Rheumatology

Rheumatoid arthritis with history of pericarditis

CHIEF COMPLAINT
Rheumatoid arthritis with history of pericarditis

COMMENTS TO SPECIALIST

A 54-year-old woman with chronic pain on opiates, Effexor and benzodiazepines for anxiety. The patient has severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with a history of pericarditis.

Patient reports worsening of RA with increasing nodules, joint swelling, and pain of the hands, knees and feet. She was previously on Xeljanz but stopped nearly 1 year ago due to concerns about the side effects. She has expressed an interest today in restarting Xeljanz.

MAIN QUESTION
Please guide me on labs that I should order prior to restarting as well as initial follow-up that I should do with patient.

How an eConsult with a rheumatology physician can support patient access to comprehensive care

With long specialist wait times, providers across the country are turning to eConsults to offer comprehensive rheumatology care. They often help patients manage chronic conditions like rheumatoid arthritis while dealing with the realities of limited access to specialists. Specialist shortages, limited access, and long wait times for specialty care can negatively impact patient outcomes.

Electronic physician-to-specialist consultations, or eConsults can help mitigate the challenge of specialist shortages and other delays in treatment by offering comprehensive rheumatology care. An eConsult is an asynchronous physician-to-physician communication about a patient, conducted over a secure digital platform, that enables PCPs to leverage the expertise of physician specialists like rheumatologists. eConsults gives patients immediate access to specialists from within a primary care setting.

We use rheumatoid arthritis, a disease that affects about 1.5 million US adults, as an example of how eConsults can help PCPs work with specialty physicians to manage a chronic, complex disease.