Interviews

There are several reasons as to why precision therapeutics have not taken off for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in the same way that they have for other diseases, said Don Sin, MD, FRCP, MPH, a professor of respiratory medicine at the University of British Columbia and head of the Centre of Heart Lung Innovation, St. Paul’s Hospital.

Evan L. Stepp, MD, FCCP, CPE, a pulmonologist at National Jewish Health, director of the Highlands Ranch Clinic, and an assistant professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, discussed the recent FDA decision to authorize an e-cigarette intended to help current smokers quit combustible cigarettes.

Mariam Lewis, MD, FCCP, a pulmonologist at UF Health and the UF College of Medicine, discusses why women are more sensitive to the effects of tobacco.

Kirollos Hanna, PharmD, manager of Oncology Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, explains the process behind how his practice chooses which biosimilars to stock and provide for patients.

Tackling disparities in diabetes management first requires collecting data and identifying affected groups before being able to take action, explained Brenden O'Hara, RPh, BCACP, from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina.

The American Journal of Managed Care® recently spoke with Nicoleta Dascalu, founding member and advocacy manager of Asociaţia Română Anti-SIDA (ARAS; Romanian Association Against AIDS) to learn more about ARAS, which was founded in April of 1992, just 3 years after the fall of communism in the country.

Camillo Ricordi, MD, FNAI, explains how the outdated FDA classification of islets as cellular transplants has hindered progress in this field for patients with type 1 diabetes.

Kirollos Hanna, PharmD, manager of Oncology Pharmacy at the University of Minnesota Medical Center, discusses the uptake of oncology biosimilars at his practice.

Leslie Eiland, MD, describes the importance of learning from the COVID-19 pandemic when it comes to ensuring continuous care for those with type 1 diabetes (T1D) during future pandemics.

Tonya Winders, MBA, CEO and president of the Allergy & Asthma Network, talks about the shift in focus that is needed to improve care for patients with asthma.

Psychographics is a way of categorizing someone based on their everyday behaviors using data that are collected every time they go to the store or post on social media, said Robert Groves, MD, executive vice president and chief medical officer at Banner | Aetna. In health care, psychographics can be used to positively influence someone to their benefit.

There is a lot of evidence on the disparities in cancer care, but less on how to take those findings and turn them into actionable items to address the problem, said Karen Winkfield, MD, PhD, executive director of the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance.

Peter Dicpinigaitis, MD, professor of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, director of the Montefiore Cough Center, and editor-in-chief of LUNG, addresses the lack of approved treatments for chronic cough in the United States, current off-label remedies, and the prospect of future approvals.

Perry N. Halkitis, PhD, MS, MPH, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health and director of the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies, discusses how the HIV/AIDS crisis and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic parallel one another and how both are teaching opportunities.

Christine Ko, MD, professor of dermatology and pathology at Yale University, who specializes in transplant dermatology, explains the considerations involved with skin cancer–related treatment decisions among patients who’ve undergone a solid-organ or other type of organ transplant.

Regulatory agencies have already begun calling companies out for misdirecting the public about the safety and efficacy of reference products in comparison to biosimilars, and it's important to continue to do so, said Kashyap Patel, MD, CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates.

Dawn Averitt, founder of The Well Project and Women's Research Initiative on HIV/AIDS, has been living with HIV for 33 years.

The Oncology Care Model (OCM) was a great program that led to practice transformation and improved patient care, but there needs to be a way to address the high cost of cancer therapies, said Marcus Neubauer, MD, chief medical officer of the US Oncology Network.

In an interview for ESC Congress 2021, Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, executive director of interventional cardiovascular programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Heart & Vascular Center and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, describes the treatment outlook for patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Therapies that block adenosine triphosphate (ATP) can reduce the irritation that causes cough, and some currently being studied also don’t have taste side effects that can confound clinical trial results, explained Ron Eccles, BSc, PhD, DSc, emeritus profess at Cardiff University.

Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, outlines the benefits of starting patients on sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors while they are hospitalized.

Todd Schlesinger, MD, FAAD, director, Dermatology and Laser Center of Charleston and Clinical Research Center of the Carolinas, explains the process of Mohs surgery for removing skin cancers and preserving healthy surrounding tissue.

Ezio Bonifacio, PhD, addresses barriers inhibiting widespread screening for type 1 diabetes (T1D), and offers insights on whether all individuals should be screened, or only those known to be at genetic risk for the disease.

Michael E. Wechsler, MD, a pulmonologist at National Jewish Health, discusses the challenges associated with differentiating similar eosinophilic conditions, including eosinophilic asthma, from one another.

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, OCM should continue in its current form, said Kashyap Patel, MD, CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associations, current president of the Community Oncology Alliance, and co-chair of Patient-Centered Oncology Care®.

The pandemic has acted as a catalyst to increase the use of digital health and telemedicine, allowing providers to continue to deliver great care and even reach their rural patients, said Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, executive vice president of Texas Oncology.

Rajesh Rajpal, MD, chief medical officer, global head of clinical medical affairs, Johnson & Johnson Vision, addresses ongoing and future innovations in eye lens technology and instruments for cataract surgery.

The emergence of new COVID-19 variants and the lower-than-anticipated vaccination rates could lead to a greater use of pegfilgratim biosimilars in cancer settings, explained Kashyap Patel, MD, CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates.

Having the option of receiving care in their community instead of a large hospital located hours away is not only a benefit for many patients, but research is showing community oncology practices are a low-cost, high-quality provider of care, explained Jeff Patton, MD, executive chairman of Tennessee Oncology and CEO of OneOncology.

Remote patient monitoring includes urgent care uses, long-term monitoring to help keep patients with cancer out of the hospital by monitoring the effects of oncology treatment at home, and even voice monitoring to check for altered mental status, said Elizabeth Kwo, MD, MBA, MPH, the deputy chief clinical officer at Anthem BCBS, and a speaker at the 10th anniversary of Patient-Centered Oncology Care® conference.