Summit Medical joins groups seeking to improve rheumatoid arthritis care

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Summit Medical Group, New Jersey’s largest multispecialty medical group, said Thursday it has been chosen by the American Medical Group Foundation to participate in a national collaborative aimed at finding best practices to manage patients with rheumatoid arthritis.Along with 17 other medical groups across the U.S., SMG will facilitate the adoption, discovery and spread of care processes that will improve rheumatoid arthritis care.

Earlier this year, SMG received a $10,000 grant from the foundation and biopharmaceutical company AbbVie to support their quality improvement efforts through participation in the collaborative.


SMG cited research that rheumatoid arthritis affects about 1.3 million people in the U.S, with direct and indirect costs estimated at $40 billion in 2014 and rising. SMG said the economic impact of rheumatoid arthritis is similar to costs associated with more prevalent chronic diseases such as diabetes.

Dr. Jamie Reedy, medical director for population health at SMG, said the initiatives will focus on improving quality outcomes, access to timely care and adherence to evidence-based guidelines

“We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to collaborate with other medical groups to improve the quality of care for rheumatoid arthritis patients,” she said. “We look forward to engaging our patients in these improvements and partnering with them for better health outcomes.”

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