Providers

Treatment options for psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis are increasing, and with studies already identifying response predictors for tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, there is a need to predict response to the interleukin-17A inhibitor secukinumab.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) may consider hydroxychloroquine essential to their treatment, but after the drug was identified as a potential therapy for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), patients with SLE experienced reduced access to the treatment, which could increase the risk of SLE flare.

There are 3 key issues that, if addressed by Congress, can optimally assist medical groups and health systems dealing with financial struggles amid the pandemic. These include continued funding to the CARES Act Provider Relief Fund, reinstating the Medicare Accelerated and Advanced Payment program, and permanently lifting waivers on telehealth, said Jerry Penso, MD, MBA, president and CEO of the American Medical Group Association.

FDA has lifted a partial clinical hold on a phase 2 trial of a treatment for patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) Hodgkin lymphoma from ADC Therapeutics. The trial of camidanlumab tesirine (Cami), an antibody drug conjugate that binds to CD25, is evaluating the safety and efficacy of the therapy and is intended to support the submission of a Biologics License Application to the FDA.

The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) today recommended that CMS reverse its decision to forgo the 2021 application cycle for the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) and maintain the progression through levels of risk in the program.

A 52-week interim analysis confirmed previous findings highlighting the benefits of ruxolitinib in patients with polycythemia vera (PV) who are resistant or intolerant to hydroxyurea. The full study findings with a 24-month follow-up are still to come.

Patients with HIV who have been heavily treated but are failing their current regimen have few treatment options and are at risk of progressing to AIDS and death.

Amid progress in diabetes treatments and technology, the rate of amputations rose 50% between 2009 and 2015. African American patients lose limbs at triple the rate of other groups. The mission of the Affordable Care Act—spend more to prevent disease and complications, and save money later—has bypassed many of these patients for one reason: they lack access to care.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency has led to an increased use of telemedicine services as CMS instituted reimbursement parity with in-person services. In a new position statement, the American College of Rheumatology has stated support for continuing to use telemedicine once the COVID-19 emergency passes.

Patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia can benefit greatly from chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, but providing that therapy has become much more difficult in the age of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

There are thousands of rare diseases, but they each affect so few patients that diagnosis and treatment can be delayed by years. Researchers examined how machine learning has been studied in rare diseases and identified areas of opportunity where future studies can improve care and treatment of rare diseases.

Despite advances in therapeutics and treatment strategies for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that impact well-being, patients in clinical remission still report reduced well-being, according to an abstract presented at the European Congress of Rheumatology of the European League Against Rheumatism.

The FDA granted accelerated approval to selinexor (Xpovio, Karyopharm Therapeutics) for the treatment of adult patients with relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). The oral treatment is to be used after at least 2 lines of systemic therapy.

Inflammatory skin diseases are often diagnosed by "first impression" and can be easily misdiagnosed. A new smartphone app using artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to assist with the diagnosis of psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and eczema.

Technology has made it easier to deliver health care in the home in recent years, but the financing models have not caught up just yet.

In 90% of patients, psoriasis precedes psoriatic arthritis by an average of 7 years, providing a window of opportunity for early intervention and possible prevention of psoriatic arthritis.

Based on the safety and efficacy outcomes from the PREVENT phase 3 study, the FDA has approved secukinumab (Cosentyx) from Novartis for the treatment of active nonradiographic axial spondyloarthritis.

In the real-world, ruxolitinib's approval to treat myelofibrosis has improved overall survival (OS) for elderly patients.

Measuring disease activity is a key aspect of rheumatologic care, but the creation of tools designed specifically for disease areas of interest has resulted in fragmentation and multiple disease activity scores, sometimes even just for a single disease.

Many in the endocrinology community still endorse using metformin first in patients with type 2 diabetes, but that isn’t really necessary any more now that sodium-glucose transport protein 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are available, said Darren K. McGuire, MD, MHSc, professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, Dallas Heart Ball Chair for Research on Heart Disease in Women, Distinguished Teaching Professor, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

In a debate at the American Diabetes Association 80th Scientific Sessions, Darren K. McGuire, MD, MHSc, professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology, Dallas Heart Ball Chair for Research on Heart Disease in Women, Distinguished Teaching Professor, at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, will discuss whether sodium-glucose transport protein 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are ready to be used for primary cardiovascular prevention.

Recommendations that patients with rheumatoid arthritis see an expert within 6 weeks of symptom onset can provide challenges for practices.

American Medical Group Association (AMGA) is asking CMS to permanently extend the telehealth flexibilities it instituted as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Drugs used to treat rheumatic conditions suppress the rogue immune system, but it has been unclear whether patients using immunosuppressants have an increased risk of a more severe course if they are infected with the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

"We want to make sure practices have time to learn, understand, adapt, and modify, to a new Oncology Care Model," said Michael Diaz, MD, president of Community Oncology Alliance.