[Meaningful interventions for peripheral arterial disease: Stopping primary referral to the vascular surgeon and angioplasty].

Supervised exercise therapy with lifestyle counseling by a specialized physical therapist has replaced endovascular or open revascularization as primary treatment for intermittent claudication for most patients in the Netherlands. Succesful implementation of this guideline-recommended treatment strategy was achieved by warranting availability and quality of care by organizing care around a national network. Further reductions in unnecessary interventions in this population may be achieved when general practitioners and medical specialists collaborate, for instance by making in-hospital vascular diagnostic laboratories accessible for primary care.

Implementation of the EULAR cardiovascular risk management guideline in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: results of a successful collaboration between primary and secondary care.

The updated European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) guideline recommends cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment at least once every 5 years in all patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This viewpoint starts with a literature overview of studies that investigated the level of CVD risk factor (CVD-RF) screening in patients with RA in general practices or in outpatient clinics. These studies indicate that CVD-RF screening in patients with RA is marginally applied in clinical practice, in primary as well as secondary care.