About me
Benjamin Plotz, MD, is an attending rheumatologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, where he is a core clinical instructor of rheumatology. He sees patients for all rheumatologic conditions, including osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, ankylosing spondylitis, vasculitis, and more.
His main clinical and research interest is osteoarthritis. He also has a passion for teaching and is dedicated to partnering with patients to educate them on their condition as well as educating rheumatologist fellows, residents, and medical students. Additional research interests include identifying how COVID-19 affects patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. He has authored several peer-reviewed articles about osteoarthritis and the effect of COVID-19 in patients with rheumatic disease.
Dr. Plotz received his medical degree from SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and completed his residency training in internal medicine at George Washington University. He then did his fellowship training at NYU Langone Health before joining MedStar Washington. He is a member of the American College of Rheumatology.
Philosophy of Care
“Medicine is always about the person in front of me -- the patient -- and how to improve their quality of life. I hail from a long line of doctors who believe in patient-centered care, and my philosophy of care is deeply rooted in this tradition.
“I help patients who have been diagnosed with rare diseases that can affect many parts of the body. Each rheumatologic disease has different symptoms and even presents differently in each patient. I act as a detective, putting clues together, in order to make a diagnosis and therefore find the right treatment for each patient. I then partner with my patients to help them understand why we’re doing what we’re doing; for example, why we’re doing specific diagnostic testing and recommending certain treatments
“I feel honored when my patients say that I really listened to them and that they felt heard.”
Clinical areas of focus
- Arthritis
- Gout
- Myositis
- Osteoarthritis
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Scleroderma
- Sjogrens
- Spondyloarthropathy
- Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
- Vasculitis
Conditions and procedures
Conditions I treat
- Acute Arthritis
- Ankylosing Spondylitis
- Anti Neutrophil Cytoplasmic Antibodies
- Antiphospholipid Syndrome
- Aortic Arteritis
- Arthralgia
- Arthritis
- Arthritis Of Multiple Joints
- Arthropathy
- Behcet Syndrome
- Calcium Pyrophosphate Deposition Disease
- Cranial Arteritis
- Crest
- Crystalline Arthritis
- Cutaneous Vasculitis
- Dermatomyositis
- Discoid Lupus Erythematosus
- Enthesitis
- Erythema Nodosum
- Familial Mediterranean Fever
- Fibromyalgia
- Giant Cell Arteritis
- Gonococcal Arthritis
- Gout
- Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis
- Iga Vasculitis
- Igg 4 Related Diseases
- Inflammatory Polyarthropathy
- Isolated Central Nervous System Vasculitis
- Joint Disorder Of Multiple Joints
- Joint Effusion
- Joint Swelling
- Lupus Nephritis
- Macrophage Activation Syndrome
- Mixed Connective Tissue Disease
- Monoarticular Arthritis
- Myositis
- Neonatal Lupus Erythematosus
- Osteoarthritis
- Osteoporosis
- Periodic Fever Syndromes
- Polyarteritis Nodosa
- Polyarthralgia
- Polyarthropathy
- Polychondritis
- Polymyalgia Rheumatica
- Polymyositis
- Positive Antinuclear Antibody (ANA) Test
- Post Infectious Arthritis
- Pseudogout
- Psoriatic Arthritis
- Raynaud's Disease
- Reactive Arthritis
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Sacroiliitis
- Sarcoidosis
- Scleroderma
- Sjogrens
- Spondyloarthropathy
- Still's Disease
- Synovitis
- Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
- Systemic Scleroderma
- Tenosynovitis
- Tophus
- Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease
- Uveitis
- Vasculitis
Procedures I perform
- Antinuclear Antibody (ANA) Blood Test
- Biologic Therapy For Rheumatologic Diseases
- Joint Injection
- Non Surgical Management Of Osteoarthritis
Insurance
MedStar Health accepts most major health insurance plans. If you are uncertain as to whether your individual health insurance plan is accepted at MedStar Health, please call your insurance company.
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List of insurance plans we accept
- UnitedHealthcare and AARP Medicare Complete Plans/ UHC Group Medicare Advantage Plans HMO, POS, PPO
- Kaiser Permanente Medicare Advantage Signature and Select (aka Senior Advantage)
- Blue Choice Advantage & Healthy Blue (HMO, POS)
- United Healthcare Options (PPO) (includes Empire PPO, GEHA, Compass Rose)
- UnitedHealthcare Medicare Adv/Special Needs Plans
- UHC Community Plan of MD
- Private Health Care Systems (PHCS) (PPO)
- Medicare Fee for Service
- Kaiser Virginia Premier
- Kaiser PermanenteSelect-Added Choice
- Kaiser Permanente Signature-Added Choice
- Kaiser Permanente Signature
- Kaiser Permanente Select
- Kaiser Permanente Medicare Plus (Medicare Supplemental Plan)
- Kaiser Permanente Flexible Choice POS
- Kaiser MD Medicaid MCO
- CFBCBS Federal Employee Program (Std/Basic PPO/Blue Focus)
- CFBCBS EPO
- Aetna HMO
- POS OA & OA Plus
- Innovation Health: Open POS Plus
- Aetna Innovations: HMO & EPO Plus
- BlueChoice Open Access
- Open HMO
- Aetna Elect Choice/ Open Access (POS)
- Innovation Health: Indemnity
- Innovation Health: POS
- Aetna Managed Choice Open Access (POS)
- CIGNA EPO
- Aetna Traditional Choice (PPO)
- Choice POS & Choice POS II
- Innovation Health: Open Network Only Plus
- Aetna HMO-Open Access/Select OA/HealthFund/Health Network Option OA
- Innovation Health: POS Plus
- CIGNA HMO Open Access (OA)
- Network OA
- Choice Fund PPO
- Aetna Managed Choice (POS)
- Open EPO Plus
- Open POS II
- Innovation Health: PPO
- PPO and PPO Plus
- CFBSBC Blue Preferred PPO
- Select HMO/HealthFund/Health Network
- Opoen HMO Option
- HealthyBlue PPO
- United Healthcare Choice
- CFBCBS Blue Choice Opt Out Open Access
- Aetna Open Choice (PPO)
- United Student Resources
- United Healthcare Select HMO - EPO/NPP
- Optimum Choice Preferred (POS) & OCI Direct (HMO)
- FIRST HEALTH
- MedStar Select (MedStar Associates' Plan)
- M.D. IPA Preferred (POS)
- Mamsi Life & Health (Indem./PPO)
- Aetna Medicare Advantage HMO & PPO Plans
- CFBCBS Blue Choice Opt Out Plus Open Access (POS)
- CIGNA Indemnity
- Great-West Healthcare POS/CIGNA
- United Healthcare Choice Plus
- CFBCBS BlueChoice HMO
- Aetna Student Health Insurance
- United Healthcare Select Plus (POS)
- Aetna Worker's Compensation Network
- Coventry Health Care National Network PPO
- CIGNA POS/Network POS
- Tricare Prime
- Aetna Quality Point of Service (POS)
- MedStar Family Choice - Maryland Health Choice
- First Health PPO
- CIGNA HMO & Network (HMO)
- Coventry Health Care of Virginia
- Tricare for Life (Medicare Supplemental Plan)
- Aetna Elect Choice/ EPO (Aetna Health Fund) Innovation Health: Network Only Plus
- Coventry of Delaware HMO/PPO
- CFBCBS Maryland Point of Service Plan (MPOS)
- CFBCBS Maryland Indemnity or PPO
- M.D. IPA (HMO)
Education
Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, Internal Medicine
Board Certification: American Board of Internal Medicine, Rheumatology
Fellowship Program: New York University Langone Medical Center (2021)
Residency Program: George Washington University Hospital (2019)
Medical School: SUNY Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine (2016)