MER Primary Care Conferences Internal Medicine for Primary Care Addiction Pulm Rheum Sep 25-27, 2026

Respiratory disease, arthritis and substance-use care come together in this MER primary care program. Held September 25–27, 2026 at The Equinox in Manchester, Vermont, the meeting covers asthma, respiratory infections, COPD and lung cancer screening alongside inflammatory arthritis, osteoarthritis and crystal disease. The addiction sessions move from neurobiology and assessment to medication options and the overlap between chronic pain and substance use disorders. Designed for clinicians in outpatient practice, the program connects diagnosis with treatment decisions across these three specialties. The complete listed agenda and learning objectives follow, with sessions kept in their original order.

Package scope: The agenda is not a verified inventory of supplied files; recording coverage and formats are unconfirmed. This purchase does not include MER registration, a publisher account, live participation or MATE Act certification.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this program, participants should be better able to:

• Diagnose and manage patients with asthma.
• Design treatment strategies reflective of current evidence-based medicine for common respiratory infections.
• Describe the current therapeutic management of COPD.
• Discuss diagnosis and screening strategies as well as treatment plans for lung nodules and lung cancer.
• Review the risks and benefits of the treatment options for arthritis, including non-selective NSAIDs, COX-2 inhibitors, DMARDs, narcotics, and tramadol.
• Describe the differential diagnoses of inflammatory arthritis based on clinical presentation and laboratory workup.
• Utilize current evidence to design treatment strategies for osteoarthritis.
• Diagnose and treat gout and pseudogout.
• Describe the neurobiology of addiction.
• Review the effects of addictive drugs, including hallucinogens, stimulants, inhalants, sedatives, tobacco, and alcohol.
• List FDA-approved medications for addiction treatment and examine the role of each.
• Discuss options for patients with chronic pain addictions.

Topics

• Friday, September 25, 2026

  • Pulmonology: Asthma (The medical impact of asthma; fundamental role of inflammation, with possible scarring and irreversible loss of lung function; practical points of diagnosis; goal setting management based on levels of severity; risk factors for mortality and treatment in the acute setting; management options for the difficult to control asthmatic patient)

  • Pulmonology: Controversies in the Treatment of Common Respiratory Infections (Acute and chronic bronchitis; pneumonia [community versus hospital-acquired]; role of the Pneumonia Severity Index score in determining indication for hospitalization; cost-effective use of antibiotics; clinical significance of drug resistance; guidelines for management)

  • Pulmonology: COPD (Definition; pathophysiology; early detection and intervention; risk reduction; management update including new modalities [including lung volume reduction surgery] and the role of inhaled corticosteroids and domiciliary oxygen)

  • Rheumatology: Update in Pharmacology for Arthritis (Review risks and benefits of traditional NSAIDs and COX-2 inhibitors; analgesics [narcotics and tramadol], acetaminophen, conventional-synthetic DMARDs, and bDMARDs)

  • Rheumatology: Differential Diagnosis of Inflammatory Arthritis (Clinical presentation and laboratory work-up and treatment for rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, spondyloarthropathies [SpA], infectious arthritis, and systemic sclerosis; treatment of RA with DMARDs; treatment principles of SLE, Sjogren’s, SpA, and PMR)

• Saturday, September 26, 2026

  • Rheumatology: Osteoarthritis (Pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment)

  • Rheumatology: Crystal Disease: Gout & Pseudogout (Properly diagnosing and treating crystal diseases such as gout and pseudogout)

  • Pulmonology: Lung Cancer Screening & Pulmonary Nodules (Appropriate use of the new lung cancer screening recommendations; Fleischner Society guidelines and American College of Chest Physicians Lung Cancer guidelines; approach to definitive evaluation and management strategies)

  • Addiction: Addiction 101 (The disease model of addiction and its underlying neurobiology; screening for unhealthy use of substances and diagnosis of use disorders; non-pharmacologic interventions for use disorders)

  • Addiction: Certain Substances (The concept of addiction liability; a survey of the various classes of addictive substances; clinical pearls of urine drug testing)

• Sunday, September 27, 2026

  • Addiction: Pharmacotherapy (A survey of medications used to treat various substance use disorders with a focus on nicotine replacement, bupropion, varenicline, disulfiram, naltrexone, acamprosate, methadone, and buprenorphine)

  • Addiction: Chronic Pain and Addictions (Treatment of pain in the context of opioid use disorder; the impact of alcohol and sedatives on acute and chronic pain)