(Reuters)—Health insurer Aetna Inc said on Thursday it will sell its standalone Medicare prescription drug plan business to WellCare Health Plans Inc as it seeks U.S. antitrust approval for a planned acquisition by CVS Health Corp. The $69 billion CVS-Aetna deal would be the second large deal this year between insurers and pharmacy benefit managers,…
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Fellows Find Their Voices on Capitol Hill
In 2015, as a rheumatology fellow, Christina Downey, MD, attended the inaugural ACR Advocacy 101 course, put on by rheumatologists Blair Solow, MD, and Sarah Doaty, MD. “I thought it was incredibly informative, and I was really surprised at how much legislators and staff did not know about rheumatology, or what it’s like to be…
ICD-10 Code Change Proposed
On Sept. 12, the ACR and the Sjögren’s Syndrome Foundation presented an ICD-10 code change request for Sjögren’s syndrome to the ICD-10 Coordination and Maintenance Committee (C&M) at the CMS office in Baltimore. The request is intended to clarify ICD-10 M35.0: sicca syndrome [Sjögren]. Why Change the Code? The rationale behind this significant change request…
Advocates for Arthritis Push for Policy Changes at Annual Event
The ACR advocates on behalf of the rheumatology community throughout the year, but it’s always especially exciting when patients join our efforts in Washington, D.C. Close to 100 patients, rheumatologists and representatives of the broader interprofessional team traveled to our nation’s capital this week to participate in the ACR’s annual Advocates for Arthritis event. Participants…
Is Concierge Medicine Right for Your Practice?
It is no surprise to practicing physicians that the healthcare landscape is becoming more and more unpredictable. Because of the volatility surrounding today’s healthcare environment, such as increasing overhead costs and decreasing reimbursement rates, many physicians are asking themselves whether there is a different, more lucrative way to practice medicine. Concierge medicine may just be…
New Research Shows Knee Osteoarthritis Prevalence Is Rising
Studies highlighting the large numbers of people affected by knee osteoarthritis (OA) point to what clinicians who treat knee OA have been seeing for the past few decades: a substantial increase in the prevalence of knee OA in the U.S. and globally. Roughly 250 million people are affected by knee OA worldwide, and about 14…
Racial Disparities in Rheumatology: What Are We Doing About It?
The data tell the story. Despite improvements in overall outcomes for common rheumatologic conditions, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), white patients fare better than minority patients, and sometimes substantially better. Even with new biologic therapies that have significantly altered the course of disease for patients with RA, outcomes for minorities…
ACR Advocates for Access to Viscosupplementation for OA
In several U.S. states, Blue Cross/Blue Shield and other insurers have dropped or are considering dropping coverage of hyaluronic acid injection—or viscosupplementation—for patients with knee osteoarthritis. The decision appears to be based on guidelines published by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in 2013, which at that time specified that research had not found hyaluronic…
Anxiety, Depression May Help Predict Outcome of Low Back Pain Treatment
NEW YORK (New York)—Patients with anxiety and depression may be less satisfied than other patients with their chronic low back pain (CLBP) treatments, new research suggests. “Patients with anxiety/depression symptoms experienced more pain severity and more pain-related functional, social, and emotional disability, and they were less satisfied with care, compared with the other groups,” the…
Private Practice in Rheumatology: Winners & Losers in the Workforce Numbers Game
In the U.S., the demand for rheumatologists has outpaced the supply of physicians. So how do private practices attract new physicians, and how are practices with physician vacancies managing?
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