Laura Joszt, MA

The second Trump administration is expected to bring changes to Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, and the health insurance exchanges, as well as highlight the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, speakers at the Value-Based Insurance Design Summit said.

Some patients are better candidates than others for histotripsy to treat liver tumors, but ultimately, this treatment still requires a good multidisciplinary team, like any cancer treatment, said Shaun P. McKenzie, MD, FACS.

Rising rates of metabolic dysfunction–associated steatohepatitis indicate a need for public health interventions.

Histotripsy shows promise for treating liver tumors with minimal adverse effects, but limited long-term data and insurance hurdles hinder its adoption, says Shaun P. McKenzie, MD, FACS, of Texas Oncology.

Although histotripsy can successfully destroy tumors in the liver, longer-term data are still needed to see recurrence rates and overall survival, said Shaun P. McKenzie, MD, FACS, a surgical oncologist with Texas Oncology.

Eligibility issues, a need for better multidisciplinary collaboration, and a lack of incorporation in community practices are all barriers to the use of neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery for patients with primary urethral cancer, said Rohan Garje, MD.

Real-world data confirmed the findings of JAVELIN Renal 101, supporting the combination of avelumab and axitinib in advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), said Axel Merseburger, MD, University Hospital Schleswig Holstein, Campus Lübeck, in Germany.

Enfortumab vedotin with or without pembrolizumab offers disease control benefits for patients with upper tract urothelial cancer, said Evangelia Vlachou, MD, of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Adding 6 months of neoadjuvant deprivation therapy (NADT) doesn’t seem to add any benefit for patients with intermediate-risk prostate cancer treated with external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT), according to 15-year outcomes presented by Barry Goy, MD, of Kaiser Permanente.

The annual wellness visit is beneficial for patients, providers, and payers with an emphasis on preventive care for early intervention.

The individual behavior of a patient’s myeloproliferative neoplasm (MPN) will determine how the disease is monitored and managed in the long term, explained Jennifer Vaughn, MD, of The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center.

There’s a balance required to manage both the symptoms of myelofibrosis through treatment and the side effects caused by the drugs, explained Firas El Chaer, MD, of the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

While treatment options may be fairly straightforward for high-risk patients with polycythemia vera, it’s less clear for patients who are considered low risk, explained Jennifer Vaughn, MD.

Advances in therapy are improving outcomes for patients, but the incidence and mortality rates for hepatocellular carcinoma are increasing in the US.

In 2024, multiple drugs received complete response letters (CRLs), sometimes unrelated to the safety and efficacy of the drug, but patients with schizophrenia gained the first new treatment with a new mechanism of action in decades.

There are a number of considerations both in the short and long term to consider when making treatment decisions for younger patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs).

In addition to new treatments over the past few years changing the landscape for patients, additional treatments being evaluated are looking at new mechanisms of action, said Firas El Chaer, MD, of University of Virginia School of Medicine.

The approval was based on the results of the SURMOUNT-OSA trial, which found patients had fewer breathing disruptions.

Coverage from the Institute for Value-Based Medicine regional event in Cleveland, Ohio.

Coverage from the Institute for Value-Based Medicine event in Miami Beach, hosted with The Oncology Institute for Hope and Innovation.

Histotripsy is a new, FDA-approved, minimally invasive technique that destroys liver tumors using high-frequency ultrasound waves.

Among the most-read coverage for the annual meeting were presentations on the potential and costs of cell and gene therapies, the latest trends in the industry, and pharmacogenomic testing in mental health.