You should use this information to not only fend for yourself, but to more accurately guide trainees into a richly rewarding specialty that pays well and has many distinctions to boast of, including high science, hands-on patient interactions and long-term relationships, great hours, lifestyle and family friendly careers. Our field is in desperate need of high quality, problem-solving practitioners.

Big highlights from Monday included the Hench Lecture, plenary session abstracts and presentations on drug safety and cost efficacy in rheumatoid arthritis.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights and reports from this week on RheumNow.com, including drug-induced cutaneous lupus, pediatric lupus being worse, new gout drug SEL-12, Gut microbiome and IgA plasmablasts, and the weakly-received new ACP guidelines on gout.

The rising incidence of gout has been directly linked to the obesity epidemic.  The influence of obesity on gout was further tested in a cohort study of obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery as part of the Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study.

The Wall Street Journal has reported an alarming trend in generic drug pricing that affects many, especially the elderly and those with arthrtis.

The MMWR has reported that Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), previously (1999) had an estimated 1.8 million (0.9%) prevalence. But as of 2015, an estimated 3.1 million (1.3%) of U.S.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights, news and journal reports from this week at RheumNow.com

It has been long known that rheumatoid arthritis is associated with an increased mortality rate, especially in seropositive patients and those with extraarticular manifestations.

Pfizer has announced it will ship its new FDA-approved biosimilar, Inflectra, in late November and that it will be priced at a15 percent discount to current wholesale prices.

Dr Jack Cush reviews highlights from the news and journal articles appearing this week on RheumNow.com:

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from the journals and news this week on RheumNow.com.

The October 7th edition of MMWR reports that severe joint pain (SJP) has significantly risen from 10.5 million in 2012 to 27.2% in 2014, based on recent NHIS surveys.

A Wall Street Journal article claims that U.S. drugmakers are pointing the blame at the middlemen who also influence drug priciing.

Who makes billions in profits and millions in bonus monies? PBMs and insurers, thats who.

This week United Healthcare and Express Scripts announced new plans to restrict patient and prescriber access to popular, expensive, albeit FDA-approved, medications and biologics.

Who benefits, who loses?

Researchers suggest that the burden of EHRs could contribute to physician burnout. The findings of a time and motion study are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews highlights from this week in RheumNow:

Disease flares are common in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), often causing patients to seek additional care, if not medication.

The frequency of flares varies amongst studies in different populations.  But the consequence of flares has only recently been studied.

The 2010 NHANES study suggests that the overall prevalence of osteoporosis (OP) in the USA is ~10% or 10.2 million older adults (> 50 yrs) had osteoporosis.

Dr. Jack Cush reviews news and journal reports from the past week on RheumNow.com.

A U.S. court has affirmed its decision that the patent for Johnson & Johnson's drug Remicade is invalid. This new ruling favors the intent of Celltrion and Pfizer, who are seeking to bring their biosimilar versions of infliximab to market in the near future.