Mary Caffrey

Various stakeholders discuss the future of oncology care at the Patient-Centered Oncology Care® meeting. Editor’s Note: After this issue went to press, Wes Hall passed away February 20, 2019, after living more than 5 years with stage IV stomach cancer. He was active in the Community Oncology Alliance Patient Advocacy Network and supported participation in clinical trials.

The major alternative payment model put forth by Medicare, the Oncology Care Model, doesn’t tell practices how they are doing until after the fact. This puts practices at risk for things beyond their control, said Barbara McAneny, MD, a New Mexico oncologist/hematologist who is the current president of the American Medical Association (AMA).

The rule takes effect in 60 days, but the provision requiring physical separation of facilities that perform abortion takes effect in a year.

Digital tools for managing diabetes and insulin have proliferated in recent years.

The update follows a study published in November that found almost no difference in the frequency of mutations between patients with breast cancer who met National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines and those who didn't.

Data published in JAMA Internal Medicine are the latest to sound the alarm on the emerging crisis in primary care.

The payment model will gather data that will be used to create a long-term model for patients not enrolled in studies or registries.

The study used the Freestyle Libre to track blood glucose levels in patients with and without type 2 diabetes (T2D) who had different surgical procedures; the CGM showed a drop in glucose on the third day after surgery among patients with T2D who had gastric bypass.

The PML Consortium formed among several pharmaceutical companies to prevent and treat a rare disease that emerged among patients taking immunomodulatory drugs. It could offer a model for finding solutions for adverse drug reactions.

Andrew Pecora, MD, FACP, CPE, recently visited Evidence-Based OncologyTM to discuss the progress of COTA’s, a company created in 2011 to develop technology that Pecora said is poised to transform cancer care delivery by helping oncologists and other specialists make decisions that will yield the best outcomes in the most cost-effective way, all at the point of care.

Evidence-Based OncologyTM recently sat down with Rodabe Amaria, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, Division of Cancer Medicine, at MD Anderson and a lead author on a study that found that evidence has been accumulating in preclinical models that neoadjuvant treatment may be superior to treatment after surgery for patients with advanced melanoma.

From her vantage point at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Janice Mehnert, MD, has had a front-row seat to the immuno-oncology revolution. Mehnert returned to her alma mater in 2007, and since 2014, she has headed Rutgers’ Phase I/ Developmental Therapeutics Program; she is also head of the melanoma research team. Her work on the KEYNOTE-028 trial has produced important results in multiple cancers, including neuroendocrine tumors, thyroid cancer, small cell lung cancer, and, recently, advanced ovarian cancer.

The advocacy group said the type 1 diabetes community is concerned about the payer's decision because not every device works the same way for every person. After a 2016 policy change affecting adults, 2 pump makers pulled devices from the US market, although other innovation has continued.

FDA has launched a process that will give real-world data generated outside clinical trials more importance than it’s had in the past—with implications for payers, drug companies, and most of all, patients.

Rates of maternal deaths have climbed over a generation in the United States while falling in other developed countries. African American women are more than 3 times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. A new federal law and efforts in states like New Jersey seek to turn the tide.

The study followed more than 2300 men and women for 5 years and found different patterns of depression symptoms between the genders.

The study appeared as one of its authors testified before Congress on the high cost of prescription drugs, including insulin. Experts told the House Committee on Oversight and Reform that branded drug makers enjoy monopolies and that barriers to competition harm consumers.

The National Institutes of Health halted the landmark SPRINT study in 2015 after results clearly showed a cardiovascular benefit for patients who had their systolic blood pressure aggressively controlled to 120 mm/Hg.

The study counted all kinds of activity, including walking to work, repairs around the house, and, of course, sports.

The partnership will seek repeatable, scalable models to present at a summit later this year.

A nurse at the Cleveland Clinic launched the initiative after mothers asked to delay their newborns' baths to increase their ability to take to nursing.

The study is first to measure sleep along with spread of atherosclerosis throughout the body, according to the American College of Cardiology.

Keeping patients with diabetes motivated is the most challenging part of exercise, the authors say, as they call for psychologists and counselors to be part of the care team.

While depression and diabetes have been linked previously, the study from Hong Kong examined the effects of an early diagnosis of type 2 diabetes on hospitalization over time.

Authors noted that because experiments are typically done only on male mice, this brain signaling pathway controlling bone growth had never been discovered.

Rather than offer support, physicians often reinforced the women's feeling of not being in control of their decisions, according to a study looking at why obese women are less likely to start or keep breastfeeding.

The analysis discusses the strength of evidence that SGLT2 inhibitors have a class effect in preventing heart failure for patients with diabetes.

Research and regulatory gaps in the use of marijuana will only grow unless the scientific community and policy leaders fill the void, according to a commentary series in Annals of Internal Medicine on marijuana’s rising availability.

The initial trial made news because the results were at odds with ACCORD. This new analysis highlights the need for personalized diabetes care, especially among older adults.

Publishing a list of conditions for which long-acting birth control is medically indicated increased uptake among women in Medicaid, but overall use remains low.