress. Also, as a program director, the holiday falls in the middle of the new fellows’ first week…
Mary Choy, PharmD, BCGP, FASHP |
More than 7 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine have been administered in the U.S.1 On Apr. 23, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recommended lifting the recommended pause on Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine use following a thorough safety review. 2…
From ARP Representatives to the ACR Government Affairs Committee |
The Budget Control Act of 2011 cut Medicare physician payments by 2% across the board. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law in 2020, suspended this sequester (i.e., a cut in government spending) between May 1 and Dec. 31, 2020. In the Consolidated Appropriations Act, signed into law in December…
Christine Stamatos, DNP, ANP-C |
As we emerge from the grips of a global pandemic, we are taking this opportunity to pause and reflect on the ARP and what our division brings to the care of our patients. I found the words of Amanda Gordon’s inaugural reading of her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” inspirational and instructive for our past,…