Interviews

Paige Cooke, assistant director, customer engagement, National Committee for Quality Assurance, says that primary care practices cannot effectively deliver patient-centered care without coordinating a patient's care across different healthcare settings.

Ira Klein, MD, MBA, FACP, chief medical officer, National Accounts Clinical Sales & Strategy, Aetna, suggests that oncology practices lack a sense of economic perspective that would otherwise allow them to offer a variety of services to their patients.

Leonard Fromer, MD, executive medical director, group practice forum and assistant clinical professor, Department of Family Medicine, University of California, says that proactivity and community collaboration are the best tools to aid transitions of care programs in new care delivery models.

Kimberly Westrich, director for health services research for the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC), says that the NPC determined many accountable care organizations (ACOs) are not yet prepared to maximize the value of pharmaceuticals in patient care.

Michael Evans, RPh, director, ambulatory clinical pharmacy programs, says that medication therapy management (MTM) programs present various challenges. In particular, those challenges include medication reconciliation, ensuring that patients are adherent to their medications, and clinician prescribing practices.

Avik Roy, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute, suggests that in order to improve the quality of care for the poor, one must examine the holes in the Medicaid program. Mr Roy says that first and foremost, Medicaid beneficiaries do not have access to both primary and specialty physicians to the extent that they should in order for them to receive adequate care.

David Alain Wohl, MD, associate professor, division of infectious diseases, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, suggests that quality management of HIV has, for the most part, been self-regulated. He says that when it comes to HIV management, there is a lack of feedback or "quality improvement mechanisms" outside the managed care setting.

Toby Cosgrove, MD, president and CEO, the Cleveland Clinic, says that because smoking is such a major contributor to our nation's healthcare woes, the Clinic has encouraged college campuses to go smoke-free. This, he believes, will help reduce the large percentage of smokers who adopt the habit while in school.

David B. Hoyt, MD, FACS, executive director, American College of Surgeons (ACS), says that his organization has studied the concept of improving and sustaining quality while lowering costs. They find there are a variety of results when it comes to hospitals creating, meeting, and maintaining quality standards.

Rebecca Killion, MA, McKenna Long & Aldridge, says that patients' adherence to diabetes treatment is anything but simple.

Tracy Watts, senior partner at Mercer Human Resource Consulting, says that health management programs are hugely important.

Anthony Slonim, MD, DrPH, CPE, FACPE, executive vice president, chief medical officer, at Barnabas Health says that being a member of The American Journal of Managed Care's ACO and Emerging Healthcare Coalition is valuable.

John Neal, vice president, EMD Serono Managed Markets, says that this year's EMD Serono Specialty Digest identifies several emerging trends in health plans.

Avik Roy, senior fellow, Manhattan Institute, says that the problem with the community rating provision is that age bands can make insurance costly for young patients.

Eleanor Perfetto, PhD, MS, professor, pharmaceutical health services research, School of Pharmacy, University of Maryland, says that incorporating comparative effectiveness research (CER) into pharmacy curriculums is important for the next generation of pharmacists.

Wayne J. Katon, MD, professor of psychiatry, director of the division of health services and epidemiology, and vice chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington Medical School, says that people with psychiatric illness in primary care settings cost the system twice as much as those without mental illness. Comorbidities such as depression can add to those costs.

Keith Dunleavy, MD, president, CEO, and chairman of the board for Inovalon, Inc, says that healthcare is enormously complex, and that it's being driven across a broad range of audiences.

Farzad Mostashari, MD, visiting fellow, Brookings Institution, former national coordinator for health information technology (HIT), US Department of Health and Human Services, says interoperability is the concept of being able to securely exchange health information, and then appropriately understand and use it.

Lee Newcomer, MD, MHA, of Oncology, Genetics and Women's Health for UnitedHealthcare, says the National Comprehensive Cancer Network is transforming genetic testing by utilizing a tool called the NCCN Biomarkers Compendium, which encourages evidence-based decision-making.

Edmund J. Pezalla, MD, MPH, national medical director, Aetna Pharmacy Management, says that Aetna recognizes the implications of the obesity epidemic and how it contributes to a variety of other medical problems such as diabetes and hypertension.

Christine Strahl, PharmD, MBA, BCPS, specialty pharmacy program manager, HealthPartners, says there are several new distribution channels in specialty pharmacy.

Amy Tenderich of DiabetesMine.com, a web-based news source for persons with diabetes, took part in panel discussions at Patient-Centered Diabetes Care: Putting Theory into Practice, sponsored by The American Journal of Managed Care.

Robert A. Gabbay, MD, PhD, chief medical officer and senior vice president, Joslin Diabetes Center, says that there are opportunities for treating diabetes within accountable care organizations (ACOs).

Peter B. Bach, MD, MAPP, director, Center for Health Policy and Outcomes, says accountable care organizations and patient-centered medical homes are trends driven by macro issues, which include decreased reimbursement to private practices and drug discounts from the 340B program.

The STABLE study compared patients who took weekly tests compared with those who tested less regularly, and found that those who tested weekly had better results than those who did not.

Gary Liska, with Alere Home Monitoring Inc, says Alere's commitment to patients' safety is why they supported the STABLE study.

Robert A. Gabbay, MD, PhD, chief medical officer and senior vice president of Joslin Diabetes Center, highlights why stakeholders should attend the Patient-Centered Diabetes Care: Putting Theory into Practice event on April 10-11, in Princeton, NJ.

Edmund J. Pezalla, MD, MPH, national medical director, Aetna Pharmacy Management, says Aetna engages consumers in decision-making in a variety of ways.