In this interview from our recent Institute for Value-Based Medicine® event, Kristine Slam, MD, FACP, Central Ohio Surgical Associates, discusses the positive impact that Choosing Wisely and enhanced recovery after surgery, or EROS, protocols have had on patients receiving treatment for breast cancer.
Kristine Slam, MD, FACP, Central Ohio Surgical Associates, spoke at our recent Institute for Value-Based Medicine® event, held in partnership with the Zangmeister Cancer Center of Columbus, Ohio, on September 14. Here she discusses the positive impact that Choosing Wisely and enhanced recovery after surgery (EROS) protocols have had on patients receiving treatment for breast cancer.
Transcript
What measurable benefits have been observed from the shift to value-based care for breast cancer?
Two of the things that come most to my mind are the Choosing Wisely campaign and EROS protocols.
Choosing Wisely actually started back in 2012, and it was a bunch of societies coming together for mostly patient but also physician education about practices that have been routine for years that actually don't provide that much value to the patient. In the breast cancer world, this actually started by us surgeons not doing unnecessary axillary dissections [or] ordering unnecessary tumor markers. Now it has evolved into, again, ongoing education about not doing routine MRIs, not routinely doing sentinel lymph node biopsies in elderly or low-risk patients, not routinely reexcising lumpectomy close margins. So Choosing Wisely has, again, eliminated both short-term and long-term side effects for patients and financial toxicity.
The second thing that is helpful is something called EROS protocols, and these are specific to surgery. What the EROS protocols are designed for is limiting length of time in the hospital, limiting side effects, and it's through standardization of surgical practices. A lot of this involves preoperative education of patients, but it also is, again, very evidence based about things that work perioperatively to limit patient problems.
Congress Urged to Repeal Comstock Act Threatening Reproductive Rights and Public Health
May 16th 2024In a joint letter addressed to Congress, Healthcare Across Borders, Take Back the Court Action Fund, and UltraViolet Action called out the resurgence of the Comstock Act, urging immediate action to repeal this century-old law that threatens reproductive rights and public health in the US.
Read More
Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity: Urban Health Outreach
May 9th 2024In the series debut episode of "Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity," Mary Sligh, CRNP, and Chelsea Chappars, of Allegheny Health Network, explain how the Urban Health Outreach program aims to improve health equity for individuals experiencing homelessness.
Listen
After the ACA Expanded Health Care Access, 2024 Elections May See Voters Demand Affordability
May 15th 2024At the spring conference of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute, speakers discussed how health policy, affordability, and transparency may play a role in voters’ decisions.
Read More
Panel Addresses Minority Physician Shortage, Maternal Health at Senate Committee Hearing
May 15th 2024The senate hearing held by the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I, Vermont), chairman of the committee, and ranking member Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, (R, Louisiana), addressed the critical issue of physician and health care worker shortages, as well as the maternal health crisis, in the US.
Read More