As the result of years of coalition work with partners at the AMA, the ACR recently celebrated a major advocacy win when the FTC announced an investigation of PBM business practices. Join or renew your AMA membership before Sept. 1 so the ACR can keep delegate seats to drive action within the AMA.
The ACR is aware of the emerging concerns surrounding access to needed treatments, such as methotrexate, after the recent decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. We are following this issue closely to determine if rheumatologists and rheumatology providers and patients are experiencing any widespread difficulty accessing methotrexate, and if any initial disruptions are…
The growing use of copay accumulator programs, which restrict the application of patient assistance funds toward cost-sharing requirements, hurts patient access to life-changing treatments. This was one topic discussed during the ACR’s Advocacy Leadership Conference in D.C. this May.
Medal for Excellence Awarded to Graciela Alarcón, MD Graciela (Chela) S. Alarcón, MD, MPH, is the emeritus Jane Knight Lowe Chair of Medicine in Rheumatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), and a professor of medicine (emeritus) at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), Lima, Perú, her alma mater. Last fall, she received the…
Lichenoid Cutaneous Lupus Erythematosus Mimicking Acanthosis Nigricans The photos depict a 45-year-old woman who presented to the Lupus Clinic of the University of São Paulo, Brazil, with lesions closely resembling acanthosis nigricans on her neck (A and B). The lesions had been present for four months. The patient had lived with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)…
Information overload generated by the media, family, friends and colleagues is apparent today. Personal beliefs play an important role in how we filter and process the abundant information available and subsequently identify its utility in daily life. Regardless of professional specialty, individual beliefs underpin personal approaches to clinical care, research development and engagement with patients…
I wouldn’t normally look to professional basketball as a model for healthcare, but sometimes answers come from unexpected places. The observation that elite athletes are not like you and me—medically speaking—is not new. In the second century AD, the pontifex maximus in Pergamum recognized this fact and appointed Claudius Galen physician to the gladiators, making…
In its COVID-19 treatment guidelines, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) lists several drugs commonly prescribed for patients with rheumatic conditions as potential therapies in those who are hospitalized for COVID-19 and require high-flow oxygen, noninvasive ventilation, intermittent ventilation (IMV) or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), as of Aug. 25, 2021, and current as this is…
At my first Advocacy Leadership Conference as a member of the ACR’s Insurance Subcommittee, I discovered the power of stories from the clinic and how lawmakers value clinicians’ input on healthcare legislation.
The Washington Rheumatology Alliance is focused on creative ways to increase the rheumatology workforce to meet the demand for care, such as instituting clinical rotations in rheumatology for nurse practitioner programs and advocating for pediatric rheumatologist loan forgiveness.