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Rheumatology Guidelines often Based on Weak Evidence

Will Boggs MD  |  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Most recent clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) are based on expert opinion and lack A-level evidence in support of their recommendations, researchers report. “I’d like to highlight not just for providers but also for patients and policymakers that, even though we in the United States are…

Sen. Lisa Murkowski Addresses Rheumatologists During ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, Tax Reform & More

Angus Worthing, MD, FACP, FACR   |  

Greetings, advocates! This month’s Washington update covers how Congress’s tax proposals affect rheumatology, the ACR’s plan to fight Medicare’s adjustments to Part B drug costs in MIPS, the good news of Medicare’s new individualized biosimilar reimbursement, advances in the rheumatology-specific Alternative Payment Model and developments in Congress’s awareness about the perilous pharmacy benefit manager system….

Lower Medicaid Fees Linked to Scarcer Primary Care Appointments

Cheryl Platzman Weinstock  |  

(Reuters Health)—When the fees paid to healthcare providers by Medicaid go up, appointments with primary care doctors suddenly become more available to Medicaid beneficiaries – and the opposite happens when fees go down, according to a recent U.S. study. Researchers found that, overall, every $10 change up or down in the Medicaid fees paid to…

What You Need to Know about the New Medicare Card Project

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Beginning in April 2018, Medicare patients will receive newly designed Medicare identification cards that replace their Social Security numbers (SSNs) with unique, randomly assigned, alphanumeric identification numbers. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is making the change to protect patients 65 and older from exposing their SSNs in efforts to “help prevent fraud,…

Physical Activity, Exercise Can Benefit Patients with RA

August Floden, PT, MS  |  

While medical advances in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have led to improvements in disease control and quality of life for patients worldwide, the rate for stable remission remains low.1 Management of RA symptoms is traditionally accomplished through a combination of medications and nonpharmacological interventions.2 This approach can prevent the development of secondary adverse health outcomes. Two…

How to Prevent, Detect and Respond to a Ransomware Attack

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Every day, more than 5 million records are lost or stolen. That’s more than 217,000 records per hour, 3,600 records per minute and 60 records every second. Due to increasingly sophisticated hacking tactics and ransomware, it’s anticipated that the number of reported breaches will continue to rise at an accelerated rate. In August, the list…