Approximately 10 years ago, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued its first guidance on compliance as it relates to federal mandates for physician practices. Although taking the necessary steps can be a daunting task in an era of complex rules and heightened regulations, there are key areas of government-mandated compliance requirements that practices should…
To blog or not to blog? As a rheumatologist, you may have pondered this question. Perhaps getting some insight from rheumatologists who already blog and a professional blog writer may help you find the answer. Obviously, if you devoted time to blogging you would want it to be beneficial. For Paul Sufka, MD, rheumatologist, HealthPartners,…
SAN FRANCISCO—Men and women have different mechanisms that are at work in producing pain in rheumatic diseases—a little-studied and little-appreciated fact that is crucial to developing and using the right kinds of treatments, an expert in rheumatic disease pain said in a talk at the 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. The lack of acknowledgment of this…
Patient portals are online programs and applications that help patients and physicians interact. Although there are many different implementations, most will have some sort of messaging component to help with communication between the doctor and the patient, as well as access to at least some elements of the chart, such as test results. “Patients should…
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Apremilast improves clinical outcomes in patients with psoriatic arthritis and active psoriasis, according to results from the PALACE 3 randomized controlled trial. Apremilast, a phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor, showed efficacy against psoriatic arthritis in the PALACE 1 trial. Dr. Christopher J. Edwards from University Hospital Southampton in the U.K. and colleagues evaluated…
(Reuters Health)—Just one out of every 100 U.S. doctors is responsible for 32% of the malpractice claims that result in payments to patients, according to a comprehensive study of 15 years’ worth of cases. And when a doctor has to pay out one claim, the chances are good that the same physician will soon be…
A recent study on systemic lupus erythematosus examined the effects of metabolic modulators on the disease’s abnormal T cell metabolism. Using a combination therapy of metformin and 2-deoxy-D-glucose, researchers were able to normalize CD4+ T cell functions and restore defective IL-2 production in mice…
To improve access to quality of care for patients with osteoarthritis and other musculoskeletal pain, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) launched a continuing education program designed to strengthen the musculoskeletal knowledge and skills of primary care providers (PCPs). In the program’s initial trial in 2012, 19 physicians were trained on exams, treatments and joint injections. Two years after course completion, some participants increased the number of intraarticular corticosteroid injections at their clinics without needing to refer patients to specialists…
In a large group genetic analysis, researchers identified an association between the class II HLA region, including HLA-DRB1*11, and systemic juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA), implicating adaptive immune molecules in sJIA’s pathogenesis and reinforcing its unique genetic position among JIA subtypes…
In busy rheumatology practices, mountains of paperwork for insurance companies and federal healthcare programs make it hard to keep track of what’s legal. Missing documentation is the most common way to spark an investigation. Here are a few considerations to help you avoid legal pitfalls…