General Rheumatology

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ACR Backs the Provider Reimbursement Stability Act

ACR

The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) today thanked lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives for introducing the bipartisan Provider Reimbursement Stability Act of 2025 (

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Physician Use of Augmented Intelligence has Doubled

Jack Cush, MD

A 2026 Physician Survey to assess artificial intelligence and its use in Medical Practice has been published and follows earlier surveys around adoption and use. This is the third in a series of longitudinal surveys (prior waves 2023, 2024), enabling meaningful trend analysis. AI adoption has

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Retrospective observational study of IPAF (ILD w/ autoimmune) pts - from Mt Sinai ILD registry 791 - 14 Rx w/ rituximab vs 19 not. Betw group outcomes same: PFTs, O2 use, Infx, Resp admissions, mortality. RTX group recv more immunosuppressives. https://t.co/sle4a0JOFL https://t.co/SyhK12KhHY

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Top Four and More (4.10.2026) Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from RheumNow this week - including his top four favorite subjects. https://t.co/TUPky5m1Mo https://t.co/QRgh9SqcOF

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
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Modest Benefits with AI Scribes on EHR Documentation

EurekAlert!

Documenting a patient visit in the electronic health record (EHR) is essential to healthcare delivery, but also a major contributor to clinician burnout. Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled ambient documentation, or “AI scribes,” can automatically generate draft clinical notes for review

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JAMA Guideline on the Management of Crohn Disease https://t.co/GV0lICS8Sn https://t.co/aFWH5Tl4Jv

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
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Screening High Risk Myositis Patients for Cancer

Jack Cush, MD

An Italian retrospective study of 411 idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) patients applied IMACS criteria to assess the risk of cancer and found significantly more cancers in those at high risk.

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“Math has no opinion” - Mellody Hobson

Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )

Couldn’t attend https://t.co/4UQlqwujiR 2026? You can now watch the entire meeting On Demand. This high-impact program features leading experts discussing: • RA outcomes and pathogenesis • Obesity, inflammation, and rheumatic disease • Treatment decisions in Psoriatic https://t.co/A3wb3pzbl3

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
UK Our Future Health study of 1,563,155 finds affective Dz (depression, bipolar, anxiety) signific higher (p<0.001)in autoimmune pts vs gen. pop. (29% vs 18%) - dx by PHQ-9, GAD-7. (OR 1.86), even after adjustments income and pain, etc. https://t.co/HoKBeAZxbS https://t.co/NtJhaf7WCo

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Italian retrospective study 411 IIM pts classified cancer risk per IMACS criteria: 44% high-, 38% intermed- 18% standard-risk. 9.2% had CA w/in 3yrs. Signif more in high-risk (OR 4.05). CA predictors: TIF1γ (OR  12.3), SAE1 (OR = 11.9) https://t.co/j4gA0g79bI https://t.co/Pt5nMs89bl

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
COMMON - Incidental Rotator Cuff Abnormalities on MRI In this cross-sectional study of 602 Finnish adults undergoing bilateral shoulder magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical assessment, abnormalities were found in nearly everyone over age 40 years, regardless of whether https://t.co/2n58lglVP0
Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
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Top Four and More (4.10.2026)

Jack Cush, MD

Dr. Jack Cush reviews the news and journal reports from RheumNow.com this week - including his top four favorite subjects.

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Hopkins Myositis study of 637 dermatomyositis pts - FLARES were assoc w/ DM Dz activity; manifest as rash (76%), motor weakness (58%), Pulm (19%), arthritis (12%). O nly 2–5% of Flare pts had cancer Dx w/in 6–24-mos https://t.co/AKC9oIKAS7 https://t.co/26q8FfkUfl

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Among neuro-ophthalmic complications of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors, myasthenia gravis (often with concomitant myositis) is most common irAE, followed by optic neuropathy (often as optic neuritis) https://t.co/7pxqSKY3M1 https://t.co/bisbShFHIc

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
VEXAS Syndrome - A Review Beck et al has published a review of the VEXAS syndrome in The Lancet, focusing on the pathogenesis, spectrum, and treatment strategies. https://t.co/Nik0TJm6Qu https://t.co/WS35PRnbBv

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Itch is common in Scleroderma (SSc) and not related to Dz duration. Study of 2173 Pts (~20K itch assessments), 87 F; mean age 55 yrs; 40% w/ diffuse SSc. Itch (moderate 4/10) seen in ~35% at all times https://t.co/QnT8d0xA5Z https://t.co/yEgB6ImDTi

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
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Opioids Down, Gabapentins Up

Jack Cush, MD

The number of U.S. patients prescribed long-term opioid therapy declined from 2015 to 2023, but co-prescribing of opioids with gabapentinoids increased, prescription data showed.

In 2023, 4.2 million people had an active long-term opioid therapy episode, defined as a period of opioid

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From 2015 to 2023, long-term opioid therapy declined in the USA. Approximately 4 million to 5 million patients were prescribed long-term opioid therapy in 2023. Long term opioid use remains a challenge https://t.co/N5s7mYvXSw https://t.co/YHdTbHLB4q

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Single-centre retrosp study of established 257 PMR pts. 98 referred by GPs were for Dx uncertainty (51 vs 14%), less for relapse (27%) or recurrence (11%). PMR Dx accuracy better by Rheums vs PCPs (83% v 62%, P < 0.05) https://t.co/DvTKeuGa4Q https://t.co/wQDXR46k5F

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
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JAMA Guideline on the Management of Crohn Disease

Jack Cush, MD

JAMA has published a current Clinical Guidelines Synopsis on the Management of Crohn Disease (CD) in Adults.

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COMMON - Incidental Rotator Cuff Abnormalities on MRI

Jack Cush, MD

In this cross-sectional study of 602 Finnish adults undergoing bilateral shoulder magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical assessment, found abnormalities in nearly everyone over age 40yrs, regardless if asymptomatic or symptomatic.

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Predictors of Calcinosis Cutis in Systemic Sclerosis

Jack Cush, MD

Calcinosis cutis (CaC) is a common and disabling non-lethal manifestations in systemic sclerosis (SSc). This study used SSc patients from the EUSTAR database to clinically characterize patients and identify risk factors for CaC development.

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CDC: In 2023, age-adjusted prevalence of U.S. adults (>20 yrs) with obesity was 40.3% (9.7% with severe obesity; 31.7% overweight). BMI data from NHANES, & the National Center for Health Statistics https://t.co/kH9ajbUJ2m https://t.co/utbGWf4D12

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )
Machine learning predicts macrophage activation syndrome in adult Still's disease - 312 AOSD - XGBoost model had 5 predictors: ferritin, splenomegaly, Plt#, cholesterol, & ESR (AUC 0.839, sensit 0.824, specificity 0.710. https://t.co/QrogaCYPCT https://t.co/Z6WgCnFTfx

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Dr. John Cush @RheumNow( View Tweet )

Therapeutic Updates

5-Year Results of an IL-23 Inhibitor in Patients With PsA

AbbVie March 2026
Dr. Alvin Wells and Dr. Shikha Singla share their clinical perspectives on using an IL–23 inhibitor to manage patients with PsA throughout their treatment journey in the context of 5-year data from the KEEPsAKE trial program.
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Recent Blogs

Autoantibodies Anonymous

Artie Kavanaugh, MD
AutoAb.Token
At first, it seemed similar to many other such sessions – a circle of folding chairs, a group of colleagues whose visages exuded understanding and acceptance – but this was special. I started the meeting…. “Hi, my name is Artie.”
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Advanced Practice Rheum

Difficult to Treat Rheumatoid Arthritis

Jack Cush, MD
D2T RA Cover
Dr. Cush addresses the management of difficult-to-treat rheumatoid arthritis (D2TRA).
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Methotrexate

Jack Cush, MD
APR MTX Cover
In this session, Dr. Jack Cush reviews methotrexate.
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Podcasts

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