Annual Meeting attendees looking for a learning opportunity that exchanges the ubiquitous podium presentation for more engaging, conversational-style learning should take advantage of the In the Rheum sessions on this year’s schedule.

Basic discoveries about scleroderma are starting to open pathways leading to novel treatments, starting with the approval of nintedanib for the treatment of scleroderma associated interstitial lung disease earlier in 2019.

Stats Bootcamp 1: Sample Size & Power Calculations on Sunday will help clarify and demystify two of the most basic concepts in statistics.

According to one of the moderators of Stats Bootcamp 2: Statistical Modeling of Categorical Data, the time to think about statistics is during the study concept and design phase, not after the trial is up and running. And never after the trial has finished.

The session will focus on the state-of-the-art in rheumatology education, with a review of some of the most up-to-date, important literature in educational scholarship in rheumatology published in the last year.

During Clinical Practice sessions on Sunday and Monday, a primary care sports medicine physician and a rheumatologist with expertise in musculoskeletal ultrasound will work together to show how physical exam and ultrasound can be used in conjunction to effectively diagnose common injuries.

Targeting mediators that play a role initiating pathogenic inflammatory responses can be highly effective against inflammation and autoimmune disease, but suppressing immune system responses also increases the risk of infection. A new strategy of innovative therapies to support patients’ own endogenous mechanisms to resolve inflammatory…

Each of the three sessions will employ a similar format in which faculty will present carefully developed cases and questions and guide participants through clinical situations that will reinforce key principles in the evaluation and treatment of rheumatic disease.

Just exactly how the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) and its Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) is working out will be the topic of discussion during the Clinical Practice session Get Paid: Update on MACRA, APMs, and MIPS.

During a session on Sunday, three experts will examine the history of complement as a biomarker, review research on the next generation of complement testing, and discuss emerging complement-based therapies.