- Center on Health Equity and Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Dr Sophia Smith Advocates for Introducing Palliative Care as Early as Possible
Palliative care should be introduced as early as possible, even as early as diagnosis, so patients hear about it early and not during a late stage of their disease when they might need hospice, Sophia K. Smith, PhD, MSW, associate professor at the Duke School of Nursing, said at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Annual Meeting.
Palliative care should be introduced as early as possible, even as early as diagnosis, so patients hear about it early and not during a late stage of their disease when they might need hospice, Sophia K. Smith, PhD, MSW, associate professor at the Duke School of Nursing, said at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Annual Meeting.
Transcript (slightly modified)
How early in the cancer care process should palliative care be introduced?
As early as possible. We talked a lot today about some of the stigma involved with palliative care terms, such as hospice, and the feeling is among providers that the earliest it's introduced, even at diagnosis, and palliative care is introduced as a way to provide symptom management and psychosocial supportive care to the patient throughout the trajectory. And that way the patient hears about it early on and it's not thrown at the patient late in their disease process when, perhaps, their condition has deteriorated and they need to seek out specialty services, like hospice.
So, I'm a big proponent of having the discussion early on, and that way the patient can take advantage of the services as well. Palliative care is not just hospice—hospice is just one form of palliative care. Palliative care really, if it's done right, it's done across providers, by a multi-disciplinary team that's focused on the entire patient, and not just their disease. So it's all about "how do we maximize quality of life throughout the cancer trajectory?"
Examining Low-Value Cancer Care Trends Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 25th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the April 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on the rates of low-value cancer care services throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Listen
Budesonide-Based Triple Therapy Shows Best Benefit Over Dual Therapy for COPD
May 8th 2024The triple therapy of budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate showed the greatest incremental net benefit among a series of triple therapy medications that were evaluated against dual therapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), according to an analysis presented at ISPOR.
Read More
Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Penn Medicine's Dr Justin Bekelman
December 19th 2023Justin Bekelman, MD, director of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, sat with our hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, for our final episode of 2023 to discuss the importance of collaboration between academic medicine and community oncology and testing innovative cancer care delivery in these settings.
Listen
AUA Session Highlights the General Urologist’s Role in Gender-Affirming Care
May 7th 2024During her session, Polina Reyblat, MD, Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, highlighted best practices urologists should incorporate to make transgender and gender-diverse patients comfortable during physical exams and avoid retraumatization.
Read More
