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Guidance

Subcategories:Clinical Criteria/GuidelinesEthicsLegal UpdatesLegislation & AdvocacyMeeting ReportsResearch Rheum

Updated ACP Ethics Manual Provides 6-Step Approach to Dilemmas

Will Boggs, MD  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—The 2019 edition of the American College of Physicians (ACP) ethics manual provides a six-step approach to resolving ethical dilemmas and adds or expands sections that address emerging issues in 21st century medicine.1 “The Manual provides succinct guidance on issues that affect the patient-physician relationship, and also issues that have to do…

Intensive Patient Education May Not Be Helpful for Acute Low Back Pain

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Education with recommended first-line care may not improve pain outcomes in patients with acute low back pain. When comparing patients who received education with those who received professional consultation without information or advice, researchers found patient education was no more effective than placebo at reducing depression or incidence of chronic low back pain…

Sen. Sanders, Rep. Cummings to Introduce Bill to Lower U.S. Drug Prices

Yasmeen Abutaleb  |  

WASHINGTON (Reuters)—U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Elijah Cummings plan to introduce legislation on Thursday aimed at lowering the cost of prescription drugs for U.S. consumers. Democrats have been critical of efforts by the Trump administration to bring down drug prices after President Donald Trump promised to do so during his campaign and since being…

Why I Chose to Be Part of RheumPAC

Padmapriya Sivaraman, MD  |  

As physicians, we play an important role in the well-being of patients and serve as advocates to ensure our patient receives adequate healthcare services. Unfortunately, many of the policy decisions that govern our medical practices are made by bureaucrats with inadequate input from physicians. Certain constraints placed on the way we should practice medicine have…

Gearing Up for State Legislation in 2019: 5 Issues that Need Your Attention

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With a number of new legislators and new governors sworn in this month, 2019 promises to be an exciting year for state-level rheumatology advocacy. “Now is the time to reach out and share our top issues with new legislators in your state,” suggests Joseph Cantrell, ACR senior manager of state affairs. 2019 Priorities ACR Affiliate…

SLE Patients May Not Receive Enough Cardiovascular Disease Assessment & Treatment

Arthritis Care & Research  |  

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is associated with high rates of cardiovascular disease. However, research has shown that aggressive risk assessment with lipid screenings and treatment with statins may be suboptimal for these patients. A new study compared the rates of screening and treatment between SLE patients, diabetes mellitus patients and the general Medicaid population. The results: Despite having an elevated risk of CVD, SLE patients received less lipid testing and fewer statin prescriptions than other patients…

Sign-ups for 2019 Obamacare Insurance Fall to 8.5 Million People

Caroline Humer  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters)–The number of Americans who signed up for 2019 insurance plans created by the Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare, fell by about 4 percent to 8.5 million people from 2018, the U.S. government said on Wednesday. Enrollment had been running about 10 percent lower but picked up during the past week, reflecting…

Maryland Judge to Weigh Obamacare Case

Sarah N. Lynch  |  

(Reuters)—Days after a judge in Texas declared that the Obamacare healthcare law is unconstitutional, Maryland’s Democratic attorney general on Wednesday will pursue his request that another judge rule the opposite way. The lawsuit brought by Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh also seeks to challenge President Donald Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general,…

Rheumatology Research Foundation Names Honorary Board of Advisors

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The Rheumatology Research Foundation’s Honorary Board of Advisors is reserved exclusively for individuals who have made a transformative contribution, via a significant donation or through leadership, leaving an indelible mark on the organization’s future fundraising success. This year, Audrey M. Nelson, MD, from the Mayo Clinic, and ACR Executive Vice President Mark Andrejeski were named…

Ethics Forum: Is a Conflict-of-Interest Slide Enough?

Athan Tiliakos, DO  |  

We have all been to numerous lectures, grand rounds and other continuing medical education activities where the speaker, prepared and poised at the podium, begins his lecture with a title slide. Soon after, we see the ubiquitous conflicts of interest slide, which lists the invited speaker’s research funding, his consulting activities and his board memberships—all…