Using technology to support clinical care and research in rheumatoid arthritis

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: As digital technology becomes more ubiquitous, understanding the current state-of-the-art in digital information use for clinical care and research for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is timely and relevant. RECENT FINDINGS: The opportunities for recording and utilizing high-quality data from rheumatologists are reviewed, as well as opportunities from collecting, integrating and analysing patient-generated data to deliver a step-change in the support and management of RA. SUMMARY: Once greater adoption, standardization and implementation of relevant RA measures are in place within electronic health records (EHRs), patient care will improve and the ability to learn from aggregate experiences increases dramatically. Incorporating passive and patient-reported outcomes into self-management apps and integrating such data into the patient's health record will provide more responsive and better treatment results.