Exclusive: ACR Convergence 2024| Focus Rheums

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

Articles by Cindy Devone-Pacheco

Senate Republicans Reluctantly Consider Bipartisan Healthcare Talks

Amanda Becker and Susan Cornwell  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—As their seven-year effort to repeal and replace Obamacare derailed in the U.S. Senate, Republicans faced the prospect of doing the once unthinkable: working with Democrats to make fixes to former President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare law. Bipartisan breakthroughs would likely come in the form of individual bills targeted at issues such as stabilizing…

Trump Urges U.S. Senate Republicans to Keep Trying on Healthcare Bill

Amanda Becker and Susan Cornwell  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. President Donald Trump pushed Senate Republicans on Wednesday to take another stab at repealing or overhauling Obamacare, urging them at a White House meeting to keep their campaign promises and find a new healthcare approach. “We’re close. We’re very close,” Trump said at the start of the lunch meeting, a day after the…

Juvenile-Onset Arthritis Bodes Worse Pregnancy Outcomes

David Douglas  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Women with a diagnosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) are at increased risk of pregnancy complications, according to Swedish researchers. As Dr. Katarina Remaeus told Reuters Health by email, “In our cohort study . . . we found an association with adverse pregnancy outcomes including preterm birth, induction of labor and delivery…

Mallinckrodt Settles U.S. Opioid Drug Probe for $35 million

Nate Raymond  |  

(Reuters)—Mallinckrodt Plc., one of the largest manufacturers of the generic opioid painkiller oxycodone, will pay $35 million to resolve allegations that it failed to report suspicious drug orders, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. The deal, in which Mallinckrodt did not admit wrongdoing, marked a record settlement of claims that a drugmaker failed to properly…

CVS to Pay $5 Million to Resolve U.S. Drug Probe

Nate Raymond  |  

(Reuters)—CVS Health Corp. has paid $5 million to resolve allegations that pharmacies it operates in California failed to keep and maintain accurate records of prescription drugs, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday. The deal follows an investigation that began in 2012 after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration noticed an increased number of thefts and unexplained…

Senate May Vote on Revised Healthcare Bill Next Week

Yasmeen Abutaleb and Susan Cornwell  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. Senate Republicans said Tuesday they will seek to bring their healthcare overhaul to the Senate floor next week after a lengthy intraparty struggle, but it remained unclear whether they had the votes to pass the measure or even what form it would finally take. With his reputation as a master strategist on the…

Generic Drug Group Sues to Block Maryland Price-Gouging Law

Nate Raymond  |  

(Reuters)—The main U.S. trade group for generic pharmaceutical companies filed a lawsuit on Thursday seeking to block a recently adopted Maryland law that lets the state attorney general sue generic drugmakers that sharply raise prices. The Association for Accessible Medicines filed the lawsuit in federal court in Baltimore to seek an injunction that would block…

ACR Pushes for Patient Interests, Against Spending Cuts

Angus Worthing, MD, FACP, FACR  |  

Greetings from Washington, D.C. Your advocacy team had another busy month. Unlike my prior updates, and in order to keep our focus on health policy, I avoid mentioning anything about Washington investigations into obstruction of justice, collusion, etc. You get enough of that elsewhere. The Healthcare Bill Obamacare repeal and reform efforts are speeding up….

U.S. Senate Health Bill Would Decimate Long-Term Care Coverage

Mark Miller  |  

CHICAGO (Reuters)—When Americans think about retirement planning, long-term care usually is a major blind spot – few of us want to contemplate the possibility of infirmity and dependency in old age. But we would do well to think about it now, as the Senate Republicans take a holiday weekend pause in their push to dismantle…

ACR: Senate Healthcare Bill Falls Short of Protecting Americans Living with Rheumatic Diseases

Sharad Lakhanpal, MBBS, MD
, ACR President   |  

The American College of Rheumatology has always stood for affordable and accessible healthcare coverage for the 54 million Americans living with rheumatic diseases. We are concerned the discussion draft of the Better Care Reconciliation Act introduced by Senate leadership this morning falls short of that goal. We stand ready to work with the Senate leadership…