Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, MS, MBA, CPEL

Panelists discuss how prescription digital therapeutics can serve the psychological and social components of schizophrenia treatment while potentially improving medication adherence, similar to how digital monitoring tools enhance outcomes in other chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension.

Panelists discuss how the global shortage of psychiatrists contributes to patient burden by necessitating expanded training for other health care professionals, including nurse practitioners, physician assistants, primary care doctors, and law enforcement to recognize and manage schizophrenia symptoms.

Panelists discuss how negative symptoms create significant patient burden by appearing during the prodromal period in late adolescence and requiring a comprehensive biopsychosocial treatment approach that addresses biological, psychological, and social aspects of care.

Oncology stakeholders are navigating new policies as the landscape quickly evolves, according to Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, MS, MBA, CPEL.

Panelists discuss how successful access initiatives include integrated specialty pharmacies, community-based clinics, clinical trial opportunities, telehealth services, and financial assistance programs like 340B to serve underserved populations with atopic dermatitis.

Panelists discuss how diverse clinical trial data help build patient trust by demonstrating therapy effectiveness in similar populations and address barriers like health care mistrust and representation in treatment development.

Panelists discuss how negative symptoms of schizophrenia differ from positive and cognitive symptoms, explaining that negative symptoms involve withdrawal, flat affect, and poverty of thought rather than the more visible hallucinations and delusions of positive symptoms.

Panelists discuss how recent clinical trials like ADmirable and DISCOVER intentionally enrolled patients with skin of color (Fitzpatrick types IV-VI), demonstrating similar efficacy and safety profiles for biologics across diverse racial populations, with more than 70% achieving a 75% or greater improvement in the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI-75).

Panelists discuss how historical underrepresentation of patients with darker skin tones in clinical trials has limited understanding of treatment efficacy and safety across diverse populations, hampering real-world clinical decision-making.

Panelists discuss how health care providers need coordinated multidisciplinary care teams, visual resources like databases for eczema in skin of color, peer-to-peer educational sessions, and case-based learning to better recognize and manage atopic dermatitis (AD) across diverse skin tones.

Panelists discuss how treatment access challenges require provider advocacy through peer-to-peer reviews and patient assistance programs, whereas cost-effectiveness evaluation focuses on time to specialist care, therapy duration, and quality-of-life outcomes.

Panelists discuss how biologic therapy selection depends on disease burden rather than just body surface area (BSA), with monitoring requiring objective measures, patient-reported outcomes, and specialized photography documentation for patients with darker skin tones.

Panelists discuss how patients with darker skin tones often experience delayed diagnosis due to misidentification as fungal infections or other conditions, emphasizing the importance of shared decision-making and patient education about the immune-mediated nature of the disease.

Panelists discuss how atopic dermatitis (AD) presents differently across skin tones, appearing as purple, gray, or barely visible inflammation rather than classic redness, with perifollicular prominence and postinflammatory pigmentation changes being more prominent in patients with darker skin.

Panelists discuss how atopic dermatitis (AD) extends far beyond pruritus to include pain, sleep disturbances, psychosocial stigma, and quality-of-life impacts that affect patients’ work, school, and daily functioning regardless of disease severity.

Panelists discuss how health care professionals face educational gaps in understanding atopic dermatitis (AD) immunopathogenesis, with advanced practice providers (APPS) particularly needing additional training outside standard curricula to master biologic therapy selection.

Panelists discuss how atopic dermatitis involves complex inflammatory and neuronal pathways, with IL-4, IL-13, and IL-31 cytokines driving Th2-mediated inflammation that varies across different racial populations.

Panelists discuss how providers and payers must collaborate to develop innovative coverage criteria for BTK inhibitors that prevent patients with subclinical progression from being forced to fail multiple inappropriate therapies before accessing optimal treatment.

Panelists discuss how academic centers can use telehealth programs like Project ECHO to train community neurologists and ensure consistent, evidence-based MS care across diverse geographic regions.

Panelists discuss how economic models must account for the broader impact of MS progression on earning potential, family planning, caregiver burden, and quality of life rather than focusing solely on direct medical costs.

Panelists discuss how patient-reported outcomes are crucial for capturing MS symptoms like fatigue, depression, and cognitive decline that significantly impact working-age patients but require standardization for practical clinical integration.

Panelists discuss how clinical trials and real-world studies should focus on patients with PIRA who haven’t experienced relapses for extended periods but continue to accumulate disability.

Panelists discuss how the evaluation process must evolve to accommodate therapies that show benefits in slowing atrophy and motor decline over 1 to 2 years, emphasizing the need for early coverage rather than waiting for extensive long-term data.

Panelists discuss how disability progression can be measured through practical clinical tools like patient-reported outcomes, timed walking tests, and dexterity assessments rather than relying solely on relapse rates.

Panelists expressed cautious optimism about high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treatment, emphasizing the need for ongoing research, personalized therapy based on molecular profiling, and strengthened collaboration between community and academic centers to improve patient outcomes, while recognizing that education and sharing best practices are key to advancing targeted therapies and achieving long-term cures.

Panelists highlight that patient advocacy is crucial in improving high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (AML) outcomes by providing emotional support, funding research, influencing clinical guidelines, promoting patient engagement, facilitating collaboration between community and academic care, addressing systemic access barriers, and implementing innovative programs like medication recycling to enhance treatment availability.

Panelists discuss how payers can evaluate BTK inhibitors by considering specific MS phenotypes and FDA indications rather than applying traditional step therapy protocols that may delay optimal treatment.

Panelists discuss how BTK inhibitors represent a promising new oral therapy class that could address both inflammatory and neurodegenerative aspects of MS, particularly for progressive forms where treatment options are limited.

Panelists advocate for a streamlined approach to diagnosing KMT2A-rearranged acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that includes standardized testing protocols (cytogenetics, fluorescence in situ hybridization [FISH], and next-generation sequencing) at diagnosis, close collaboration with laboratories to clarify complex reports, adoption of rapid testing methods, and flexible sample collection strategies to ensure timely, accurate identification and optimized patient care.

Panelists discuss how payers seek good return on investment when evaluating expensive gene therapies, creating potential friction when innovative treatments come at significant costs, requiring ongoing dialogue between manufacturers, patients, payers, and physicians to determine appropriate value and access.