CHICAGO—Suleman Bhana, MD, a rheumatologist at New York-based Crystal Run Healthcare, calls himself a “technology nerd,” but judging by his review of tech tools at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, you don’t have to geek out to embrace technology in your rheumatology practice. You just have to like simplicity and saving money. “We have a…
CHICAGO—Approximately 200,000 health apps are available through major app stores. Some offer real benefits, said Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, director of health services research at Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles, Calif. But most, he told attendees at the 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, are “rubbish.” “They do one or two things only—and generally not well,” he…
Technology in medicine is no longer new or trendy. It’s pervasive. Rheumatologists may now assume a patient has searched online for information about his or her diagnosis or potential therapies. Both physicians and rheumatology health professionals should acknowledge their patients’ Internet surfing and find out what they’ve read, says Betsy Roth-Wojcicki, RN, MS, CPNP, an…
CHICAGO—As good an option as hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) is for many patients with rheumatic diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and especially lupus, safety must be an important consideration, an expert said at this April’s ACR State-of-the-Art Clinical Symposium. The use of the antimalarial has become a controversial subject, with clinicians trying to balance the drug’s disease-modifying…
For many uninsured and underinsured patients in Yuba City, Calif., seeing a rheumatologist used to mean taking a day off from work and driving 108 miles, roundtrip, to the University of California Davis Medical Center. That changed this year when patients were offered the option of having a telemedicine consultation with a rheumatologist as part…
In many regions, rheumatologists are scarce. But telemedicine offers rheumatologists the ability to treat patients who have difficulty accessing care. A panel at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting addressed the exciting prospects offered and ways to overcome its challenges…
(Reuters Health)—Some cancer doctors use Twitter to promote drugs manufactured by companies that pay them, but they almost never disclose their conflicts of interest on the social media platform, a new study shows. “This is a big problem,” says senior author Dr. Vinay Prasad, a professor at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. “Doctors…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health—Telemedicine follow up based on patient-reported outcome (PRO) is noninferior to conventional outpatient care for tight control of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with low disease activity or remission, new findings show. “Even though patients in the [telemedicine] follow-up groups requested more acute visits, they over-all had a more than…
WASHINGTON, D.C.—A friendly, but stern, voice talks to Joseph Kvedar, MD, vice president of Connected Health at Partners HealthCare, from his smartphone. Dr. Kvedar has just woken up. “Good morning, Joe! Here’s the tale of the tape. Your blood pressure and cholesterol are fine. Your sleep deficit is now up to three hours for the week….
Ready for a cyber checkup? Auditing your health IT policies, safeguarding your hardware and educating your staff on the importance of data security should be routine, according to industry experts…