SAN DIEGO—Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and their impact on drug prices and access to high-cost medications by the patients rheumatologists treat was a major theme at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting Nov. 3–8. In one session, industry experts tried to clarify the role for prior authorizations and drug formulary policies and explored ways to constructively…
SAN DIEGO—Exercise, within limits imposed by an individual’s circumstances, is an almost universally beneficial medical therapy. In fact, Teresa J. Brady, PhD, senior behavioral scientist with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Arthritis Program, labeled it “medicine” in a session on exercise at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting Nov. 3–8. Dr. Brady asked whether…
SAN DIEGO—Rheumatologists who treat lupus patients gleaned tips on diagnosis and management of renal disease, painful neuropathies and alopecia at a “Curbside Consults” session held Nov. 6 at the ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in San Diego. Membranous Lupus Nephritis Patients with refractory membranous lupus nephritis (MLN), or Class V lupus nephritis, face “significant morbidity, most of…
SAN DIEGO—Should patients with rheumatic diseases switch from a biologic to its biosimilar? At the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting’s Great Debate, held Nov. 5, two rheumatologists argued whether to switch or stay put based on safety, efficacy and potential cost savings. First to the podium to make the case for switching, Jonathan Kay, MD, tweaked…
SAN DIEGO—B cell signaling goes awry in many patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), triggering pathogenic autoimmune responses and clinical disease. At the Rheumatology Research Foundation’s 2017 Evelyn V. Hess Memorial Lecture, held on Nov. 5 at the ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, researcher Ignacio Sanz, MD, discussed B cells’ role in this complex disease. Because lupus…
SAN DIEGO—Proposed classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), which are supported but not yet approved by the ACR and EULAR, debuted on Nov. 7 at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. An international steering committee developed and validated the criteria, with patient input and the consensus of more than 150 global SLE experts. Researchers referred…
SAN DIEGO—In many regions, rheumatologists are scarce, and shortfalls will only increase. Panelists in the session, Telehealth: Can It Expand the Rheumatology Workforce?, held Nov. 6 during the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, believe technology can help bridge the gap. The more specific term, telemedicine, “refers to clinical care delivered from a distance,” said John A….
SAN DIEGO—It’s no secret: Autoimmune, inflammatory rheumatic disease raises a patient’s risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). “Inflammation may affect all aspects of the cardiac structure and function,” said Rekha Mankad, MD, FACC, director of the Women’s Heart Clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Dr. Mankad also oversees a cardio-rheumatology clinic to assess and treat…
SAN DIEGO—Doctors vote less frequently than other professionals, even than farmers, reported Sen. Tim Hutchinson, who is the ACR’s lead lobbyist inside the Beltway, during an Introduction to Advocacy workshop at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting Nov. 3–8.1 Sen. Hutchinson, who represented Arkansas in the U.S. Senate from 1997–2003 and is now a senior director…
SAN DIEGO—The 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, Nov. 3–8, presented opportunities to highlight its 2017 legislative advocacy victories, some of which were resolved just weeks before the conference began, as well as issues that are still outstanding. In the session, Legislative & Regulatory Update 2017, Angus Worthing, MD, chair of the ACR’s Government Advocacy Committee and…