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Jared is a freelance writer for The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®), and previously worked as a senior editor for HCPLive® at MJH Life Sciences®.

He has an MA from University of Sioux Falls. You can connect with Jared on 

Articles

The findings from among patients with myasthenia gravis (MG) could point the way to a potential new drug target, the authors said. 

Lower CTLA4 Levels May Indicate Risk of MG in Patients With Thymoma

Mary is the associate editorial director for The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®), The Center for Biosimilars®, and Evidence-Based Oncology™. She joined AJMC® in 2013 and oversees speaker recruitment and panel preparations for AJMC®'s premier annual oncology meeting, Patient-Centered Oncology Care®.

She has a BA in communications and philosophy from Loyola University New Orleans. You can connect with Mary on 

New data from the POLARIX STUDY show that substituting polatuzumab vedotin for 1 part of a classic first-line chemotherapy combination to manage diffuse large B-cell lymphoma improved progression-free survival without compromising health-related quality-of-life.


Additional Results From POLARIX Study Show Improved PFS With No Reduction in HRQOL

First steps include assembling equity data and reaching out to veterans’ advocacy groups.

Veterans Health Stakeholders Identify Priorities to Ensure Health Equity in Telehealth 

Rose is a freelance writer for The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®), where she previously worked as an editor.

She has a BA in journalism & media studies and Spanish from Rutgers University. You can connect with Rose on 

A new study estimates that prescription of standard-of-care non–small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) therapies is lower than expected in Medicaid programs, with significant variation between states. 

Targeted Therapies for NSCLC May Be Underused in Medicaid Programs, Study Suggests

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1rem

Compendium

 Leukemia & Lymphoma compendium is a comprehensive resource for clinical news and expert insights for the blood cancers and their treatments.

Great Strides Made In Developing New Medicines For Cancer

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia

Kids' Cancer-Drug Shortage Averted

Dr. Ravi Vij Discusses Benefits/Efficacy of Carfilzomib and Revlimid

This week’s Managed Care Cast conversation took place on the same day President Joe Biden 

 of the Cancer Moonshot, a program he initiated when he was vice president in the Obama administration. The reinvigorated program aims to cut cancer deaths by 50% over the next 25 years and to increase cancer screening, which has dropped sharply during the pandemic.

This Friday, February 4, is World Cancer Day, an initiative led by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), and this year's theme is about closing care gaps. For this episode of Managed Care Cast, we spoke with Meghan Gutierrez, CEO of the Lymphoma Research Foundation, about financial toxicity, how the pandemic has affected patients’ financial needs when they have cancer, health care disparities and care gaps, and more.

Listen above or through one of these podcast services:

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Meghan Gutierrez, CEO of the Lymphoma Research Foundation, about financial toxicity, how the pandemic has affected patients’ financial needs when they have cancer, health care disparities and care gaps, and more.

Lymphoma Research Foundation CEO on Biden’s Cancer Moonshot, Financial Toxicity 

For one cancer center, an outgrowth of the COVID-19 pandemic spurred plans to create an urgent care center for patients with cancer so that they could stay out of the emergency department (ED). The Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University began planning for construction in 2020 after receiving a sizeable donation and broke ground this year. The Rollins Immediate Care Center is expected to open in 2022.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we 

, Gina Mauro, who talks with Charise Gleason, MSN, NP-BC, AOCNP, the advance practice provider chief at Winship Cancer Institute, about how having a dedicated cancer urgent care center will make cancer treatment plans seamless while  helping patients avoid exposure to infectious diseases in ED waiting rooms.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we bring you an interview conducted by the editorial director of OncLive® who talks with the advance practice provider chief at Winship Cancer Institute about how having a dedicated cancer urgent care center will make cancer treatment plans seamless whil helping patients avoid exposure to infectious diseases in emergency department waiting rooms.

Keeping Patients With Cancer Out of the ED Through Dedicated Urgent Care

 recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

This week, the top managed care news included HHS laying out a plan for importing certain prescription drugs from other countries; a potential new standard of care for chronic lymphocytic leukemia; 3 insulin makers get subpoenaed over their pricing practices.

HHS, FDA Outline Foundation for Importing Certain Drugs From Other Countries

CMS Testing Pilot to Give FFS Medicare Providers Historical Claims Data on Patients

Ibrutinib—Rituximab Improves Survival Compared With Current Treatment for Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

What We're Reading: Democrats Debate Medicare for All; Insulin Makers Questioned; Best Hospital Rankings

Bipartisan Senate Bill Seeks to Roll Back a Decade's Worth of Insulin Price Hikes

Lilly to Launch Half-Price Version of Humalog

Sanofi Offer Sets Monthly Price of $99 for Insulin Supply

IVBM: Advancing Oncologu Quality Through Value-Based Care

Read more about the stories in this podcast:

Every week, The American Journal of Managed Care® recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

Podcast: This Week in Managed Care&mdash;Drug Importation Plan and Other Health News

Results presented during the 64th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition could offer an effective option for those with relapsed or refractory DLBCL, even as chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy becomes standard of care for many patients.

PolaR-ICE Effective as Second-line Treatment in DLBCL, Bridge to Autologous Stem Cell Transplant

In abstracts presented at the 64th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition, the investigational BTK inhibitor pirtobrutinib showed promising efficacy and safety in several types of B-cell lymphoma. 

Examining Safety, Efficacy of Pirtobrutinib in CLL/SLL, MCL, and WM; Results Seen for Patients With Intolerance to Covalent BTK Inhibitors

A recent study aggregated RNA sequencing data from more than 3000 samples to create a user-friendly database of transcription profiles in leukemia and related cell lines. 

Researchers Form Novel Database of Leukemia Transcriptome Profiles

The broad approval, while expected, will likely signal a milestone in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL).

FDA Gives Zanubrutinib Approval for First-line, R/R CLL/SLL

Videos

A panel of experts discuss the most important goals of therapy for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mantle cell lymphoma, and small lymphocytic lymphoma and the largest unmet needs in leukemia/lymphoma.

Video Series

Goals of Therapy for CLL, MCL, and SLL Patients

Brian Koffman, MD, and Callie Coombs, MD, provide the prevalence and incidence rates of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL), and describe how the diagnosis and management of CLL/MCL/SLL impacts a patient’s quality of life.

Prevalence, Diagnosis, and Management of CLL, MCL, and SLL

Callie Coombs, MD, and Brian Koffman, MD, provide an overview of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, mantle cell lymphoma, and small lymphocytic lymphoma, and explore the key differences between these disease states. 

Overview of CLL, MCL, and SLL

Clinicians and medical groups from other states have taken action to follow the example set by the California Cancer Care Equity Act passed recently, with further efforts warranted on a federal level to ensure all patient populations receive access to value-based 

, said Joseph Alvarnas, MD, vice president of government affairs at City of Hope and chief clinical adviser of AccessHope in Duarte, California.

Have you heard from cancer centers in other states about the Cancer Care Equity Act or other efforts by City of Hope?

We have, actually. I have to say first we've worked with some great partners who have a national presence. That includes the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society [LLS], it includes Be The Match NMDP [National Marrow Donor Program], and without them and others, this would not be possible.


But we've seen and heard from others. So, LLS had worked with a group in New York to ensure that their state Medicaid beneficiaries could get access to care at Memorial Sloan Kettering [Cancer Center], and that would be considered part of the network. We've had clinicians reach out to us from Texas looking for some help in drafting language. So, I think what we're seeing is the beginning of this.

The predecessor of SB 987, or the California Cancer Care Equity Act, was something called the Cancer Patient Bill of Rights [SCR 11], which was nonbinding, but what it did was establish 6 core principles through which we believe the state should use as litmus tests as they consider legislation that will impact the lives and needs of patients with cancer. We think that those core principles established in a first-in-the-nation Cancer Patient Bill of Rights could also have relevance across other states in the United States.

What about federal legislation? Wasn’t there a law to ensure that Medicaid recipients had access to clinical trials?

I'll say there are piecemeal components within existing law that can create a path forward. And in a way to start thinking about this is as part of the Affordable Care Act, when essential minimal benefits were defined, those included access to clinical trials that qualified by virtue of some very reasonable criteria, including being NCI [National Cancer Institute] funded.


That said, our system of care unfortunately creates artificial barriers for patients and families that result in patients actually not getting access, timely access to the care that they need. I do think that there are great opportunities on a federal level to try to bring some ease for patients and families, and to help overcome those barriers. Given the complexities of the federal government's role in legislation, potential places to look would include not only at patients who are Medicare beneficiaries, but also those who are beneficiaries of Medicare Advantage, where access to clinical trials or access to expert cancer care services tends to lag behind that of other patients.


So, we see great opportunities on a federal level, and we believe that as we move forward, the ultimate test for whether or not we're moving toward the right goals is whether or not this can ensure greater care equity.


We know that underserved patient populations don't get access to clinical trials. We know that with profound gaps, they don't benefit from genomic testing and therapeutics based upon those genomic data, and we know that survival outcomes for patients from underserved communities, including those of rural areas, lag significantly below those living in urban areas. So with that said, there's a lot of room for improvement. And as part of that, we view not only SCR 11, the Cancer Patient Bill of Rights, but SB 987, as small incremental steps that are building us in the right direction.

I didn't start out in government affairs, and a lot of what we've done here has been inspired by the words of our patients and the frustrations of their families as they've experienced our system of care at its worst, barrier laden and insensitive to their needs. Throughout this country, there are many clinicians who experienced the frustrations of their patients and understand the flaws within our system.


The best way to fix this isn't just to get frustrated, it's to move forward with advocacy and to try to incrementally improve our system. The most important thing was we can get involved. We can be vocal, we can speak to members of Congress, we can speak to our legislators, and we can get back to CMS when they open up opportunities for comment. Physicians and clinicians and other key health care stakeholders have a profoundly powerful voice that far too often isn't heard. And I think SB 987 is a great example of the ways in which we can succeed if we just start down that path.

Joseph Alvarnas, MD, vice president of government affairs at City of Hope and chief clinical adviser of AccessHope in Duarte, California, spoke on the influence that the California Cancer Care Equity Act is having on legislative efforts in other states, as well as future steps to promote accessible, affordable, and effective cancer care for patients nationwide.

Dr Joseph Alvarnas Discusses Nationwide Implications of the California Cancer Care Equity Act, Opportunities for Federal Legislation

There are some similarities among various value-based payment programs for cancer care, including the Oncology Care Model (OCM), but they are not identical, said Susan Escudier, MD, FACP, vice president, value-based care and quality programs, Texas Oncology.

There are some similarities among various value-based payment programs for cancer care, but they are not identical, said Susan Escudier, MD, FACP, vice president, value-based care and quality programs, Texas Oncology.

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