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…
(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…
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…
From 1996–2011, the rates of hospitalization due to serious infectious diseases in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) increased substantially, according to new research. In a retrospective data-driven study, researchers plotted and compared hospitalization and in-hospital mortality rates of SLE and non-SLE populations, determining the trends for the five most common infections…
(Reuters)—Insurer CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield said on Thursday its cost savings on providing healthcare rose sharply last year in a program that rewards doctors for keeping patients out of the hospital. The non-profit health insurer operates an approach to delivering care that emphasizes coordination among providers, led by a patient’s primary care physician. The model is…
(Reuters Health)—The number of deaths, hospital stays and healthcare costs decreased among older Americans on Medicare over the past 15 years, according to a new study. “Although our health care system has its failings, we are making remarkable progress,” said Dr. Harlan Krumholz, the study’s lead author from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. “People…
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters)—A year and a half after the Affordable Care Act brought widespread reforms to the U.S. healthcare system, Chicago’s Cook County Health & Hospitals System has made its first profit in 180 years. Seven hundred miles south, the fortunes of Atlanta’s primary public hospital, Grady Health System, haven’t improved, and it remains as…