A Look Back at 2020 Wins

We all know that 2020 was a year unlike any other. But despite the challenges it brought us, it also rewarded us with much success when it came to fighting for patient needs and rights, and advancing a bold scientific agenda — all fueled by our Live Yes! INSIGHTS program. Learn more about just a few of our most important achievements below and sign up for our emails to receive more news about the Arthritis Foundation’s important work.

Osteoarthritis Clinical Trial Network

Our successful initiation of the Osteoarthritis Clinical Trial Network establishes the Arthritis Foundation as a leader in OA research. Led by world-renowned OA investigators, the program now operates across 11 contracted sites. The consortium is focused on post-traumatic osteoarthritis, a type of arthritis in which the Foundation has had over a decade of leadership and one that experts believe can be cured with the right level of focus and resource implementation. We’re working to create standard protocols for unifying work within our network and the broader OA scientific community. Learn more.

FastOA

Our successful launch of the FastOA clinical cohort study will help provide data important to our work toward a cure for arthritis. The study is designed to identify risk factors of knee injury patients who very rapidly develop osteoarthritis within in a 2–5-year period. Findings are expected to help researchers better understand disease progression in an effort to prevent and treat arthritis. Targeted cohorts are the active military and veteran community, and knee injury patients who have undergone orthopaedic surgical procedures.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Funding

A shortage of rheumatologists makes it hard for people with arthritis to get needed care. The Arthritis Foundation seeks to grow the number of specialists through a robust fellowship program designed to train new rheumatologists, especially in underserved parts of the U.S. We know that ultimately, to help provide patients with the highest quality care, the rheumatology workforce needs to be more diverse and inclusive. So, in an effort to promote this diversity, we offered our 2020 Rheumatology Fellows $10,000 grants to fund DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) focused projects. We received 12 applications and funded all 12 projects for 2021.

No Surprises Act

The Arthritis Foundation spent nearly two years supporting and fighting for legislation to protect patients from surprise medical bills. In December, the No Surprises Act became law. It ensures that patients will not pay more than the in-network rate when they see out-of-network providers, and it bars providers from charging patients higher amounts. That means the out-of-network providers can’t send a “surprise medical bill” or balance bill patients for the out-of-network charges. The law, which will go into effect in January, 2022, also empowers patients by making information about provider networks and costs more transparent. Learn more.

Pediatric Subspecialty Loan Repayment Program Reauthorization

There is a critical shortage of pediatric rheumatologists in the U.S., with only 420 board-certified and practicing physicians to treat young people with arthritis. Our multi-year advocacy effort sought to provide federal funding in the form of loan repayment and scholarship programs to help incentivize physicians to choose pediatric rheumatology, among other subspecialties, and to practice in under-served areas. As part of the CARES Act, Congress passed this legislation, which provides up to $35,000 annually for a maximum of three years to pediatric subspecialists who agree to practice in an underserved area, helping to ensure children can receive care no matter where they live. Learn more.

Leading Virtual Advocacy

In early March, the Arthritis Foundation was set to bring hundreds of people to DC to help us advocate for patient rights before Congress. When COVID-19 shutdowns began, we needed to pivot quickly. Within 72 hours, we transitioned our entire event and were one of the first — if not the first — organization to conduct a virtual fly-in. Our success and learnings not only showed our resourcefulness and innovation, it also set us up as an early leader in virtual advocacy. We have since been invited to speak on our expertise before several major groups, including the National Health Council and other research and patient advocacy organizations, as well as tech companies in the legislative space.