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RheumNow Podcast – In Times of Trouble (4.24.20)
Dr Jack Cush reviews the news, journal reports, twitter feed and COVID developments from the past week on RheumNow.com
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FDA Consumer Warnings on Cannabis and CBD
The FDA issued a new consumer update on what you need to know about Cannabis or Cannabis-derived Compounds, Including CBD. This is part of the FDA effort to answer questions about the science, safety, and quality of products containing cannabis and cannabis-derived compounds, particularly CBD.
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TNR Grand Rounds - Moving Forward with Telemedicine
Dr. Alvin Wells gives a primer on Telerheumatology and Telemedicine in the era of COVID-19. This 1 hour Grand Rounds Presentation includes a 30 minute lecture, followed by stimulating 30 minutes of Q&A with a rheumatology attendee audience.
Read ArticlePhysical Therapy Superior to Steroid Injection for Knee OA
Treatment options for painful knee osteoarthritis (OA) are numerous, but comparative outcomes are seldom available. A NEJM report shows that physical therapy is superior to intraarticular glucocorticoids injections assessing the outcomes 12 months after the intervention.
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NICE Guidelines on Managing Rheumatologic Conditions During COVID-19 Pandemic
On April 3rd, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the UK, published a rapid guideline for managing children and adults with rheumatological autoimmune, inflammatory and metabolic bone disorders during the COVID-19 pandemic, while protecting staff from infection.
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The Immunologic Basis of Wellness in the COVID-19 Era
We indeed are living in interesting times and we all are seeking not to contract COVID-19 - this is logical. While our goal is to avoid infection, I think we all must agree that our aspirations must encompass more than disease avoidance. What we should be seeking now, as well, is more than absence of disease but rather a state of optimal wellness.
RheumNow Podcast – Pandemic Numbers (4.3.20)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news on COVID-19 and FDA actions this past week. Be sure to check out:
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RheumNow Podcast – New World Order (3.27.20)
Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and COVID developments from this past week.
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Global Rheumatology Alliance Registry Will Study COVID-19
In the midst of a global pandemic of the 2019 Novel coronavirus acute respiratory disease (COVID-19), a small handful of Rheumatologists gathered on social media to collectively grapple with the impact of this virus on vulnerable populations with rheumatic disease.
Infusions in the Time of Coronavirus
As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. After years of bemoaning the challenges of telemedicine, our rheumatology clinic transition entirely to a remote clinic in the space of a week.
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Hospitalized GPA - Higher morbidity, Mortality and Cost
Rheumatology reports on a study of patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) showing worse outcomes and higher costs when hospitalized with GPA.
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Primary Care Visits Decline 2008-2016
A national claims-based analysis has shown a consistent decline, by commercially insured adults (18-64 yrs), in primary care physician visits from 2008 to 2016; with nearly one half having no PCP visits in a given year by 2016.
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Overmedication of America
Recent research from the Lown Institute reports that 750 older Americans are hospitalized daily because of serious side effects from and the core problem is that of polypharmacy, especially in the elderly.
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DMARD Inertia by Registry Rheumatologists
A registry study of metric use (primarily RAPID3 and CDAI) in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients shows that, even in the face of moderate or high disease activity, treatment changes by rheumatologists were relatively low (35.6–54.6%).
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Limited Advantage to Very Early vs. Delayed Etanercept in RA
The VEDERA study sought to confirm whether the very early introduction of first-line etanercept+methotrexate (ETN+MTX) was superior to treat-to-target MTX (MTX-TT) in patients with early RA.
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Half of Opioids Rx Come from 1% of MDs
The BMJ reports that while most US providers are cautious in their prescribing, half of opioid prescriptions are written by 1% of providers.
Between 2003 and 2017, there was an annual average of 669495 providers prescribing 8.9 million opioid prescriptions.
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Knee Replacements Last 25 Years
UK registry reports that greater than 80% of total knee replacements can last for 25 years.
The outcomes regarding the duration and durability of knee arthroplasties is sketchy, with many orthopedists projecting a 15 to 20 year survivial. Hence the need for an appraisal of the data.
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Book Review: “Great Health Care Value: Chronic Diseases, Practice Teams and Population Management”
The US healthcare market has evolved into an incredibly expensive system that often does not deliver good medical outcomes. While most of us know these problems exist, we rarely have up-to-date data or can offer alternatives to the way we manage care, especially to the chronically ill who consume much of our health care dollars. In their book, authors Tim Harrington, MD and Andrew Johnson, MS, MBA offer insights, evidence and experience on how we may do our part to improve the management of chronic rheumatic/orthopedic issues.
Biosimilars for Rheum Disease: Failure to Launch
The availability of biologic biosimilars has thus far had negligible impact on prescribing practices in the United States, in stark contrast to what has been observed in some European countries, researchers reported.
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QD Clinic - Dealing with Non-adherence
QD Clinic - Lessons from the clinic. Today’s clinic topic: Dealing with Non-Adherence in the Clinic.
