When treating adolescent patients who are making the important, sometimes bumpy crossing from a pediatric to an adult rheumatology practice, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. “We have to be flexible on the receiving end when talking with these patients, and flexible with their families, too,” says Peter A. Nigrovic, MD, director of the Center for Adults…
To be an effective practice owner, it is necessary to understand the financial circumstances and environment of the practice’s operation. Well-managed practices prevent the loss of time and money. Therefore, to improve productivity and operating efficiencies, you need to have a basic understanding of billing and payment initiatives that will impact the practice’s bottom line….
The ACR’s Affiliate Society Council (ASC) membership has grown from 34 states to 40 since 2015. The growth of the Council is mainly attributed to newly formed state societies, as well as existing state societies focusing on orienting themselves for advocacy on behalf of rheumatologists and their patients. Increased participation by state societies helps support…
The decision to continue or discontinue immunomodulatory medications during pregnancy is a difficult one for both patients and physicians. On the one hand, when left untreated, rheumatic conditions can cause harm to an unborn child, as well as to the pregnant mother. On the other hand, medications can be harmful to a developing fetus. In…
This has been a year of tremendous growth, change and achievement for the ACR, and I have been fortunate to lead the ACR in these endeavors. The ACR and ARHP, including the ACR Executive Committee, the ACR Board of Directors, standing and special committee chairs and hundreds of dedicated volunteers, have contributed to this growth…
With Medicare and insurers now incentivizing physicians for collecting and reporting data, rheumatologists need at least a minimum understanding of the gigabytes of information flowing through their practices. Actually, every medical practice should have at least one person with some informatics expertise, according to computer-programmer-turned-rheumatologist Jeffrey Curtis, MD, MS, MPH. “Physicians need to be more…
In the world of evidence-based medicine, basing diagnosis and treatment decisions on belief instead of data seems anachronistic. And yet … clinicians are human, and humans live in culture, and culture is formed by beliefs, and beliefs (consciously or unconsciously) drive perception and, often, action. So a new study shining a light on racial bias…
It has been 11 months since the implementation of the ICD-10 diagnostic code set on Oct. 1, 2015, a change from the previous ICD-9. Most practices can probably attest that the transition came and went without the predicted doomsday outcome: Claims were still processed, the confused alphanumeric coding was applied, and patients were not deprived…
Outside Exam Room No. 5, the chart rack was empty, so I assumed my new consult was late. Just in case, I looked back over my shoulder as I passed by the partially open door and glimpsed the lower half of a woman holding a three-ringed binder on her lap. I squinted and took a…
NEW YORK (Reuters)—Nearly a third of U.S. counties will likely be served by only one insurer that participates in an Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace in 2017, according to an analysis published Aug. 28 by the Kaiser Family Foundation. The 31% of U.S. counties that will have just a single option of insurers within the…