Focus Rheums| ACR Convergence 2024 Previews

An official publication of the ACR and the ARP serving rheumatologists and rheumatology professionals

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Unless Congress Acts, Medicare Reimbursement Will Remain Flat or Drop in 2025

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The 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule, released Nov. 1, includes a conversion factor of $32.3465, a 2.83% drop from 2024. In response to advocacy efforts from the ACR and other medical societies, Congress recently introduced the Medicare Patient Access and Practice Stabilization Act of 2024, which would eliminate the 2.83% payment cut and provide an inflationary update for 2025 equal to 50% of the Medicare Economic Index.

Updates in Ultrasound for Rheumatology 2024

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It’s an exciting time for ultrasound in rheumatology, & it’s never too late to learn. Whether you’re just starting fellowship or have been practicing for decades, there’s a place for ultrasound in your practice.

The 7 Virtues of Rheumatology We Should Cultivate

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1949 was a momentous year—astronomer Fred Hoyle coined the term Big Bang, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed, and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical South Pacific opened on Broadway.1 Much less recognized was the publication of an essay by Richard Asher, FRCP, titled the “Seven Sins of Medicine.”2 Although it’s over 75 years…

Editor’s Pick: Palliative Care for Inclusion Body Myositis, a Case Report

Kamini E. Kuchinad, MD, MPH, Ambereen Mehta, MD, MPH, David Wu, MD, & Jemima Albayda, MD  |  

Inclusion body myositis (IBM) is a slowly progressing muscle disease of unknown cause that currently has no effective treatment. IBM is the most common inflammatory myopathy in older individuals, with a rising prevalence of 18.2 per 100,000 in adults older than 50.1,2 The disease characteristically affects the quadriceps and finger flexors, and in later stages…

How the ACR Helps with Reimbursement, Utilization Management & Other Practice Challenges

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Improving reimbursement for underwater biosimilars is just one example of how the ACR’s practice advocates have achieved solutions to members’ insurance challenges. Here’s a look at current ACR efforts in insurance advocacy and how to get help with your own insurance challenges.

Let’s Define Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease

Lucy Masto, BS, Medha Barbhaiya, MD, MPH, Caroline H. Siegel, MD, MS, Lisa R. Sammaritano, MD, & Michael D. Lockshin, MD  |  

Undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD) is a diagnosis given to patients who do not fulfill current classification criteria for named connective tissue diseases (CTD)—systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic sclerosis (SSc), or Sjögren’s disease—but who nonetheless have clinical signs and symptoms and serological evidence of autoimmune CTDs. In 1980 LeRoy et al. were…