Best Practices

College of Rheumatology guidelines, there is frustration that we do not have better medications for the treatment of pain associated with OA. Topical agents are poorly covered by Medicare, whereas compounded creams are not covered at all; thus, patients must resort to paying high out-of-pocket costs for these medications. Read More ›

Rewind about 5 years to 2010, and consider a few of the things that typically occurred in a medical practice: an infusion nurse sitting in the hall outside of an examination room, waiting for the physician to come out to answer a question about a patient. Read More ›

Healthcare continues to move rapidly toward the direction of more collaborative care, with patient care being coordinated among specialties and anchored by a primary care provider. The pace of this change, however, does not minimize the opportunity to improve key workflows, especially in the area of imaging. Read More ›

In an ideal practice management world, every unique coding situation would be carefully explained within the Amer­ican Medical Association (AMA) Curent Procedural Terminology (CPT) codebook or within the CPT Changes: An Insider’s View manual. The rules for coding and compliance would be black and white, and they would be applied consistently from insurance payer to insurance payer. Read More ›

Many experienced oncology nurses who are retiring or approaching retirement possess knowledge about oncology patient care that comes from years of experience. They have seen a transition from general oncology to specialties in bone marrow transplant, genetics, hematology, medical oncology, palliative care and hospice, radiation oncology, as well as site-specific and surgical oncology. What used to be a limited number of treatment resources has exploded to multiple new methodologies, many of which are based on specific tumor markers. How does a practice ensure that the knowledge, skills, and abilities of its senior nursing staff are transferred to newer nurses joining the practice? Read More ›

Charlotte, NC—Although managing rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in patients who are pregnant or trying to conceive may be challenging, rheumatologists should aim to improve disease activity and pregnancy outcomes, according to Megan E. B. Clowse, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Medicine, Director, Duke Autoimmunity in Pregnancy Registry, Duke University Medical Center, at the North Carolina Regional Association 2014 annual meeting. Read More ›

A recent retrospective study of 114 patients with hypogonadism has led to the conclusion that men with this condition should be screened with dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) for low bone mineral density (BMD). Read More ›

The following interview was conducted recently with Vicki Kennedy, LCSW, at the 2014 conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care. Read More ›