As I write this column, we are preparing to meet in Boston for the 2007 ACR/ARHP Annual Scientific Meeting, and my year as the ARHP president is coming to end. It has been a remarkable year for the ARHP, as we have made significant progress toward achieving the goals identified in our Long-Range Plan…
Innovative Educational Programs for Rheumatology APNs and PAs
Arthritis and other rheumatic diseases affect more than 46 million adults and 300,000 children in the United States. With the aging of the U.S. population, the number of adults with rheumatic disease is expected to increase to 67 million by 2030.1 While the demand for rheumatology services is increasing, the supply of practicing rheumatologists is diminishing. The ACR Rheumatology Workforce Study (published earlier this year) predicts that there will be little or no increase in the number of practicing rheumatologists, resulting in a critical shortage of rheumatologists by 2020.
A Day in the Life of Marilee Philips, RN
Marilee K. Phillips, RN, is a little out of breath and losing her voice. She’ll excuse herself several times as we talk to clear her throat, but she won’t ask to reschedule. She doesn’t want to say it, but there’s probably no other time to do this interview. In fact, she managed to squeeze it in just before a nursing meeting she’ll have to race to. In the circus of rheumatology, she’s the juggler.
Engage Patients as Partners in Shared Decision-making
Engaging patients in shared decision-making about their health management is increasingly important to improving health outcomes and quality of life for persons with arthritis and other rheumatic diseases. In shared decision-making, the patient and the provider are partners who share information and determine together the best therapeutic interventions to achieve desired health outcomes and patient goals.
Rheumatology Audioconference Series Recordings
If you missed the 2007 ARHP audioconference series the first time around, here’s your opportunity to catch up. Recordings of the six 2007 audioconferences are available for purchase individually or as a set.
ARHP Progress Report
The ARHP has made significant progress toward the goals identified in its long range plan for this year, and I would like to share some of these achievements with you.
Fight Fatigue in Arthritis Patients—As a Team
AIM modules provide a tool for physicians seeking a quality-improvement program and a way to meet new ACGME competencies or the American Board of Internal Medicine’s Maintenance of Certification Program requirements.
Join an ACR/ARHP List Serve Community
Have you ever wanted peer input on a rheumatology-related problem? Thanks to the ACR and ARHP list serves, help is only an e-mail away. The list serves give you unlimited access to rheumatologists or health professional experts. The ACR offers list serves on coding and practice management, advocacy, and five for specific U.S. regions, while the ARHP offers clinical, pediatric, rehabilitation, and research lists. Members can join as many lists as they like.
Since their launch, these list serves have helped ACR members share information and advice on reimbursement challenges and successes, practice tools, research methods, physical therapists in a pediatric hospital setting, and many more topics.
You can choose to receive list updates as they are posted or as one digest message at the end of the day.
For questions on joining, changing your settings, or posting messages, contact Regina Adair at (404) 633-3777, ext. 817 or [email protected] (for ACR lists), or Julie Anderson at ext. 802 or [email protected] (for ARHP lists).
Apply for ARHP’s Graduate Student Award
The deadline to apply for 2007 ARHP Graduate Student Recognition Awards is July 5. Last year, the ARHP successfully launched this new award campaign to recognize health professional students pursuing creative research or clinical projects that merge theory and clinical practice to assess or improve the lives of patients with rheumatic diseases.
The Quest for Quality
The ARHP has an important role to play as the ACR addresses the emerging quality movement in healthcare. Most healthcare professionals are familiar with terms such as quality assurance, continuous quality improvement, and total quality management. In the late 1980s, healthcare organizations, following the lead of the manufacturing industry, began to implement quality-management programs as a way to improve the quality and cost efficiency of healthcare services and meet rising consumer expectations.