New legislation has the potential to streamline the audit process for Medicare and Medicaid, taking a burden off small rheumatology practices…

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The ACR/CHEST ILD Guidelines in Practice, a video
In collaboration with the American College of Chest Physicians, the ACR released two new comprehensive guidelines aimed at improving the screening, monitoring, and treatment of patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) secondary to systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs). Recently, Sindhu R. Johnson, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada, director of the Toronto Scleroderma Program and principal investigator for the guideline, and Elana J. Bernstein, MD, MSc, Florence Irving associate professor of medicine in the Division of Rheumatology at Columbia University, New York City, and co-first author, presented a webinar to talk about how the guidelines were developed and present some of the recommendations and their rationale: Watch the recording now!

New legislation has the potential to streamline the audit process for Medicare and Medicaid, taking a burden off small rheumatology practices…
Alison Frankel & Jessica Dye |
(Reuters)—Two business lobbying groups this week called on the Consumer Financial Protection Board to investigate the medical funding industry after a Reuters investigation revealed that private investors are funding operations for women who have sued makers of surgical implants. The American Tort Reform Association and DRI-The Voice of the Defense Bar told Reuters on Tuesday…

The only way to be confident your practice is performing well is to conduct periodic internal reviews of your practice operations. This allows you to familiarize yourself with the intimate details of your practice operations and identify what you are doing well and what needs improvement. Doing so will not only help your practice become…

ROME, Italy—Even with classification criteria that have been updated and refined over time, rheumatoid arthritis is still a diagnosis that ultimately has to be made with clinical judgment, said Ronald van Vollenhoven, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and chief of clinical therapy research in inflammatory diseases at the Karolinska University in Sweden. His remarks came…

ROME, Italy—Fatigue, a problem experienced frequently by patients with rheumatic diseases, is best thought of as a survival mechanism and as a single phenomenon, not a condition that comes in a variety of forms, an expert said in a session at EULAR 2015, the annual congress of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR). Gene Regulated…
Each year in August, lawmakers return home for the summer recess and convene district workweeks. That means you have the opportunity to meet with members in their local offices, attend fund-raisers nearby or participate in a town hall. This is where our strength as a membership organization can benefit us most. We have real physicians…

William Robinson, MD, PhD, first became interested in rheumatology in medical school when he started working with a rheumatologist, as well as several other rheumatology mentors. After completing his residency, he joined the rheumatology fellowship program at Stanford University Medical Center, Palo Alto, Calif., where he earned support for his research from the Rheumatology Research…
Lisa Rapaport |
(Reuters Health)—Knee replacement surgery may significantly ease pain and improve leg function and quality of life in patients with osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a new study suggests. While surgery doesn’t restore the same level of comfort and function patients had in their younger years, before they developed arthritis, the authors write in the journal…
A new study has examined how ACPA may originate at the molecular level. The researchers propose that numerous environmental factors may trigger the generation of ACPAs that then cross-react with various citrullinated human autoantigens through molecular mimicry to induce RA…
Reuters Staff |
BEIJING (Reuters)—China will expand medical insurance to cover all critical illnesses for all urban and rural residents by the end of the year, the cabinet said on Sunday, the latest step in a plan to fix a healthcare system that has sparked public discontent. The State Council said 50% of the medical costs will be…