“Genetic testing is really about the patient, and it is helpful to find out what is the patient’s risk” to a particular disease explained Edmund Pezalla, MD, MPH. He thinks that research in this field—prediction of an individual’s risk for a particular type of cancer such as breast or prostate or colon cancer— is currently in its early stages.
“Genomics, on the other hand is about the tumor itself. The tumor has a different genetic makeup than the patient, and it might actually have a different genetic makeup subsequent to treatment. So a tumor further down the treatment road may be different from where it started,” said Dr Pezalla.
“So genomics is important in that it specifically tells us about the tumor that the patient has and it helps us guide treatment, while genetics is about the patient and it helps us guide screening and other preventive services,” he explained.
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.
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The Senate Finance Committee has introduced bipartisan legislation that proposes using Medicaid and Medicare programs to help prevent and reduce generic drug shortages; US indicators for COVID-19, flu, and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) declined further last week; findings from a recent study reveal growing disparities in child death rates across racial and ethnic groups.
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