Gretchen Henkel is an award-winning health and medical journalist based in California. She reports on clinical and outcomes research and practice management issues, as well as patient-centered and culturally competent care for various specialties, including hospital medicine, rheumatology, oncology, otolaryngology and long-term care. As an editorial consultant for the SAMHSA-funded National Child Traumatic Stress Network, she develops content for toolkits on assessment and treatment of childhood abuse and trauma, and is the managing editor of the NCTSN quarterly newsletter, IMPACT.
In a study in Arthritis Care & Research, researchers showed an indirect association between osteoarthritis (OA) and sleep health in older men.1 In those participants with OA, the condition is associated with poorer sleep health, as well as a 16% higher incidence of elevated C-reactive protein and 12% higher odds of having elevated interleukin 6….
J. Michelle Kahlenberg Receives Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists & Engineers (PECASE) A physician scientist and associate professor of internal medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, J. Michelle Kahlenberg, MD, PhD, is a 2019 recipient of the prestigious PECASE award. Dr. Kahlenberg, who also holds the…
Betty Diamond, MD, Recognized as Distinguished Fellow by American Association of Immunologists At its annual meeting in May in San Diego, the American Association of Immunologists (AAI) recognized Betty Diamond, MD, as a distinguished fellow. Dr. Diamond is professor and head of the Center for Autoimmune, Musculoskeletal and Hematopoietic Diseases at the Feinstein Institutes for…
Prestigious Carol Nachman Prize for Research in Rheumatology Awarded to Ellen Gravallese On May 10, Ellen M. Gravallese, MD, the Myles J. McDonough Chair in Rheumatology and chief of the Division of Rheumatology at University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, was awarded the prestigious Carol Nachman Prize for lifetime achievement in rheumatology research in Wiesbaden,…
In the past decade, the treat-to-target concept has gained broad acceptance. Both the ACR and European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) management recommendations include adding biologic therapies to the treatment regimen for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who do not sufficiently respond to methotrexate monotherapy. “What EULAR says is that if [methoÂtrexate use fails], you should essentially…
A post-hoc analysis of data from two large clinical trials supports treat-to-target recommendations for patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The research found baseline disease activity was the strongest predictor of a patient’s insufficient response to initial therapy at six months…
We have just learned that Dr. Hal Paulus passed away on April 5, 2019. We are reposting this story today in his memory and will share additional information as we learn it.
When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed coding and documentation changes to consolidate evaluation and management (E/M) services last fall, the ACR was among many specialist societies actively involved in advocating against the proposed ruling. The changes to E/M coding were part of a larger initiative to reduce the documentation burden on…
The Division of Rheumatology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Charleston, was formally established in 1974 by its first division chief, E. Carwile LeRoy, MD. Twenty-one years later, when Richard M. Silver, MD, assumed leadership, the division had acquired international renown for its scleroderma research. Now, having just retired as division…
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) accounts for more than 80% of OA disease burden and has doubled in prevalence in the mid-20th century in the U.S. when compared with people who lived during early industrial era (1800s to early 1900s).1 Currently, the diagnostic and treatment armamentaria are limited. Disease progression is measured by joint space narrowing on…