OREANDA-NEWS. October 15, 2014. Arthritis Associates of Southern California, a newly formed rheumatology group in Los Angeles, Calif., has signed a management services agreement with The US Rheumatology Network, one of the nation’s first networks of community-based rheumatologists united through a common vision of increasing patient access to high-quality rheumatic care in communities throughout the nation. The US Rheumatology Network is supported by McKesson Specialty Health, a division of McKesson Corporation.

“The healthcare challenges of declining reimbursement, rising healthcare costs and uncertainty in new reimbursement models are impacting community-based rheumatology practices just as much as other specialties,” said Jeff Doherty, vice president of The US Rheumatology Network. “The US Rheumatology Network employs McKesson Specialty Health’s proven infrastructure and expertise to support like-minded practices with comprehensive management solutions to secure their ongoing financial health and independence.”

The US Rheumatology Network advances physician independence through a wide range of support activities, providing services and business oversight to help lower operating costs and increase practice revenue. Improved financial performance may come from a variety of sources, including more effective managed care contracting, cost efficiencies, operational efficiencies, new patient growth and improved revenue cycle management.

“Given today’s uncertain healthcare landscape, we believe that by uniting with The US Rheumatology Network we can achieve more together than we can accomplish alone,” said Gary R. Feldman, MD, FACR, a rheumatologist with Arthritis Associates of Southern California. “Through this collaboration, we can advance the quality of rheumatic care in our practice while taking advantage of the network’s many revenue enhancement and business productivity solutions to improve operational performance.”