Exclusive: ACR Convergence 2024| Focus Rheums

An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

Ibuprofen an Option for Early Pain Control after Hip Replacement

Reuters Staff  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Combining paracetamol (acetaminophen) with ibuprofen does not cut postoperative use of morphine in a clinically meaningful way relative to ibuprofen alone, in patients undergoing total hip arthroplasty (THA), results of a Danish randomized trial suggest. “Although the combined use of paracetamol and ibuprofen reduced immediate postoperative morphine consumption compared with paracetamol alone…

Moments That the Words Don’t Reach

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There are moments that the words don’t reach There is suffering too terrible to name You hold your child as tight as you can And push away the unimaginable                                     —Lin Manuel Miranda A friend of mine was killed a few days ago. By the time you read this column, the scars will have already started…

Leadership Support for Division Directors

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The ACR has elected a small group of division directors from across the country to serve on the Division Directors Special Committee. The goals of this committee: to better understand the needs of academic rheumatology programs and share with these programs new resources from the ACR and other organizations to support the needs of those…

Quinacrine Shortage & What the ACR Is Doing about It

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The FDA recently conducted an inspection of the only manufacturer that had FDA approval to import quinacrine. Unfortunately, the manufacturer did not pass inspection and was put on an import alert. This effectively shuts down any importation of quinacrine to the U.S. until the manufacturer goes through the necessary steps to be re-inspected or until…

Possible MIPS Errors in 2019 Payment Adjustment

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Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) discovered an error in the implementation of the 2019 Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) payment adjustment. It incorrectly applies adjustments to payments for Medicare Part B drugs and other non-physician services billed by physicians. Adjustments to affected claims will occur in the near future. According to the…

Lead Effectively: Leaders Are Made, not Born

Paula Marchetta, MD, MBA  |  

Every year at the end of January, ACR and ARP volunteers gather in Atlanta to learn more about a subject we seldom are taught in any formal way in our professional training: leadership. The 2019 Leadership Development Conference took place on Saturday, Jan. 26 and offered participants a unique opportunity to step away from their…

Update & Changes to the OIG Work Plan

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Early last fall, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General (OIG) released its OIG Work Plan for fiscal year 2018–2019, which is a two-year framework for the audits, inspections, evaluations and investigative activities planned in support of its vision, mission, and strategic goals and objectives to maintain HHS program integrity….

Eli Lilly Backs U.S. Proposal on Drug Rebates to Lower Costs

Tamara Mathias  |  

(Reuters)—Eli Lilly and Co. on Wednesday embraced a U.S. government proposal to end a decades-old system of rebates drugmakers make to industry middlemen, saying it could lower the cost of insulin and other prescription drugs for patients. Lilly, along with other major insulin makers, Sanofi SA and Novo Nordisk, has been under mounting pressure from…