I’m a believer in blue light. I’ve spent years lecturing my insomniac patients, buzzed on prednisone, on the importance of good sleep hygiene. In my own home, I try to practice what I preach. When I’m ready for bed, I leave my laptop and phone on my nightstand, and concentrate on relaxing. If I can’t…
A recent pilot study explores the feasibility of virtual reality-based pain interventions for people with rheumatic conditions.1 Although the work is in its early stages, it may someday represent a new non-pharmacological tool for patients with chronic pain. VR for Treatment R. Swamy Venuturupalli, MD, FACR, is an associate clinical professor of medicine at the…
Three FDA representatives discuss new drug indications, safety precautions and label changes, & an emergency program to rapidly evaluate existing immunomodulating therapies for use in COVID-19 patients.
“It’s like winning Powerball.” For months, there has been a steady trickle of questions from my patients, asking for my opinion about the new vaccines being developed to prevent COVID-19. More to the point, they want to know if they should be vaccinated. After some fits and starts, I finally struck upon a pat answer…
In case you missed it, on Nov. 20, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a department within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, announced that it will overhaul the payment system for Medicare Part B (i.e., infusion) drugs on Jan. 1, 2021. The plan is called the Most Favored Nation (MFN)…
ACR CONVERGENCE 2020—Bisphosphonates are an important treatment for millions of older Americans with osteoporosis because the drugs inhibit osteoclastic bone resorption to reduce the risk of painful, debilitating fractures.1 More than 20 years ago, data emerged that bisphosphonates have a long terminal half-life.2 So after years of therapy, could some patients take a drug holiday?…
From pain management to arthroplasty, African American patients with OA and RA experience worse outcomes than white patients. But the reasons for these health disparities are difficult to parse from socioeconomic and cultural factors.
As practice administrator for the past nine years at Emerald Coast Rheumatology in Lynn Haven, Fla., Andre Smith has worked to expand what was a single-provider, three-employee practice into an 8,000-square foot rheumatology clinic and 18-chair infusion center with two additional providers. Although not all rheumatologists have a practice administrator on staff, those who do…
2020 has not only borne witness to a global pandemic, but also to increasing fervor in the fight for racial equity. In a wave of opposition to the systemic racism in the U.S., people have been in the streets demonstrating and protesting against social injustice and have taken to social media to promote political action….
(Reuters Health)—In a case series report, researchers describe rapid symptom improvement in three patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) when high glucose levels were brought down. After glucose was controlled, patients experienced improvement in both symptoms and laboratory measures of PMR without glucocorticoid administration or an increase in glucocorticoid dosage, according to the report in the…