The ACR will seek Congressional action if the Medicare Part B demonstration project proposed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is not significantly altered by the agency. Today, Medicare Part B generally pays physicians and hospital outpatient departments the average sales price of a drug, plus a 6% add-on, minus reductions required…
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!
The ACR and Partners Help Get Legislation Passed in New York to Limit Step Therapy
In June, state lawmakers in New York passed legislation on step therapy designed to help ensure patient access to the best and most appropriate care. Step therapy mandates that a patient with a specific condition receive prescribed drugs approved for that condition in the order that an insurance company determines it will cover as the…
Milestones of Rheumatology Education
In 2013, a collaboration began to advance the training and assessment of fellows. The result: A uniform set of educational reporting milestones for all internal medicine subspecialties was developed. Key stakeholders were then asked to develop a list of entrustable professional activities (EPAs), a set of responsibilities any specialist should be able to perform, for their subspecialties. The ACR’s Next Accreditation System working group developed 14 EPAs for rheumatology…
Secukinumab Inhibits Structural Joint Damage in Active PsA
Psoriatic arthritis (PsA), a chronic inflammatory arthritis characterized by structural damage to the joints, has been associated with reduced health-related quality of life, disability and reduced life expectancy. The joint changes in PsA are characterized radiographically by a combination of erosive and proliferative bone changes, including erosive joint destruction, fluffy periostitis and pencil-in-cup deformities. Radiographic…
Healthy Clones: Dolly the Sheep’s Heirs Reach Ripe Old Age
LONDON (Reuters)—The heirs of Dolly the sheep are enjoying a healthy old age, proving cloned animals can live normal lives and offering reassurance to scientists hoping to use cloned cells in medicine. Dolly, cloning’s poster child, was born in Scotland in 1996. She died prematurely in 2003, at age 6, after developing osteoarthritis and a…
U.S. Regulators Sue to Block Anthem-Cigna & Aetna-Humana Mergers
NEW YORK (Reuters)—U.S. antitrust officials on Thursday moved to block an unprecedented consolidation of the national health insurance market, filing suit against Anthem Inc.’s proposed purchase of Cigna Corp. and Aetna Inc.’s planned acquisition of Humana Inc. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) says the two mergers would reduce competition, raise prices for consumers and…
U.S. Antitrust Officials Poised to Block Anthem, Aetna Deals
NEW YORK (Reuters)—U.S. antitrust officials are poised to file lawsuits to block Anthem Inc’s acquisition of Cigna Corp., as well as Aetna Inc.’s takeover of Humana Inc., a person familiar with the matter tells Reuters. Antitrust regulators have been scrutinizing the deals and looking at the potential for higher prices if the insurance market consolidates…
ACR Advocacy at the State Level in 2016
A majority of state legislatures have concluded their work for 2016. The ACR’s state advocacy efforts continued to focus on policy benefiting rheumatologists and patients alike. The two dominant issues this year were biosimilar substitution and step therapy. Biosimilar Substitution Biosimilar substitution remains the most prevalent issue throughout the states. The ACR continues to monitor…

Patients with PsA, Cutaneous Psoriasis May Undergo Hip Replacement
A recent study of patients with psoriatic arthritis and cutaneous psoriasis found that these patients do not have a higher risk of worse outcomes after total hip arthroplasty compared with patients with osteoarthritis…

Ethics Forum: Unexpected Ethical Issues in Private Practice, Clinical Research
Ethical issues that arise in the average rheumatology practice and in clinical research are often straightforward. The AMA Code of Medical Ethics and the Office Practice and Procedures Manual offer useful information.1 In research, the Protocol and Investigators Agreement spells out who you can enroll and how the trial must be conducted. But still—even when…
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