Hundreds of rheumatology providers across the country are finalizing submissions for the first year of reporting under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS). According to a presentation at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting in San Diego, providers that participate in and submit through the Rheumatology Informatics System for Effectiveness (RISE) Registry are poised to perform…
In the ever-changing healthcare delivery landscape, the ACR continues to go to work on behalf of its members to ensure public policies encourage delivery of high-quality rheumatology care and treatment. With stepped-up efforts to meet with federal administrative and Congressional representatives, and broadened coalitions of partners to strengthen advocacy for key issues important to the…
Milestones are at the core of the current system designed to evaluate medical residency and fellowship programs and their participants. But are all milestones meaningful for medical education? This idea was at the center of a debate during the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, during which speakers explored the advantages and drawbacks of using training milestones for rheumatology fellowships…
Greetings, advocates! Your government is back to work after ending a brief government shutdown by passing a short-term continuing resolution (CR), which will keep the government running at current funding levels into February. At some point, it would be great for Congress to pass a budget (instead of a CR) and to enact bipartisan plans…
During the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, advances in biosimilar treatments were abuzz. However, many speakers noted that the presence of biosimilars on the market has not yet resulted in greater access to treatment and lower drug pricing in the U.S…
SAN DIEGO—After sifting through the nitty-gritty of the rheumatic disease literature on basic science, Richard Pope, MD—professor of medicine specializing in rheumatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine—underscored several findings he thought stood out from the pack in his Year in Review talk at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. He reviewed findings from November…
SAN DIEGO—The proposed classification criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), supported but not yet approved by the ACR and EULAR, were debuted on Nov. 7 at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting. An international steering committee developed and validated the criteria, with patient input and the consensus of more than 150 global SLE experts. Rheumatology researchers…
In many regions, rheumatologists are scarce. But telemedicine offers rheumatologists the ability to treat patients who have difficulty accessing care. A panel at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting addressed the exciting prospects offered and ways to overcome its challenges…
In a Year in Review session at the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting, Daniel Solomon, MD, MPH, highlighted the latest and most intriguing aspects of clinical research on rheumatic diseases from 2017. His discussion touched on medical therapy, genetics, the effects of bariatric surgery and diet, cancer risk and more…
SAN DIEGO—Should patients with rheumatic diseases switch from a biologic to its biosimilar? At the 2017 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting’s Great Debate, held Nov. 5, two rheumatologists argued whether to switch or stay put based on safety, efficacy and potential cost savings. First to the podium to make the case for switching, Jonathan Kay, MD, tweaked…