Collaborative Initiatives

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ACR’s Collaborative Initiatives (COIN) highlights rheumatology’s relevance to the health care community and public by using rheumatic diseases as case studies for treating complex disease, advancing health equity, eliminating health disparities, and improving the quality of patient lives.

COIN assists those with the greatest need through program implementation, including special projects, projects re: social responsibility (e.g., disparities, health equity, access to care); and intentional byproducts, including opportunities for ARP members, fellows, non-academic rheumatology providers as well as professional connection for ACR members.

Our Mission: COIN seeks to assist those with the greatest need 

COIN Projects

Teaching Fellows in Lupus Project (TFLP)
The Teaching Fellows in Lupus Project (TFLP) aims to change the behavior of non-rheumatology providers in connection with suspecting lupus and making appropriate referrals. It achieves this through rheumatology fellows-led education sessions that increase providers’ ability to (1) recognize the signs and symptoms of lupus, (2) know when to effectively refer a suspected lupus case to a rheumatologist, (3) know how to initiate a work-up for lupus, and (4) have increased knowledge about lupus epidemiology, health disparities and disease characteristics.

Medical School Outreach (MSOP)
The MSOP project seeks to provide lupus educational resources to medical and health professional schools to help increase the number of healthcare providers (MD, DO, PA, NP) who are knowledgeable about diagnosing and treating lupus.

Rural Health Outreach Project (RHOP)
The RHOP delivers an opportunity to build a connection between health care providers and a rheumatologist in rural areas where patients may experience a long wait to receive rheumatology care, or where a rheumatologist is not locally available. This project focuses on strengthening provider connections, while providing needed information on the diagnosis and treatment of lupus, which can be an important step in ensuring people with undiagnosed or diagnosed lupus receive consistent care.

Community Health Worker Outreach Project
The Community Health Worker Outreach Project is an online and in-person training course to increase community health workers’ knowledge and skills to educate African American and Latino communities on lupus clinical trials to support people with lupus who are navigating the clinical trial system and the health care system.

School Health Training Project and Pediatric to Adult Transition Online Learning for Nurses
The School Health Training Project and Pediatric to Adult Transition Online Learning for Nurses educates K-12 school-based healthcare providers on the signs and symptoms of lupus and how to support students and their families in the process of transitioning from pediatric to adult care

Lupus Engagement through Activity and Digital Resources (LEADR)
LEADR implements a digital health coaching program to increase physical activity among African American women and Latinas with lupus. It uses a culturally and linguistically appropriate digital coaching program to increase physical activity among lupus patients as a powerful self-management tool.

Osteoarthritis Signs and Symptoms Team Education Program (OA STEP)

The OA STEP project is an online and in-person hour-long intervention was developed to focus on educating MD/DO/NP/PA/PT on the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis and advancing patient care.

Reproductive Health Initiative (RHI)
The RHI is a multidisciplinary, multi-stakeholder initiative that assists with the dissemination and implementation of scientifically sound information to address the unmet needs in the treatment and management of fertility, pregnancy, and lactation in those affected by autoimmune and systemic inflammatory diseases. See details about the Reproductive Health Initiative.

Training to Increase Minority Enrollment in Lupus Clinical Trials (TIMELY)
The aim of the TIMELY project is to build on our existing work to develop a new intervention to increase African American/Black and Hispanic/Latino patients’ participation in lupus clinical trials by combining the ACR’s previously developed Materials to Increase Minority Involvement in Clinical Trials (MIMICT) model and its Community Health Worker Lupus Clinical Trials Training (LuCTT) model, to operate collaboratively with practicing rheumatologists, nephrologists, and dermatologists, and community health workers (CHWs) to reduce clinical trial disparities. 

RISE Registry
The RISE Registry was created to utilize EHRs and a rheumatology specific informatics system to expand the tracking of lupus symptoms and improve patient care. The ACR wants to improve the electronic collection of key data elements and to leverage EHR data and the RISE Registry Platform to increase the number of healthcare providers using telehealth and/or electronic health records to identify lupus cases and treatment gaps. See information about RISE.

To learn more about the COIN projects visit, The Lupus Initiative current projects.

Continuing Medical Education

ACR offers complimentary continuing medical education (CME/MOC) activities that are focused on expanding provider knowledge focused on lupus health disparities, reproductive health, and increasing minority participation in lupus clinical trials.

See details and register for free CME/MOC opportunities in the ACR Learning Center.

Get Involved with COIN

ACR/ARP members can get involved with COIN in a variety of ways.

  • Innovate – Generate project ideas that have social impact, achieve equity, improve access to care, and advance rheumatology.
  • Grow – Guide and learn from colleagues. Respond to calls for interest. Edit educational content. Serve as an expert reviewer or guest. Lead or support project implementation.
  • Access – Utilize the resources available on our web pages to benefit yourself, your patients, your students, and your community - and share them with colleagues and collaborators.

If you are interested in participating in a COIN project, contact COIN@rheumatology.org or complete the Get Involved Form.

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