Oncology

Recent steps by FDA to promote the use of real-world evidence are to be commended, but the future demands a broader vision that makes greater use of growing sources of health care information.

Norman E. “Ned” Sharpless, MD, is departing shortly after the launch of Cancer Moonshot 2.0, an initiative that aims to reduce the cancer death rate by at least half over the next 25 years while improving the experience for all those affected by cancer.

No One Left Behind, a program to provide financial assistance and access to cancer care at Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates in South Carolina, will be discussed during a session of the Community Oncology Alliance 2022 Community Oncology Conference.

The first in-person Community Oncology Alliance (COA) meeting in 2 years will feature sessions on practice management, health disparities, and more. A virtual option is available.

Developing alternative payment models for commercial populations in specialties such as oncology is rife with practical challenges. Leading payers and practices share lessons to date.

Purva Rawal, PhD, senior advisor and chief strategy officer, Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, addressed attendees at the Association for Accessible Medicines' Access! annual meeting, held in Orlando, Florida, February 15-16.

The president’s aim is a 50% reduction in age-adjusted cancer deaths by 2047. This goal seems audacious, but it is likely achievable.

Response to immunotherapy and survival outcomes were found to be significantly associated with tumor mutational burden in patients with stage IV non-small cell lung cancer.

AccessHope is a program that allows patients and community oncologists to tap into the expertise of City of Hope, often through electronic sharing of records so the patient does not have to travel.

The changes come as Tennessee Oncology must now plan for a gap between the Oncology Care Model and a future alternative payment model from CMS.

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.

President Biden announced he would bring back the Cancer Moonshot initiative that launched in the Obama administration; the World Health Organization said the Omicron subvariant, BA.2, appears to have the same severity as the original Omicron variant; cases of suicide by drug overdose increased in young people, older adults, and non-Hispanic Black women.

The Oncology Care Model (OCM) is set to expire June 30, 2022. With no successor on the horizon, respondents to a recent survey by the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) say features such as dedicated navigators and weekend appointments could be reduced or lost if revenues that supported them are eliminated.

Tennessee Oncology appointed Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), with president Natalie Dickson, MD, being promoted from CMO to Chief Strategy Officer (CSO).

Coverage from the Asembia 2021 Specialty Pharmacy Summit in Las Vegas.

Marcus Neubauer, MD, chief medical officer, The US Oncology Network. He is an expert in precision medicine, value-based care, and clinical pathways.

Jeffrey Patton, MD, is the CEO of OneOncology, a national partnership of independent community oncologists based in Nashville, Tennessee. He is also executive chairman of the board, Tennessee Oncology, and a member of the board, Community Oncology Alliance.

Vertical integration of payers and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) took flight with the mergers of Aetna and CVS Health and of Cigna and ExpressScripts. Panelists at Patient-Centered Oncology Care® said the shift has filtered down to affect access at the practice level.

The discussion, "Remote Patient Monitoring: Case Studies From the Front Lines,” explored real-world experiences with technology that has taken on greater heft as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect health care delivery.

Karen Winkfield, MD, PhD, is the executive director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance, a strategic partnership between Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt College of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee. She is also Ingram Professor of Cancer Research and professor of radiation oncology, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center.

The Oncology Care Model (OCM) is scheduled to end in just a few months, but with no new model in place to succeed it and practices still struggling during the pandemic, CMS should allow OCM to continue, said Kashyap Patel, MD, a co-chair of Patient-Centered Oncology Care® and the current president of the Community Oncology Alliance. He is CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates.