Oncology

Three years after Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center refused to add Zaltrap to its formulary due to cost, value is part of the national conversation in cancer care. The new question is what will happen when physicians assume risk.

If the FDA steps in to regulate laboratory-developed tests, it will slow down innovation, add costs to the development of the product, and likely decrease the number of tests that come out, but the public health benefits of increased oversight might be worth it, said Scott Gottlieb, MD, resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

While the 340B Drug Pricing Program was designed to help facilities that take care of impoverished patients with low-cost drugs, what the program has morphed into is almost the opposite of what it was intended to do, said Peter Bach, MD, MPP, director of Memorial Sloan Kettering's Center for Health Policy and Outcomes.

A pharmacist who engages in formulary decisions, a medical director for population management for a private health exchange, and an innovations leader at a pharmacy benefit manager, took to the podium at the Patient-Centered Oncology Care meeting on November 20, 2015, to discuss cost-saving strategies in oncology and whether benefit managers can play a role in reining-in some of these costs.

During a tweetchat on November 24 at 3:30 pm EST, Amy Berman, RN, BS, and Judith R. Peres, LCSW-C, will discuss patient-centered care, palliative care, and end-of-life care.

While the FDA could regulate diagnostic tests the way they are in Europe-through simple verification that the test is accurate-the FDA has not chosen to do that and comes closer to requiring clinical utility, explained Bruce Quinn, MD, PhD, senior director at FaegreBD Consulting.

Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), and keynote speaker at this year's Patient-Centered Oncology Care meeting, discusses addressing cost of care, using value calculators, and the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act.

What we're reading, November 20, 2015: CMS wants to penalize doctors for ordering routine prostate-cancer screening tests; lawmakers, patients, and advocates call for head of Drug Enforcement Agency to be fired; and specialty drug costs exceed household incomes.

A panel that discussed the prospect of FDA regulation of diagnostic tests in oncology helped open Patient-Centered Oncology Care November 19, 2015, in Baltimore, Maryland.

At the Patient-Centered Oncology Care 2015 meeting, held November 19-20, 2015, in Baltimore, Maryland, keynote speaker Julie M. Vose, MD, MBA, FASCO, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology provided perspectives on the challenges faced by oncologists as the healthcare system transitions to define and incorporate value in the care delivered.

Collaboration between organizations serving the young adult cancer population benefits all involved

Eligibility for prescription coverage and family income significantly influenced women's decisions to continue hormonal therapy and prevent recurrence of breast cancer, the authors found.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology has made public its detailed guidance to CMS, supporting implementation of physician-focused and other alternative payment models under MACRA.

After the Supreme Court struck down gene patents, not only is more genetic testing is being offered, but the technology of the test has expanded to the benefit of patients, said Joy Larsen Haidle, MS, CGC, president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors.

This is the company's third biosimilar Biologics License Application in the United States.

The drug is estimated to cost close to $13,000 per month.

It is time to regulate laboratory-developed tests that cost Medicare $9.7 billion in the year 2012 alone.

The drug was approved based on results of 2 open-label studies that showed reduction in tumor burden of patients who had previously received multiple lines of therapy.

When to screen and how to screen remain controversial issues in prostate cancer.

This week in managed care the top stories include pivotal results from the SPRINT study on blood pressure, an analysis on how states successfully enrolled consumers in the insurance marketplace, and experts discuss value-based care.

Panelist discuss early referral to palliative care, enduring misconceptions, culture considerations, and more at the Fall Managed Care Forum 2015.

According to the CDC, while smoking rates are seeing a steady decline, rates for uninsured and adults on Medicaid are more than twice those for adults with private health insurance.

A study in The European Journal of Public Health finds conversation on preventive vaccination against HPV can motivate participation in preventive screening for cervical cancer.

A retrospective study conducted at the Mayo Clinic found improved OS and PFS in ovarian cancer patients with a history of oral contraceptive use.

A forced closing of Health Republic Insurance of New York has left many in need of immediate coverage.