Interviews

Shared decision-making helps dermatologists align treatment plans with patient needs, improving adherence and outcomes.

Despite its potential, incorporating new treatments like T-DXd into a first-line setting faces several barriers, explains Michael Hassett, MD, MPH, chief quality officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Emilie Aschenbrenner, PharmD, BCOP, highlights how measurable residual disease (MRD) testing can support value-based care in multiple myeloma by guiding personalized treatment intensity, potentially reducing costs and improving outcomes.

Clayton Irvine, PharmD, MBA, MS, emphasized that optimizing value-based access to cell and gene therapies requires standardized care protocols, coordinated transitions between care settings, careful evaluation of prior authorization and financial assistance options, and formulary decisions that balance clinical outcomes with both direct and indirect costs to patients and institutions.

Amir Fathi, MD, leukemia specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, discusses the importance of advocacy by both patients and their treatment team and key distinct toxicities that require vigilance.

Emilie Aschenbrenner, PharmD, BCOP, discusses how integrating CD38-targeted therapies into first-line treatment for transplant-ineligible multiple myeloma requires balancing clinical benefit, cost, and insurance coverage.

Clayton Irvine, PharmD, MBA, MS, discusses strategies to address payer-driven biosimilar and prior authorization challenges through integrated digital solutions, while advocating for flexible, regularly reviewed treatment pathways supported by molecular tumor boards and artificial intelligence to balance standardization with personalized, biomarker-driven oncology care.

Clayton Irvine, PharmD, MBA, MS, explains that leveraging high-quality, real-world data; cross-institutional collaboration; standardized care pathways; advanced technologies; and integrated academic–community oncology partnerships can improve treatment decision-making, reduce financial toxicity, address drug shortages, and optimize infusion center efficiency.

Continuing his interview about these results, CEPHEUS lead investigator Saad Z. Usmani, MD, MBA, FACP, FASCO, highlights the minimal residual disease negativity findings.

Explore the disparities in multiple myeloma treatment and how new initiatives aim to improve clinical trial participation among underrepresented patients during a conversation with Joseph Mikhael, MD, MEd, FRCPC, FACP, FASCO, chief medical officer of the International Myeloma Foundation.

Jason Bergsbaken, PharmD, MBA, BCOP, highlights the growing role of real-world data in validating or de-implementing therapies, the need for vigilant postapproval outcomes monitoring, and the value of academic–community oncology partnerships.

Janet Pope, MD, MPH, discusses screening and diagnostic approaches for interstitial lung disease in patients with systemic sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and other connective tissue diseases.

Accessing pediatric dermatology care is challenging due to a shortage of specialists and general dermatologists' reluctance to treat children, but increasing their comfort level with seeing children could help bridge the gap, explained Elizabeth Garcia Creighton, of University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Artificial intelligence–powered insulin dosing and virtual coaching offer faster answers and convenience, but accuracy and oversight are key to building trust.

Social drivers of health are determined primarily by an individual’s economic stability, access to quality education, and health care. These factors also play a key role in the proportion of moderate-to-vigorous-intensity physical activity (MVPA) in an individual’s lifetime, which can also impact their cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk.

Cilta-cel’s mechanism of action allows it to penetrate challenging areas of multiple myeloma, providing deep and durable responses even in high-risk patients, explains Surbhi Sidana, MD, MBBS, Stanford University. Still, safety trade-offs should always be a consideration, she adds.

Hadar Avihai Lev-Tov, MD, argues that integrating dermatologists into multidisciplinary health care teams is crucial for providing comprehensive patient care.

In this second part of his interview with The American Journal of Managed Care®, Sanjay Doddamani, MD, MBA, a former senior advisor to CMMI and founder and CEO of Guidehealth, continues a dialogue on the future of value-based care and the promise—and limits—of AI-enabled innovation, reflecting on challenges like rising Medicare costs and patients’ growing financial burdens.

In this retrospective study, Rakendu Rajendran, MBBS, and colleagues found higher rates of myocardial infarction and major adverse cardiovascular events in males and increased stroke incidence in females, among cannabinoid users.

Amy Paller, MD, pediatric dermatologist and clinical researcher at Northwestern Medicine's Feinberg School of Medicine, discussed the potential impact of reducing immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels in pediatric patients with atopic dermatitis.

Vivek Bhalla, MD, Stanford, calls for greater awareness and implementation of existing screening guidelines to help identify patients who may benefit from more targeted, disease-specific interventions for hypertension in the setting of primary aldosteronism.

There are key steps to take that can ensure equitable access to pegcetacoplan, explained Carla Nester, MD, MSA, FASN, who also highlighted remaining questions on long-term outcomes, safety, and pediatric use.

Rayan Salih, MD, a third-year internal medicine resident with the Northeast Georgia Health System, who hopes to specialize in cardiology, presented the poster, “Double Trouble: Pregnancy Challenges in Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction and Cardiac Amyloidosis.”

Compared with previous surgical iterations of the procedure, explains Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, MBA, FACC, FAHA, FESC, MSCAI, Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital, newer and FDA-approved catheter-based approaches are beneficial and safe.

Varsha Tanguturi, MD, cardiologist and DETECT AS investigator, presented new data on how the findings she and her colleagues saw indicate almost universal increases in rates of aortic valve replacement in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS), across both provider and patient groups.

Khush Kharidia, MD, a third-year internal medicine resident at UT Southwestern, presented the oral abstract, “Evaluating the Quality, Accuracy and Health Impact of Cholesterol-Related Content on TikTok: A Social Media Analysis,” at ASPC 2025 Congress on CVD Prevention.

Alexandra M. Trevino, MD, of Northwestern Medicine presented the oral abstract, "Trends in New-Onset Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy Among US Adults by Place of Birth and Hispanic Ethnic Origin Group," on day 1 of the ASPC Congress on CVD Prevention.

The investigators discuss key factors driving persistent ovarian cancer mortality disparities by age, race, and geography, and propose targeted public health and clinical interventions to address them.

As rates of childhood obesity rise, clinicians call for increased data collection to support insurance coverage and safe use of glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) medications in children under 12 years.

In this first part of an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care®, Julia Rotow, MD, thoracic oncologist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the critical need to test for biomarkers to afford patients the chance to benefit from recent treatment advances.