Oncology

While Medicare is ready to pay for an annual spiral CT scan for long-term smokers, some doctors think it's an unnecessary procedure that might do more harm than good.

Cancer patients without insurance can be paying up to 43 times what Medicare pays for the same chemotherapy drugs, according to a new study published in Health Affairs from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

A one-minute look at managed care news during the week of April 8, 2015, including a CMS announcing mental health parity and billions of dollars in unnecessary breast cancer care costs.

UPMC is threatening to lock Highmark's Medicare Advantage customers out of its hospitals, a move Governor Tom Wolf calls "unacceptable."

The scientists at Cancer Research UK, in collaboration with the University of Cambridge, have identified 77 changes in the DNA of individuals at an increased risk for breast cancer and have developed a "polygenic risk score" based on the changes.

Reaffirming previous trial results, the new study, published in International Journal of Radiation Oncology · Biology · Physics found that while radiation therapy had no impact on outcomes in head and neck cancer patients, it caused anemia in several.

The buzz words, wherever you turn to in healthcare today, are "value," "patient-centered," "quality." The question remains, how are these elements being incorporated in practice by the healthcare industry, and is the patient engaged in these discussions?

In a related commentary in the same issue, Mark S. Talamonti, MD, of the NorthShore University HealthSystem, wrote, "With an aging population, this most formidable of human cancers will only increase in incidence and frequency. There is a clear and unequivocal need for affordable screening strategies based on reliable biomarkers and efficient imaging modalities."

A neurooncology research team identified that the transcription factor Id4 can suppressor glioblastoma invasion by preventing the expression of a matrix degrading enzyme.

Although the Affordable Care Act has helped more people gain access to healthcare coverage, including those with pre-existing conditions such as cancer, the survey by the Cancer Support Community found that the cost of care is still too high for many cancer patients.

The study found that the greater the gap between high-income individuals and low-income individuals within a community, the larger the gap in testing.

The study, presented at the Society of Surgical Oncology Cancer Symposium, found that palliative surgery in patients with advanced cancers can relieve pain with minimal morbidity.

The study authors say their findings indicate that the cost of breast cancer overtreatment appears to be much higher than previously estimated. Their $4 billion figure is the midpoint of a range that depends upon assumptions about the rates of false-positive mammograms and breast cancer overdiagnosis.

In a large study conducted at the University of Pennsylvania in more than 31,000 women, scientists identified regions of both BRCA1 and BRCA2 that, when mutated, confer higher risks of ovarian cancer, and other regions that confer higher risk of breast cancer.

The retrospective study evaluated data collected between 1975 and 2011 from 2 large cancer studies that included 26 cancer centers in North America.

A test that uses gold nanoparticles to detect early-stage prostate cancer costs less than $1, returns results in minutes and is more accurate than standard PSA screening, pilot studies show.

By combining, in a liposome, magnetic nanoparticles and photosensitizers that are simultaneously and remotely activated by a magnetic field and light, scientists obtained total tumor regression in mice.

The trial, whose results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, found that circulating tumor cells and lactose dehydrogenase are ideal surrogates to predict overall survival in patients with advanced prostate cancer.

One day, cancer treatment regimens might include vaccines specially tailored to each patient. In a small preliminary study published in Science, researchers report successful use of these vaccines in 3 patients.

Researchers at Dartmouth's Norris Cotton Cancer Center designed rehabilitation intervention to help women with breast cancer find ways to accelerate recovery and engage in health-promoting activities.

With a focus on improving quality while maintaining the cost of care, providers and payers are evaluating various payment models that could improve patient outcomes using evidence-based treatment at lower costs to the healthcare system.

While supporting the FDA's standards-based regulatory efforts to explore next generation sequencing tests as diagnostic tools, the American Society of Clinical Oncology warned against misinterpretation or over-interpretation of test results.

Research published by a team of Italian scientists in the Journal of the National Institute of Cancer shows that a 13-gene panel blood test for microRNAs could be a cost-effective screening tool for lung cancer, compared with low-dose CT, which is expensive.

With an aim to grab band-width in the shared PD-1 space, Merck has partnered with Syntax to conduct combination studies of Keytruda with Entinostat in melanoma and lung cancer patients.