The Michigan Rheumatism Society

Clinical Viewpoints® Uncontrolled Gout Live Webcast
2026-01-14 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Detroit)
You are cordially invited to an
Accredited Live Webcast
Precision in Practice:
Elevating Care for Uncontrolled Gout

EDUCATOR:

LOCATION:

DATE / TIME:

Amar Majjhoo, MD
St. Clair Shores, Michigan

Virtual Lecture 2025
Presented by Clinical Viewpoints

Wednesday, January 14, 2026
7:00 PM – 8:00 PM ET

Activity Code: UGT03259474
For additional information, please contact Lashley Russ
Phone: (813) 925-7149
lruss@practicepointcme.com

Approved Educational Partner
This activity is provided in collaboration with Rush University Medical Center and
Practice Point® Communications.
Supported by an independent educational grant from Sobi, Inc.

3rd Annual Rheumatology Fellows Night
2025-10-09
We held our Michigan Rheumatism Society Rheumatology Fellow’s Dinner at The Henry Hotel in Dearborn on Thursday, October 9, 2025. We were excited to welcome Fellows from the University of Michigan, Henry Ford and St. Johns Hospital Programs. Doctor Amar Majjhoo presented “Considerations for biologic therapy: Understanding commercial insurance The ABCDs of Medicare” to the group.

Summer Meeting 2025
2025-08-08 18:00 - 2025-08-10 21:00
Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Meeting
August 8 – 10, 2025
Grand Traverse Resort
Registration for the event

Download MRS Summer Meeting Flyer PDF

Annual Fellows Night 2024
2024-10-10 18:00 - 21:00 | The Henry Autograph Collection Hotel, 300 Town Center Dr, Dearborn, MI, 48126, United States
Annual Fellows Night 2024
Michigan Rheumatism Society Annual Fellows Night
Thursday, October 10, 2024
The Henry Autograph Collection Hotel

Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Meeting 2024
2024-06-21 08:00 - 2024-06-23 17:00 | Grand Hotel, 286 Grand Avenue, Mackinac Island, MI, 49757, United States
Registration is now open for the Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Meeting, Jun 21-23, 2024 at the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island.
We are pleased to offer optional Friday morning Workshops on Ultrasound or Integrative Rheumatology.
Friday afternoon will begin with our Annual MRS Business Meeting and important Practice Management topics such as Legal Update, Opportunities for Revenue Improvement and Current Audit Trends.
On Saturday, we will have updates on Sjogren’s Syndrome, Preclinical Rheumatoid Arthritis, the Knowledge Bowl with Fellows and Poster Contest Winners.
Sunday courses will include New MOS’s – Nanoantibodies, DARTS, Inflammatory Eye Disease and Cultaneous Vasculitis. We again will offer the Rheumatology Office Managers Program, with important up-to-date information that every Officer Manager will need!
You won’t want to miss Friday night’s Welcome Reception on the iconic Grand Hotel Porch and dinner in the Exhibit Hall. Thank you to all of our sponsors of the 2024 MRS Summer Meeting.
Poster Contest: New this year we will be accepting abstracts for posters till May 15th. We will have independent judges and prizes of $1500, $1000 and $750 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. This is open to everyone. We ask for original posters. We can reimburse you for the printing of the posters as well.
Here is the 2024 Meeting Registration Form. Be sure to renew your 2024 MRS Membership Dues of $150 on your registration, if you haven’t already.
Attendee Hotel Registration Form. Return both of your completed forms to tguastella@outlook.com or fax 517-349-3012.
Please email tguastetlla@outlook.com for any questions or if you need additional information.

The Rheumatism Society Fellows Dinner
2023-10-05 08:00 - 17:00
The Rheumatism Society Fellows Dinner was held on Thursday, October 5, 2023 at the Henry Hotel in Dearborn, Michigan.
Rheumatology Fellows from the University of Michigan, Henry Ford and Ascension St. John’s Hospital were in attendance.
A short Advocacy Workshop was presented by Michigan Rheumatism Society President, Amar Majjhoo, MD.
Also in attendance was Past President Doctor Alan Morton (retired), that shared his wisdom from over his 40 years of practice with the Fellows in attendance.
We look forward to making Fellow Night an Annual Event with your continued support of the Michigan Rheumatism Society.

2023 Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Meeting
2023-08-11 08:00 - 17:00
The 2023 Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Meeting took place at the Grand Traverse Resort in Northern Michigan August 11-13.
Friday morning began with a hands-on “Musculoskeletal Ultrasound Workshop”.
Friday afternoon’s Practice Management Sessions included” Cybersecurity”, “Compliance trends and a 2023 Billing and Coding Update.
On Saturday, national speaker Doctor Alan Epstein presented two sessions: “Immunology for the Rheumatologist and The Immunopathogenesis and Immunologically Targeted Treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis”. Other topics included “Rare Disease (TIO XLH, HPP”) and “Innovations in Rheumatology” by Alvin Wells, MD, “Advances in Complement Biology and Therapy in Rheumatic and Immunologic Diseases” by Alfred Kim, MD and a “Legislative Update” by Brian Henderson (representing CSRO).
Sunday concluded with John Cush’s “Pathogens Rheumatologists Should Worry About” and “What 40 Years of Rheumatology Has Taught Me’ and Doctor Anisha Dua’s “Insights into EGPA”. Up to 13.25 Continuing Medical Education Credits were available. The Officer Managers Program Saturday morning faculty included Christopher Acevedo, CHC and Jay Salliotte, MBA.
Steel & Wood Bluegrass Band entertained us at the Friday evening dinner, including MRS’s own member, Doctor Irene Kazmers and friends. Doctor Delfin Santos received an award for his upcoming retirement and for his many contributions and support of the MRS. Michigan Rheumatology Fellowship Program Directors and Representatives were attendances to accept our 2023 donation to each of their Programs.
We would like to thank our Diamond Sponsors AbbVie, AstraZeneca and GSK. Platinum Sponsors included Aurinia, Janssen and Sanofi. Other sponsors and exhibitors.
Next year’s conference will be held at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island June 21-23, 2024, we look forward to seeing you there!
Tammy Guastella
Executive Director
Michigan Rheumatism Society
2843 E. Grand River #228
East Lansing, MI 48823

Michigan Rheumatism Society Annual Conference 2022
2022-07-21 08:00 - 17:00

Michigan Rheumatism Society Annual CME Meeting
2022-07-15 08:00 - 2022-07-17 17:00
Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Meeting!
July 15-17, 2022
The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island
SAVE THE DATES!!

Michigan Rheumatism Society Advocacy Day
2022-04-19 08:00 - 17:00
Congratulations to the Michigan Rheumatism Society for achieving another milestone. We are so grateful to the members and staff that participated in the 1st Annual MRS Advocacy Day on Tuesday, April 12, 2022. We began the day with a briefing from lobbyists, Brian Henderson, Coalition of State Rheumatology Organizations and Scott Kempa, Michigan State Medical Society. We held face to face meetings with our legislators/staff throughout the day to educate them on timely topics for Rheumatology practices and patients. Our discussions included:
1. Thanking them for the recent passage of the Prior Authorization Bill that MRS, along with the “Health Can’t Wait Coalition” has been working on for over two years.
2. Step Therapy was taken out of the “Prior Authorization” bill. Thirty-three (33) states around the country have already been successful in passing legislation reforming Step Therapy. We discussed that these reforms are needed now in Michigan and how our practices and patients are affected without it.
3. Co-Pay Accumulators House Bill 4353 ensures that all copay assistance counts by requiring that all payments made by or on behalf of the insured go toward a patient’s deductible and out- of-pocket costs. HB 4353 passed the Michigan House with overwhelming bi-partisan support and is currently awaiting further action in the Senate Health Policy & Human Services Committee.
Thank you to the following for representing MRS and educating our Legislators:
Tim Laing, MD (Retired- University of Michigan) – Ann Arbor
Amar Majjhoo, MD – Shores Rheumatology – Saint Clair Shores
Great Lakes Center of Rheumatology – Lansing
Antonio Giannelli, PA-C
Joshua June, DO
Brooke Warner – Office Manager
Rochester Rheumatology Clinic & Infusion Center – Rochester Hills
Nikolina Berishaj – Office Manager
Delfin Santos, MD

We look forward to holding this event again in 2023!

2019 Michigan Rheumatism Society Annual Summer Conference
2021-07-18 08:00 - 2021-07-21 17:00
Register for the Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Meeting today!
July 18-21
Park Place Hotel & Conference Center in Traverse City

You will not to miss this family-friendly event. Topic highlights:
-Compliance 101: How to Start and Keep Compliance Alive in Your Rheumatology Practice
-Applied Microbiome in Inflammatory Arthritis
-Advances in Monoclonal Antibody Therapeutics to Improve the Outcomes in Patients with Psoriatic Arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis
-Update: Asymptomatic Hyperemia and Myositis Autoantibodies
-Adults Onset Stills Disease and other Autoinflammatory Syndromes in Adults.
There will be opportunities to network with your colleagues and learn about new products in the Exhibition Hall. We will have a Scientific Exhibitions where you will be able to view scientific posters and have questions answered from the medical science teams of our pharmaceutical colleagues. You are invited to attend our Welcome Reception/Dinner on Friday evening and family dinner at the City Opera House on Saturday night.
Clickhere for more information and the registration form.

The Michigan Lilly USA Meeting August 28 2020
2020-08-28 08:00 - 17:00
The Michigan Rheumatism Society is continuing to find safe ways for education for our members considering the pandemic. We are excited to announce that Grace Wright, MD, PhD from New York University Langone Medical Center will be presenting “A Different IL-17A Antagonist for the Treatment of Psoriatic Arthritis and Axial Spondylarthritis” virtually on Friday, August 28th, 2020 from 12:15 pm – 1:15 pm EST. This program is being generously sponsored by Lilly USA.
We highly encourage your participation as Dr. Wright is an exceptional presenter and Elly Lilly was a diamond sponsor of our cancelled meeting and a valued partner.
Please RSVP to tguastella@outlook.com via email or call Tammy at 517-203-5560 for the computer and telephone login information.

CANCELLED - 2020 Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Meeting
2020-07-24 08:00 - 2020-07-26 17:00
This meeting has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
The Grand Hotel
Mackinac Island
July 24-26, 2020

What is non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis?
2019-12-04 08:00 - 17:00
The term spondyloarthritis (SpA) encompasses a spectrum of related inflammatory conditions with a predominance of either axial or peripheral manifestations.1 The figure illustrates the individual diseases within the SpA family spectrum (Figure 1).2
Patients with axial SpA (axSpA) have inflammation in the sacroiliac joints (SIJs) and/or the spine.2
Non-radiographic axSpA (nr-axSpA) comprises a subset of patients with axSpA who have no definitive structural damage to the SIJ evident on x-ray (Figure 2).2
Read More the Full Article

Michigan Rheumatism Society - SPARTAN-GRAPPA Symposium October 5
2019-10-05 08:00 - 17:00
Dear Member:
The Michigan Rheumatism Society (MRS) is teaming up with SPARTAN-GRAPPA to present the “SPARTAN-GRAPPA Educational Symposium on Axial Spondyloarthritis (axSpA) and Psoriatric Arthritis (PsA)” on Saturday, October 5, 2019 at the Detroit Marriott Troy, 200 W. Big Beaver in Troy. This CME educational opportunity is geared towards Physicians and Healthcare Professionals. Dress: Business Casual.
AGENDA
7:00 am Registration and Breakfast
8:00 am Symposium
-Clinical Aspects of AxSpA & PsA
-Management of AxSpA & PsA
-Ultrasound
4:00 pm Conclusion
MRS will be covering the room and tax expense for our out of town members for Friday, October 4th. Please contact Tammy Guastella at tguastella@outlook.com or (517) 203-5560 if you need would like a hotel room reserved for you. Please see attached for additional information.
Here’s the link to the meeting registration. Sign up today!!

CSRO Rheumatology Virtual Career Fair - Register Today!
2019-09-20 08:00 - 17:00
Saturday, October 26, 2019
12:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (EDT) online
REGISTER TODAY
CSRO has created its very first Rheumatology Virtual Career Fair to aid in matching fellows and rheumatologists looking for employment opportunities with practices and academic institutions that are hiring.
CSRO’s Virtual Career Fair is meant to provide a better way for physicians, practices, and academic institutions to find each other and make professional connections!
Fellows and current rheumatologists looking for employment are strongly encouraged to register. Practices and academic institutions are also invited to register to host a booth to meet and chat with potential hires from across the country.
For registration and more information, please visit csro.info/jobfair.

SAVE THE DATE!
2019-07-19 08:00 - 2019-07-21 17:00
Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Conference
July 19-21, 2019
Park Place Hotel & Conference Center
Traverse City, MI

Patients, Doctors, Providers say Health Can’t Wait
2019-03-01 08:00 - 17:00
Prior authorization red tape and step therapy delays care and treatment for Michigan patients
Michigan physicians, clinicians, and health care providers see it every day. They examine patients, and together form a plan of care, often including additional tests, prescription medicines, and treatments – before insurance companies step in with prior authorization and step therapy red tape to prevent patients from immediately accessing the care they need.
When insurance company bureaucracy gets between a physician and his or her patient, patients get sicker, health conditions worsen, and the cost of care skyrockets. That’s not right. Health can’t wait, and we’re doing something about it.
We are excited this week to launch a groundbreaking new effort to improve patient care.
Health Can’t Wait is a coalition of patients, health care providers, and patient-support groups working together to put Michigan patients first by ending dangerous delays in patients’ access to health care caused by insurance company bureaucracy, including prior authorization red tape and step therapy requirements.
The coalition is being led by more than a dozen patient advocacy and health care organizations, including the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, Susan G. Komen Michigan, the Michigan State Medical Society, the Michigan Rheumatism Society and many, many more.
You can learn more about Health Can’t Wait, the growing coalition, and its work online at HealthCantWait.org.
But we need your help!
There are three things you can do to make a difference.
First, share your story. Have you, a patient, or a member of your health care team witnessed or experienced a delay in care caused by prior authorization or step therapy? You can share your story – and your patients can share theirs – online at HealthCantWait.org. Your patients’ willingness to speak out about the impact insurance company red tape has had on their health couldn’t be more important, and sharing their story couldn’t be easier.
Second, share the news about the coalition and the importance of this reform. Share the website on social media. Speak out to your friends, family and colleagues, and consider reaching out to your own lawmaker to encourage reform. The team at MSMS is standing by to help you craft and share your story and to connect you directly with your state legislators.
Third, please consider a donation to Health Can’t Wait. Simply click “contribute” on the website to join our team. Your contribution could make all the difference.
The Health Can’t Wait coalition’s work couldn’t be more important. 94 percent of Michigan physicians report that prior authorization red tape causes delays in care for their patients. Prior authorization red tape is part of a staggering 92 percent of all care delays, and those delays can be devastating.
In fact, 78 percent of physicians trace prescription and treatment non-adherence to prior authorization delays. In other words, when red tape and bureaucracy prevents patients from timely access to the medicine and treatment they need, those patients are dramatically more likely to suffer the devastating health effects that come from nonadherence.
Sicker patients. More frequent visits to the emergency room. Longer hospital stays. Bigger bills. That’s not right. Health can’t wait.

Join us for the first AWIR meeting in Michigan
2019-02-01 08:00 - 17:00
Join us for the first AWIR meeting in Michigan.
You do not need to be a member of AWIR to attend and only the first hour is pharma sponsored.
DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY

Let MI Doctors Decide
2018-12-04 08:00 - 17:00
The Let MI Doctors Decide initiative has released a new report card on the 25 largest health plans within Michigan’s Medicare prescription drug program. It examines the use of access restrictions, such as step therapy and prior authorization, on seniors with autoimmune diseases.
The new resource is particularly timely given the proposed rule issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) earlier this week that would broaden the use of step therapy within the Medicare program.
Click here to read the full report card. You can access the related press release here.
Let MI Doctors Decide is led by the Michigan-based American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) in partnership with five local patient advocacy and health care organizations. The initiative aims to help patients and doctors navigate step therapy practices. To learn more, visit letmidoctorsdecide.org.

Michigan Rheumatism Society Meeting
2018-09-29 08:00 - 17:00
MEETING SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 29, 2018 HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL NEXT YEAR.

2018 Michigan Rheumatism Society Annual Summer Conference Photos
2018-08-10 08:00 - 17:00

2018 Michigan Rheumatism Society Annual Summer Conference
2018-08-03 08:00 - 2018-08-05 17:00
Register for the Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Meeting today!
August 3-5
Shanty Creek Resort in beautiful Northern Michigan

You will not to miss this family-friendly event. Topic highlights:
-Rheumatic Immune Related Adverse Events from Check Point Inhibitors
-Therapeutic Options for Knees OA
-Autoimmune Inflammatory Eye Disorders
-Telemedicine
-Nutrition and Inflammation
There will be opportunities to network with your colleagues and learn about new products in the Exhibition Hall. We will have a Scientific Exhibitions where you will be able to view scientific posters and have questions answered from the medical science teams of our pharmaceutical colleagues. You are invited to attend our Welcome Reception/Dinner on Friday evening and family dinner on the Lakeview Hotel grounds on Saturday night.
Click here for more information and the registration form.

Michigan Rheumatism Society Billing & Coding Course
2018-04-27 08:00 - 17:00
Save the Date for the MRS Billing and Coding Course on Friday, April 27, 2018 at the Westin Southfield Detroit Hotel. Instructors will be Antanya Chung and Melesia Till from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). This Rheumatology Billing & Coding Course, presented at the ACR’s Annually Meeting, will be complimentary for Michigan Rheumatism Society members and staff. More details to follow.

Michigan Rheumatism Society Summer Meeting, August 11 -13, 2017
2017-08-13 08:00 - 17:00, 2017-08-11 08:00 - 2017-08-13 17:00
The Michigan Rheumatism Society CME Summer Conference will be held at the Grand Traverse Resort in Acme, Michigan on August 11 -13, 2017. We are excited about this year’s lineup of speakers and hot topics. You can earn up to 11 CME credits. There will be opportunities to network with your colleagues and learn about new products in the Exhibition Hall. New this year is the Scientific Exhibition Hall where you will be able to view scientific posters and have questions answered from the medical science teams of our pharmaceutical colleagues. There is a welcome dinner on Friday night and down time to spend as you wish throughout the weekend.
For any questions or to reserve a hotel room at the discounted rate call Tammy Guastella at 517-203-5560 or via email tguastella@outlook.com. There are only a few discounted rooms available for Friday and Saturday nights at the Grand Traverse Resort so call today!
MRS August Meeting Flyer

Michigan Rheumatism Society Fall Meeting,October 7-8, 2016
2016-10-07 08:00 - 2016-10-08 17:00, 2016-10-07 08:00 - 17:00
Amway Grand Plaza Hotel
Grand Rapids, MI
October 7-8, 2016
