The HCPLive conference coverage page features articles, videos, and expert-led live coverage from major medical meetings throughout the year.
It's Not All in the Mind: Cognitive Function and Fibromyalgia
The Monday morning sessions at the 2009 American College of Rheumatology/Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals featured several presentations that focused on cognitive functioning in fibromyalgia and lupus.
What's the Best Way to Treat Fibromyalgia? A Holistic Approach
Fibromyalgia is a complex illness, especially when there are some healthcare professionals who do not consider it to be an illness. However, there is a high prevalence of fibromyalgia (3-4.7% of the general population) and patients who have it experience poor quality of life and place a high economic burden on themselves, their families, and society.
People with RA Not at Increased Risk of Serious Infection with Biologic Therapy
October 18th 2009The most important risk factors for serious infections were not biologic medications, as some might have expected, but instead were age, medical conditions such as emphysema, and RA-specific factors like disease duration.
How Can I Help?: Streamlining Call Management
The impetus for Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children’s switch to a centralized system came about because the hospital administrators wanted patients communicating with live people. An admirable goal for sure, but with only two live people available to take calls at anyone time, patients often ended up spending 15 minutes on hold waiting for a human voice, becoming frustrated and hanging up.
Glucosamine May Not Aid Osteoarthritic Knees
October 17th 2009Prior studies of glucosamine and its role in the prevention of joint damage in knee OA have produced conflicting results, but a recent study found that the odds of worsening cartilage damage in a glucosamine group were the same as for patients given a placebo.
Anti-TNF Therapy for Rheumatoid Arthritis May Increase Risk of Joint Infections
October 17th 2009Anti tumor necrosis factor therapy for rheumatoid arthritis appears to increase a patient's risk of developing septic arthritis, which is the infection of a joint, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Philadelphia, PA.
Adverse Reactions to Infusion Therapy
In a session that focused on potential adverse reactions to rheumatologic infusion therapies, Jacqueline M. Fritz, RN, MSN, CNS, Arthritis and Osteoporosis, La Palma, California, explained that infusion therapies take time to administer.
MGMA Saves the Best for Last: A Panel Discussion with Three Wise Men
Today's panel discussion on improving the quality of care through quality, innovation, and service included some all star presenters. If this team were a baseball team they'd be the Yankees; we're talking about some big names. We have Dr. Delos M. Cosgrove, president and chief executive officer of Cleveland Clinic; Dr. William Wright, Executive Medical Director Colorado Permanente Medical Group; and Dr. Gary S. Kaplan, Chairman and CEO of the Virginia Mason Health System.
Managed Care De-selection and Further Implications of Financial and Quality Report Cards
Dahl and Rahman sought to help attendees analyze performance systems management and apply applications to their practice, establish core measurements and define collection processes, and compare improvement tools, such as root-cause analysis and “what-if” analyses.
EMR with Clinical Risk Management = Patient Safety: A Model for Success
Anne Huben-Kearney, vice president, risk management, ProMutual Group, Boston, MA, today presented “EMR with Clinical Risk Management = Patient Safety: A Model for Success.” We spoke with her to learn about her experiences working with a health information exchange and professional liability carrier and how and why risk management components can and should be implemented into an EMR.
Group Therapy: Discussing EHR Interoperability
Electronic Health Records – the three words that you’ve probably heard a billion times. They are the words that lead to other words that you hear over and over again: incentives, penalties, integration, etc. Many physicians admittedly hesitate to implement an EHR in their practice for numerous reasons. But aside from the big ones, such as cost, security, and the time it takes, there’s one major barrier – interoperability.