Exclusive: ACR Convergence 2024| Focus Rheums

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

Adventist Health System to Pay $118 Million to Settle Fraud Claims

Brendan Pierson  |  

(Reuters)—Florida-based healthcare system Adventist Health System has agreed to pay $118.7 million to settle a whistleblower lawsuit that accused it of paying kickbacks to doctors in exchange for referrals, attorneys for the plaintiffs announced on Monday. The agreement comes in a lawsuit filed by three former employees of Adventist’s Park Ridge Health hospital in Hendersonville,…

Reforms Needed to Address Medical Diagnostic Errors

Julie Steenhuysen  |  

CHICAGO (Reuters)—Most Americans will fall victim to at least one diagnostic error in their lifetime, and when this occurs, it often can be deadly, according to a new report released on Tuesday by the Institute of Medicine, which advises the U.S. government and policymakers. The report called for greater emphasis on improving diagnoses in the…

FDA’s ‘Breakthrough Drug’ Terminology Confuses the Public

Kathryn Doyle  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—What the Food and Drug Administration calls a ‘breakthrough’ drug is often not the same as what a layperson would call a breakthrough, a new study shows. The FDA uses the term more often, and for smaller advances, than people use it colloquially, and this may lead patients to have unwarranted confidence…

Chronic Care Management Payments Can Increase Primary Care Revenues

Will Boggs, MD  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Medicare’s new chronic care management (CCM) payments could boost revenues for primary care practices, but many could experience net losses due to opportunity costs of face-to-face visit time, according to results from a modeling study. “The loss of revenue when MD’s did all the work themselves was somewhat surprising,” Dr. Sanjay Basu,…

Methotrexate Halt Feasible in Some Etanercept RA Responders

David Douglas  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Certain rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients doing well on etanercept and methotrexate may be able to quit the latter agent if they have tolerability problems, according to an open-label Canadian study. In a Sept. 11 online paper in Rheumatology, Dr. Boulos Haraoui, of the University of Montreal, and colleagues noted that although combination…

POP1-Based Treatments May Reduce Inflammation

  |  

A recent study analyzed inflammasome response, finding the POP1 PYRIN domain protein acts to decrease excessive inflammatory responses and prevent systemic inflammation. Researchers ultimately developed a drug based on POP1 and found it reduced inflammation in mice…

Depression & Anxiety Linked to Poor Rheumatoid Arthritis Outcomes

Rob Goodier  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Rheumatoid arthritis patients with depression and anxiety symptoms may have worse outcomes and poorer response to prednisolone, a secondary analysis of the CARDERA trial has found. “The strength of association between depression/anxiety and disease activity outcomes and treatment response warrants routine screening,” the study’s lead author Faith Matcham at King’s College London…

Arthritis May Contribute to Poverty

  |  

Researchers recommend rheumatologists factor in a patient’s ability to pay when determining treatment, because their study found that an arthritis diagnosis may substantially affect patient finances…

Poverty May Increase Odds of Repeat Hospitalizations

Lisa Rapaport  |  

(Reuters Health)—When patients are hospitalized more than once in the same month, it may have more to do with their income or education levels than the quality of care they received, a U.S. study suggests. Perhaps unsurprisingly, patients 85 and older are more likely to return to the hospital within 30 days of being sent…