November 2022



President's Message 

Dear Members, Colleagues, and Sponsors,

I hope you and your families enjoyed Halloween and the tail end of the fall foliage.



Our in-person 9th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Pennsylvania Rheumatology Society (PRS) was a success. Our speakers delivered informative topics that generated lively discussions. Our Thieves’ Market semi-finalists gave engaging podium presentations to captured audience who determined the finalists. Our poster presenters covered a full spectrum of unusual rheumatologic cases. Irakli Tskhakaia, MD, an intern and a poster presenter from my institution, won an Apple Watch in the Bingo raffle!

Looking ahead to 2023, we are trying out a new venue and a new format. Instead of the Hershey Lodge, we are excited to offer Kalahari Resorts and Conventions in the Poconos for our 10^th Annual Scientific Meeting, Friday September 29-Sunday October 1^st. We have opted to add Friday to our traditional Saturday-Sunday program to avoid comingling of CME and non-CME presentations on the same day. We hope to have unbranded, non-CME educational presentations on Friday, while maintaining CME presentations on Saturday and Sunday. We expect to have another excellent speaker line up for an engaging program next year.

I am pleased to welcome our 2 new Fellow-in-Training (FIT) Representatives to join 1 other on PRS Council. Their appointments were unprecedented as the PRS bylaws call for 2 FIT representative. Given their well-qualified nominations, the PRS Council created a third position. We welcome Sarah Bayefsky, MD, of CHOP and Kristen Salava, MD, of Geisinger Medical Center to join Nicholas Wiemer, DO of Allegheny Health Network.

I would like to remind all program directors and rheumatology fellows in the

state of Pennsylvania that PRS offers a one-time $1,000 fellow-in-training

(FIT) travel scholarship to senior fellows when they attend PRS annual meeting

in their junior year. Due to changes in program format and challenges in

funding, junior fellows will also be expected to attend Friday unbranded,

non-CME presentations to qualify for the FIT travel scholarship in 2023.

Rheumatology program directors must nominate their fellows for approval of the

PRS FIT travel scholarship. These scholarships may be applied to travel to

renown national and international adult or pediatric conferences (ACR, EULAR or

PRYSM). Both the program director and the fellow(s) are required to be PRS

members to apply for the scholarship.

PRS continues to fund the fellows’ objective structured clinical examination (OSCE)

for programs in Pennsylvania. This funding is to help fellowship training

programs to evaluate fellows’ clinical skills in standardized medical scenario

as valued by the ACGME.

In an effort to contribute and build care resources in Rheumatology, PRS is

planning to offer CME opportunities at the 2023 Annual Scientific Meeting for

our valued Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant colleagues.

Nancy Walker, MD, will chair this effort. Stay tuned for more details, but

please extend a save the date (9/29-10/1/23) notice to your mid-levels.

Additionally, when American College of Rheumatology (ACR) offer advanced

rheumatology course again, PRS would like to invite application for scholarship

to nurse practitioners (NP) and other advanced practice providers (APP). More

details to follow in the future.

I thank our staff, the Annual Scientific Meeting Planning Committee, our Advocacy

Committee members, the Board, and our corporate partners for making the ASM program possible. A special shout out to Janelle Witters, our meeting manager, and

Annmarie Whalen, our executive director for rising to the occasion. Finally, I

want to thank you, our members, for your continued support and engagement in

our professional community.

It was wonderful to see so many colleagues at the ACR meeting in Philadelphia just

a few days ago!

I wish you all a safe and rewarding holiday season.

Stay well.

Irene J Tan, MD, FACR

Landmark Legislation - PRS Advocacy from Action Alert to Act 146

By Michael Borofsky, MD, PRS Advocacy Chair

Deborah Ann Shoemaker, PRS Lobbyist

As this two-year state legislative session finishes, it is time for a retrospective on our accomplishments and losses, and a look ahead to new areas of focus.

Last year, PRS embarked on a journey to become more active in grassroots advocacy. After careful consideration and conferring with colleagues on where to focus our efforts, we chose to support cost containment reform.

Proposed legislation seeking to streamline the existing prior authorization process under the PA Insurance Code had been introduced in numerous legislative sessions. In each previous session, the insurance lobby put roadblocks in the way of passage- spent more, lobbied more, had more resources…until this session.

What finally made the difference? A more robust coalition network of diverse stakeholders focused on areas of mutual interest- including prior authorization, telemedicine and medical malpractice venue. A stronger stakeholder engagement campaign, including various Calls to Action carried throughout the 2022 legislative session.

The result: Senate Bill 225 passed the state legislature on October 26^th and Governor Wolf signed it into law on November 3, 2022, as Act 146 of 2022.

Last year, PRS leadership made this issue a top priority. PRS met with our colleagues at ACR and CSRO, attended coalition meetings, tracked legislation and sent Member Action Alerts. PRS was fortunate to have the support of ACR and CSRO, who sent their own Call to Action memos to their members nationwide.

NOTE: Act 146 did not eliminate insurers’ ability to implement prior authorization requirements. Read our analysis of the main points of the Act here:  https://www.parheumatology.org/advocacy.html .

Now, nearing the end of November, political initiatives in the PA legislature have come to a standstill. Any proposed legislation not enacted must be reintroduced in the next two-year session.  Legislators are planning for a possible new leadership structure, and for newly elected legislators to take office in January.  

As this legislative year ends, what did PRS accomplish? In terms of political action, we assisted with the enactment of prior authorization. In informing PRS members, we kept on top of federal and state grassroots advocacy initiatives of interest to the daily practice of rheumatology.  Engaging our members is a goal of PRS’s advocacy efforts, and more PRS members are now contributing their voices. To support this work, at the annual meeting in September, PRS members were afforded the opportunity to learn about the federal political landscape and “how to advocate for your profession.”  

Prioritizing Future Grassroots Advocacy Efforts

Looking toward next session, we will reach out to ACR and CSRO to get their stance on the effects of the midterm elections and which healthcare issues will take priority in Congress. In the next few weeks, we will review the repercussions of Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial election. and determine the best format to provide clinical guidance and expertise to members of the governor-elect’s transition team when selecting key members of their cabinet (including in the areas of the Department of Health, Human Services and State- just to name a few). We will review our current legislative watch list, rank issues based on likelihood of movement and adjust as appropriate.

Thanks for sharing the journey with us. We stand with you, grateful for your assistance in educating ourselves and our patients, informing our elected officials and remaining open to learning how to make our voices heard- loud and strong. The advocacy road may be bumpy at times, but if we stay the course, we can assure that your efforts will not be in vain. We would be remiss if we did not thank those members who have gone the extra mile by volunteering to serve on our advocacy committee. Please consider your role in advocating for our profession and our patients by volunteering in some capacity with PRS.

We cannot do it without you! 

Annual Scientific Meeting Recap

From Abbvie

As you may have seen, AbbVie recently announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved RINVOQ@ (upadacitinib) for the treatment of adults with active non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (nr-axSpA). Please find additional details regarding the approval within our press release, found here: https://news.abbvie.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=12510

I hope you'll share in our excitement as we offer an additional option to those with active psoriatic arthritis.  

From Amgen

Amgen’s 2022 Biosimilar Trends Report examines the current and future state of the U.S. marketplace with biosimilars across multiple therapeutic areas. This Report features in-depth analyses on how advancements in biosimilars can support the long-term sustainability of the U.S. healthcare system.  https://www.amgenbiosimilars.com/commitment/2022-Biosimilar-Trends-Report

From Janssen Immunology

Brand Biologic, Unbranded Biologic, Biosimilar. What is the difference? View our explanation here: Understanding Unbranded Biologics