Oncology

The uncertainties precipitated by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic around cancer care delivery are a challenging topic to be further addressed at this year’s Patient-Centered Oncology Care® 2020 virtual meeting.

Through risk stratification and identifying social determinants of health, oncology practices are monitoring the direct and indirect effects of the pandemic, noted Jenifer Leaf Jaeger, MD, MPH, senior medical director of HealthEC.

Through this year's virtual format for Patient-Centered Oncology Care® 2020, participants will be able to attend sessions, ask questions, and gain insight in an immediate, efficient way.

Patients with advanced colon cancer who drank 4 or more cups of coffee a day had 36% improved survival odds.

Although innovations in cancer treatment have driven down overall cancer death rates and increased the number of survivors living with cancer, that progress has not benefitted everyone with cancer equally.

Drs Joseph Alvarnas and Kashyap Patel, co-chairs of Patient-Centered Oncology Care® 2020, discuss what attendees can look forward to at the September 25 meeting.

A vaccine isn’t the panacea many assume it will be. Even when it becomes available, the virus won’t go away. Real world evidence will be needed to guide decision making.

Hepatocellular carcinoma is rising, and so is the need for increased awareness and use of palliative care, say the authors of a recent review.

NCCN added tafasitamab plus lenalidomide to their oncology practice guidelines for patients with relapsed or refractory DLBCL not otherwise specified.

Kashyap Patel, MD, CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care, associate editor of Evidence-Based Oncology, and vice president of the Community Oncology Alliance, discusses his new book.

A recent survey showed the disruption in cancer care as a result of the pandemic is worrying professionals who provide psychosocial support to patients.

Proposed CMS rules would make it easier for state Medicaid programs to smooth the way for value-based contracts for high-cost gene therapies.

As the American Society of Clinical Oncology calls for more aggressive efforts to bring equity to cancer care, authors in JAMA Oncology say COVID-19 is creating wider gaps.

A new treatment option is approved for patients with a common form of non-Hodgkin lymphoma who cannot have an autologous stem cell transplant.

The American Oncology Network, LLC, has added 5 medical oncologists to its Executive Committee.

“We’ve had advancements, but we need to go faster,” said ASCO President Howard A. "Skip" Burris III, MD, as he stressed the importance of advancing therapies for better patient outcomes by addressing obstacles to patients’ care. “Access to care, access to clinical trials, and access to information are really key.”

Nathan H. Walcker will succeed Brad Prechtl on August 1, 2020.

Federal and state officials have implemented policies and safeguards to slow transmission of the virus. Most troubling were state moratoriums on “elective” surgical procedures.

As I recall the early days of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, what stands out most is its profound human cost and the courage of those who helped our society transcend it. We are in the midst of a time in which the human toll of COVID-19 and the enormity of the path ahead are clear.

Coverage from the Community Oncology Alliance Virtual Meeting, held April 23-24, 2020.

The American Society of Clinical Oncology recommends that cancer survivors who have completed their treatment and are under surveillance with no known evidence of disease are to be kept out of care facilities to avoid developing COVID-19.

Investigators reported in Lancet Oncology that second-line treatments are needed in small cell lung cancer, as few options exist for these patients once first-line therapy fails.

The authors established a claims-based mechanism for identifying patients with lung cancer with more severe patient-reported cancer-related symptoms who could benefit from engagement with health care programs.

Benchmarking, accountability, bilateralism, and scalability are the 4 parameters critical to successful alternative payment models in oncology, said Aaron Lyss, MBA, director of strategy and business development at Tennessee Oncology.

In each performance period of the Oncology Care Model for which we've received data, we've seen different aspects of care that we can improve upon in the following 6 months, said Aaron Lyss, MBA, director of strategy and business development at Tennessee Oncology.