Evaluating Factors Associated With Telehealth Appropriateness in Outpatient Rheumatoid Arthritis Encounters Using the Encounter Appropriateness Score for You (EASY).

OBJECTIVE: Telehealth has been proposed as a safe and effective alternative to in-person care for rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The purpose of this study was to evaluate factors associated with telehealth appropriateness in outpatient RA encounters. METHODS: A prospective cohort study (January 1, 2021, to August 31, 2021) was conducted using electronic health record data from outpatient RA encounters in a single academic rheumatology practice. Rheumatology providers rated the telehealth appropriateness of their own encounters using the Encounter Appropriateness Score for You (EASY) immediately following each encounter. Robust Poisson regression with generalized estimating equations modeling was used to evaluate the association of telehealth appropriateness with patient demographics, RA clinical characteristics, comorbid noninflammatory causes of joint pain, previous and current encounter characteristics, and provider characteristics. RESULTS: During the study period, 1823 outpatient encounters with 1177 unique patients with RA received an EASY score from 25 rheumatology providers. In the final multivariate model, factors associated with increased telehealth appropriateness included higher average provider preference for telehealth in prior encounters (relative risk [RR] 1.26, 95% CI 1.21-1.31), telehealth as the current encounter modality (RR 2.27, 95% CI 1.95-2.64), and increased patient age (RR 1.05, 95% CI 1.01-1.09). Factors associated with decreased telehealth appropriateness included moderate (RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.68-0.96) and high (RR 0.57, 95% CI 0.46-0.70) RA disease activity and if the previous encounters were conducted by telehealth (RR 0.83, 95% CI 0.73-0.95). CONCLUSION: In this study, telehealth appropriateness was most associated with provider preference, the current and previous encounter modality, and RA disease activity. Other factors like patient demographics, RA medications, and comorbid noninflammatory causes of joint pain were not associated with telehealth appropriateness.

Evaluating Provider Perceptions of Telehealth Utility in Outpatient Rheumatology Telehealth Encounters.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the factors associated with rheumatology providers' perceptions of telehealth utility in real-world telehealth encounters. METHODS: From September 14, 2020 to January 31, 2021, 6 providers at an academic medical center rated their telehealth visits according to perceived utility in making treatment decisions using the following Telehealth Utility Score (TUS) (1 = very low utility to 5 = very high utility). Modified Poisson regression models were used to assess the association between TUS scores and encounter diagnoses, disease activity measures, and immunomodulatory therapy changes during the encounter. RESULTS: A total of 481 telehealth encounters were examined, of which 191 (39.7%) were rated as "low telehealth utility" (TUS 1-3) and 290 (60.3%) were rated as "high telehealth utility" (TUS 4-5). Encounters with a diagnosis of inflammatory arthritis were significantly less likely to be rated as high telehealth utility (adjusted relative risk [aRR], 0.8061; p = 0.004), especially in those with a concurrent noninflammatory musculoskeletal diagnosis (aRR, 0.54; p = 0.006). Other factors significantly associated with low telehealth utility included higher disease activity according to current and prior RAPID3 scores (aRR, 0.87 and aRR, 0.89, respectively; p < 0.001) and provider global scores (aRR, 0.83; p < 0.001), as well as an increase in immunomodulatory therapy (aRR, 0.70; p = 0.015). CONCLUSIONS: Provider perceptions of telehealth utility in real-world encounters are significantly associated with patient diagnoses, current and prior disease activity, and the need for changes in immunomodulatory therapy. These findings inform efforts to optimize the appropriate utilization of telehealth in rheumatology.

The Role of T Helper Type 2 (Th2) Cytokines in the Pathogenesis of Eosinophilic Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis (eGPA): an Illustrative Case and Discussion.

PURPOSEOF REVIEW: The pathogenesis of eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (eGPA) is driven largely by CD4 + type 2 helper T cells (Th2), B cells, and eosinophils. Interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 are critical cytokines in Th2 cell-mediated inflammation; however, inhibition of IL-4 and IL-13 does not reduce serum eosinophil counts and has even been associated with hypereosinophilia. This review explores the role of IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 in Th2-mediated inflammation to consider the potential clinical consequences of inhibiting these individual cytokines in eGPA. RECENT FINDINGS: Treatments for eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (eGPA) are rapidly evolving through using biologic therapies to modulate the Th2 inflammatory response via eosinophil inhibition. While IL-4, IL-5, IL-13, and IL-25 can all affect eosinophils, only IL-5 inhibition has demonstrated therapeutic benefit to-date. In this review, we report a clinical vignette of a patient with adult-onset asthma who developed severe manifestations of eGPA after switching from mepolizumab (an IL-5 inhibitor) to dupilumab (an inhibitor of IL-4 and IL-13). By understanding the role of IL-4, IL-5, and IL-13 in Th2-mediated vasculitis, we can start to understand how eGPA might respond differently to focused cytokine inhibition.

Atypical Cutaneous Presentations of Sarcoidosis: Two Case Reports and Review of the Literature.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The goal of this review is to provide the reader with an updated summary of the cutaneous manifestations of systemic sarcoidosis, with a particular emphasis on the predilection of sarcoidosis for scars, tattoos, and other areas of traumatized skin. RECENT FINDINGS: While the mechanism underlying the propensity for traumatized skin to develop sarcoidosis lesions remains unclear, several theories have been proposed including the idea that cutaneous sarcoidosis represents an exuberant, antigen-driven foreign-body response, as well as the theory that traumatized skin represents an immunocompromised district with altered local immune trafficking and neural signaling. In this review, we present two cases in which the development of cutaneous lesions in scars and tattoos was integral to the diagnosis of systemic sarcoidosis. We then review the various cutaneous manifestations of systemic sarcoidosis, the clinical characteristics and differential diagnosis of scar and tattoo sarcoidosis, the proposed mechanism by which traumatized skin is prone to developing sarcoidosis lesions, and current treatments for cutaneous sarcoidosis.

Encounter Appropriateness Score for You Model: Development and Pilot Implementation of a Predictive Model to Identify Visits Appropriate for Telehealth in Rheumatology.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to develop a decision-making tool to predict telehealth appropriateness for future rheumatology visits and expand telehealth care access. METHODS: The model was developed using the Encounter Appropriateness Score for You (EASY) and electronic health record data at a single academic rheumatology practice from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2021. The EASY model is a logistic regression model that includes encounter characteristics, patient sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, and provider characteristics. The goal of pilot implementation was to determine if model recommendations align with provider preferences and influence telehealth scheduling. Four providers were presented with future encounters that the model identified as candidates for a change in encounter modality (true changes), along with an equal number of artificial (false) recommendations. Providers and patients could accept or reject proposed changes. RESULTS: The model performs well, with an area under the curve from 0.831 to 0.855 in 21,679 encounters across multiple validation sets. Covariates that contributed most to model performance were provider preference for and frequency of telehealth encounters. Other significant contributors included encounter characteristics (current scheduled encounter modality) and patient factors (age, Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 scores, diagnoses, and medications). The pilot included 201 encounters. Providers were more likely to agree with true versus artificial recommendations (Cohen's κ = 0.45, P < 0.001), and the model increased the number of appropriate telehealth visits. CONCLUSION: The EASY model accurately identifies future visits that are appropriate for telehealth. This tool can support shared decision-making between patients and providers in deciding the most appropriate follow-up encounter modality.

RheumMadness: Creating an Online Community of Inquiry in Rheumatology.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the educational impact of RheumMadness, an online tournament of rheumatology concepts grounded in social constructivist theory, as viewed through the community of inquiry (CoI) framework. METHODS: The curricular scaffold of RheumMadness was a bracket of 16 rheumatology concepts competing as "teams" in a tournament. Participants could create and review "scouting reports" about each team, listen to a RheumMadness podcast, discuss on social media, and submit a bracket predicting tournament outcomes according to the perceived importance of each team. Engagement was measured with direct analytics and through self-report on a survey. The survey also assessed participants' educational experience using an adapted 34-item CoI survey, which describes the cognitive, social, and teaching presences in a learning activity. RESULTS: One hundred brackets were submitted. On average, each scouting report was viewed 92 times, each podcast episode was downloaded 163 times, and 486 tweets were sent about #RheumMadness from 105 users. The survey received 58 of 107 responses (54%). Respondent agreement with prompts related to each CoI presence was: 70.3% cognitive, 61.7% social, 84.9% teaching. Reported engagement in RheumMadness correlated strongly with overall CoI survey scores (r = 0.72, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: RheumMadness created an online CoI that fostered social constructivist learning about rheumatology.

Delayed presentation of surgically induced scleral necrosis after I-BRITE procedure treated with immunosuppressive therapy.

Surgically induced scleral necrosis (SISN) is an uncommon complication of ocular procedures. Cosmetic eye-whitening surgery involves conjunctival and Tenon's capsule dissection, cautery, and mitomycin C application. We report the case of a 36-year-old white woman referred to our clinic for severe pain, scleral inflammation, and necrosis in both eyes 9 years after I-BRITE, an elective eye-whitening procedure. An extensive workup yielded negative results. The patient improved with aggressive lubrication and topical and high-dose systemic prednisone (60 mg), with recurrence upon steroid tapering. Concomitant weekly methotrexate was added, resulting in inflammatory control and allowing discontinuance of topical and oral steroids.

Telehealth Made EASY: Understanding Provider Perceptions of Telehealth Appropriateness in Outpatient Rheumatology Encounters.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a novel scoring system, the Encounter Appropriateness Score for You (EASY), to assess provider perceptions of telehealth appropriateness in rheumatology encounters. METHODS: The EASY scoring system prompts providers to rate their own encounters as follows: in-person or telehealth acceptable, EASY = 1; in-person preferred, EASY = 2; or telehealth preferred, EASY = 3. Assessment of the EASY scoring system occurred at a single academic institution from January 1, 2021, to August 31, 2021. Data were collected in three rounds: 1) initial survey (31 providers) assessing EASY responsiveness to five hypothetical scenarios, 2) follow-up survey (34 providers) exploring EASY responsiveness to 11 scenario modifications, and 3) assessment of EASYs documented in clinic care. RESULTS: The initial and follow-up surveys demonstrated responsiveness of EASYs to different clinical and nonclinical factors. For instance, less than 20% of providers accepted telehealth when starting a biologic for active rheumatoid arthritis, although more than 35% accepted telehealth in the same scenario if the patient lived far away or was well known to the provider. Regarding EASY documentation, 27 providers provided EASYs for 12,381 encounters. According to these scores, telehealth was acceptable or preferred for 29.7% of all encounters, including 21.4% of in-person encounters. Conversely, 24.4% of telehealth encounters were scored as in-person preferred. CONCLUSION: EASY is simple, understandable, and responsive to changes in the clinical scenario. We have successfully accumulated 12,381 EASYs that can be studied in future work to better understand telehealth utility and optimize telehealth triage.

What do internal medicine residents know about rheumatology? A needs assessment for curriculum design.

We sought to determine if analyzing internal medicine (IM) resident performance on the in-training exam (ITE) might reveal curricular needs in rheumatology education beyond those intuitive to learners and educators from their perceptions and experience. We analyzed ITE scores of post-graduate year (PGY) 2 IM residents at our institution from 2010 to 2017. We sorted rheumatology-related educational objectives on the ITEs into 10 disease categories and calculated average scores. We then surveyed our IM residents' self-reported confidence and rheumatology educators' perceptions of IM resident proficiency in the 10 categories on a 10-point Likert scale. Finally, we tallied diagnoses in each category encountered by IM residents in rheumatology clinic. Pearson's correlation coefficients were calculated for the relationship between these data. The ITEs exposed 402 residents to 63 rheumatology-related educational objectives in the 10 categories; 24 objectives were categorized as "other." Survey respondents included 38 residents and 22 educators. There was no correlation between ITE scores in the 10 categories and resident confidence (r = - 0.226, p = 0.530), educator perception (r = - 0.274, p = 0.445), or diagnoses encountered (r = - 0.310, p = 0.383). There was a strong positive correlation between resident confidence and educator perception (r = 0.934, p < 0.001). ITE performance was low in crystalline arthritis and osteoarthritis despite high resident confidence, educator perception, and number of diagnoses seen. Our analysis of IM resident ITE performance identified curricular gaps not apparent in surveys of learner and educator perceptions or an assessment of learner experience. Key Points • In this study, we demonstrate how a systematic analysis of internal medicine resident performance on the in-training exam can identify important curricular gaps in rheumatology education that are not apparent in assessments of learners and educator perceptions or learner experience in rheumatology clinic. • In-training exam performance was low in crystalline arthritis and osteoarthritis despite high resident confidence, educator perception of proficiency, and number of diagnoses seen in these categories. • When rheumatology curricula for internal medicine residents are developed solely on the basis of learner and educator perceptions, common disorders traditionally considered "easy" may be overlooked.

Recent advances in the search for a targeted immunomodulatory therapy for primary Sjögren's syndrome.

Primary Sjögren's syndrome is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by salivary and lacrimal gland dysfunction, leading to substantial morbidity and reduced quality of life. Many patients with primary Sjögren's syndrome also have extraglandular systemic complications, some of which can be organ- or life-threatening. Over the last decade, numerous targeted immunomodulatory therapies for primary Sjögren's syndrome have failed to show a benefit in clinical trials, and as yet no disease-modifying therapy has been approved for this disease. Herein, we provide an updated review of the clinical trial landscape for primary Sjögren's syndrome and the numerous efforts to move the field forward, including the development of new classification criteria and outcome measures, the results of recent clinical trials in this field, the challenges faced in the search for effective therapies, and the expanding pipeline of novel therapies under development.

Addition of price transparency to an education and feedback intervention reduces utilization of inpatient echocardiography by resident physicians.

Previous studies have demonstrated the impact of appropriate use criteria (AUC) education and feedback interventions in reducing unnecessary ordering of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) by trainees. To our knowledge, no study has evaluated the impact of the addition of price transparency to this education and feedback model on TTE utilization by resident physicians. We performed an education and feedback quality improvement initiative combining charge transparency data with information on AUC. We hypothesized that the initiative would reduce the number of complete TTE ordered and increase the number of limited TTE ordered, anticipating there would be substitution of limited for complete studies. Residents rotating on inpatient teaching cardiology ward teams received education on AUC for TTE, indications for limited TTE, and hospital charges for TTE. Feedback was provided on the quantity and charges for complete and limited TTE ordered by each team. We analyzed the effects of the intervention using a linear mixed effects regression model to adjust for potential confounders. The post-intervention weeks showed a reduction of 4.6 complete TTE orders per 100 patients from previous weekly baseline of 31.3 complete TTE orders per 100 patients (p value = 0.012). Charges for complete TTE decreased $122 from baseline of $980 per patient (p value = 0.040) on a per-week basis. Secondarily, there was no statistically significant change in limited TTE ordering during the intervention period. This initiative shows the feasibility of a house staff-driven charge transparency and education/feedback initiative that decreased medical residents' ordering of inpatient TTE.

Deimplementation of Routine Chest X-rays in Adult Intensive Care Units.

BACKGROUND: Choosing Wisely® is a national initiative to deimplement or reduce low-value care. However, there is limited evidence on the effectiveness of strategies to influence ordering patterns. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to describe the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce daily chest X-ray (CXR) ordering in two intensive care units (ICUs) and evaluate deimplementation strategies. DESIGN: We aimed to describe the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce daily chest X-ray (CXR) ordering in two intensive care units (ICUs) and evaluate deimplementation strategies. SETTING: The study was performed in the medical intensive care unit (MICU) and cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) of an academic medical center in the United States from October 2015 to June 2016. PARTICIPANTS: The initiative included the staff of the MICU and CVICU (physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, fellows, residents, medical students, and X-ray technologists). INTERVENTION COMPONENTS: We utilized provider education, peer champions, and weekly data feedback of CXR ordering rates. MEASUREMENTS: We analyzed the CXR ordering rates and factors facilitating or inhibiting deimplementation. RESULTS: Segmented linear time-series analysis suggested a small but statistically significant decrease in CXR ordering rates in the CVICU (P < .001) but not in the MICU. Facilitators of deimplementation, which were more prominent in the CVICU, included engagement of peer champions, stable staffing, and regular data feedback. Barriers included the need to establish goal CXR ordering rates, insufficient intervention visibility, and waning investment among medical residents in the MICU due to frequent rotation and competing priorities. CONCLUSIONS: Intervention modestly reduced CXRs ordered in one of two ICUs evaluated. Understanding why adoption differed between the two units may inform future interventions to deimplement low-value diagnostic tests.

Contraception methods used by women with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are common in women of childbearing age and are often treated with teratogenic medications. In this study, we assessed contraceptive methods in young women with RA or PsA and correlated contraceptive method efficacy with use of concomitant rheumatic medications. We combined the data from several cross-sectional surveys of women under the age of 40 with RA or PsA. Two surveys recruited participants from a clinic setting (RA and PsA Clinic Surveys), and the third survey recruited participants from CreakyJoints.org , an online forum for patients with inflammatory arthritis (CreakyJoints Survey). Of the 164 women included, 138 had RA (67 in RA Clinic Survey, 71 in CreakyJoints Survey) and 26 had PsA (19 in PsA Clinic Survey, 7 in CreakyJoints Survey). Use of specific contraceptive and rheumatic medications were similar between the clinic and online surveys. In the pooled analysis of the Clinic and CreakyJoints survey data, women with RA and PsA reported similar utilization of highly effective contraception methods (31.9% RA, 34.6% PsA) and effective methods (31.2% RA, 30.8% PsA), but different utilization of ineffective methods (35.5% RA, 11.5% PsA) and no methods (1.5% RA, 23.1% PsA), p = 0.0002. These proportions remained similar across subgroups taking methotrexate, anti-TNF biologics, and novel medications. Approximately two thirds of women with RA and PsA reported using effective or highly effective methods of contraception, though women with PsA were more likely to report no methods of contraception.