Handpicked Reviews of Contemporary Literature
Ortho Angle
Where rheumatology and orthopedics meet
Value-Based Purchasing: The Future of US HealthCare?
Purchasers of healthcare are beginning to take a more active role in ensuring they receive value for their health care dollars, and these savvy shoppers want to develop programs to increase the quality and efficiency of the care they purchase. This movement has given rise to the concept of value-driven healthcare, commonly called value-based purchasing. Over the next three months, “From the College” will take a look at this type of purchasing and provide rheumatologists and rheumatology health professionals with practical advice on how to stand out to these value-based purchasers.
Make a Difference by the End of Summer: Contact Congress
The more personal your contact with your elected officials, the more effective it will be. Although a personal discussion with a member of Congress is positive, a meeting or telephone conversation with one of his or her staff is just as valuable.
ARHP Angle: We Need a Few Good Leaders!
Flying back from Cincinnati, where I’d been attending a meeting of the ARHP Committee on Nominations, it occurred to me that some members might be intrigued by the process of how ARHP officers and committee and subcommittee chairs are selected. While I do realize that some members aren’t interested in the structural organization of ARHP, I know some may ask, “Why was she selected and not me?”
Within Our Reach–Funded Research Finds Highly Specific Markers of RA
A study recently published in Arthritis & Rheumatism concluded that anti–peptidyl arginine deiminase type 4 (PAD-4) antibodies are highly specific markers of RA and appear to be useful markers of disease severity. The project studied an important and previously unrecognized immune response in RA—anti–PAD-4, which is one of the major proteins that creates other common autoantigens in RA.
Coding Corner Question
August’s Coding Challenge
Coding Corner Answer
August’s Coding Answer
2009 Annual Meeting Goes Beyond the Basics for Basic Researchers
Attendees at the 2009 ACR/ ARHP Annual Scientific Meeting will find multiple opportunities to increase their knowledge.
Doused in Denmark
EULAR captured the complex picture of rheumatology’s future
Letters
Feedback From Our Readers
Productive Partnership
The ACR and the REF work closely to support the future of rheumatology
Immunizations in Immunocomprised Patients
Vaccines can help minimize certain diseases
REMS Required
How will this FDA drug safety program affect rheumatology offices?
Psoriatic Arthritis: From Leeds to the Limelight
Advances in understanding of the disease begin in the 1960s