Interviews

Biomarker testing is a key tool in lung cancer treatment, and Kentucky recently passed a law requiring payers to cover biomarker tests with the intention to address high rates of lung cancer in the state.

Mike Lattanzi, MD, genitourinary medical oncologist, Texas Oncology, discusses recent findings from studies he participated in on targeted therapies for muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

The Protocol AC study analyzed visual acuity gains and cost if patients with diabetic macular edema started on bevacizumab, which costs less, and switched to aflibercept later, explained Jennifer K. Sun, MD, MPH, associate professor of ophthalmology and chief of the Center for Clinical Eye Research and Trials, Harvard Medical School; and chair, DRCR Retina Network.

Jessica Allegretti, MD, MPH, medical director of the Crohn's and Colitis Center, Brigham and Women's Hospital, speaks on current indications for Rebyota (fecal microbiota, live-jslm) in the treatment of recurrent Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), as well as coverage and access-related implications for the drug.

Close to 80% of what influences how long someone is going to live is where and how they live, and we need to pay more attention to that or we’re not paying attention to everything that affects their lives, explained David A. Eagle, MD, of New York Cancer & Blood Specialists.

Differentiating type 1 and type 2 diabetes care is a major issue that needs better understanding, said Kevan Herold, MD, professor of immunobiology and medicine at Yale School of Medicine

Samyukta Mullangi, MD, MBA, oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and incoming medical director at Thyme Care, spoke on how her organization’s tech platform incorporates social determinants of health (SDOH) in care navigation to ensure high quality care and treatment.

In part 1 of this 2-part series on health equity in the treatment of psoriasis, Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, and Bryan Buckley, DrPH, discuss how providers can address disparities in care, specifically with race, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds in mind.

There is a “spectrum” of problems and obstacles in a patient’s way once melanoma has been detected before that patient sees the right physician and receives treatment, said Sancy Leachman, MD, PhD, professor and chair in the Department of Dermatology and director of the Melanoma Research Program at the Knight Cancer Institute at Oregon Health and Science University.

For employers, keeping members engaged with their health care is one of the key factors that leads to better outcomes, said Jeremy Wigginton, MD, vice president of health quality and innovation at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana.

Mental health is an underrepresented issue in dermatology even though numerous skin diseases are associated with mental health diseases, said Eva R. Parker, MD, associate professor of dermatology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and president of the Nashville Dermatologic Society.

The first FDA-approved therapy for geographic atrophy, pegcetacoplan, slows disease progression but does not reverse it, which means providers need to intervene early before there is too much irreversible damage, explained Eleonora Lad, MD, PhD, associate professor of ophthalmology, Duke University.

Davey B. Daniel, MD, chief medical officer at OneOncology, shares his insights on health equity practices, as well as the importance of developing clinical models within community oncology.

Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, executive vice president at Texas Oncology, discusses financial drivers affecting community oncology as well as new advances within cancer care that allow it to be treated as a chronic disease.

Samyukta Mullangi, MD, MBA, oncology fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and incoming medical director at Thyme Care, discussed how the transition to value-based care can contribute to operational and financial risks among oncology practices, and the effectiveness of care navigation platforms in addressing these concerns.

Michael Burger, senior consultant at Point-of-Care Partners, explains that real-time benefit check lets physicians know how much a drug will cost the patient at the time they're writing the prescription, allowing them to give the patient a treatment they know they can afford.

Among these treatments is an aflibercept product with improved dosing for the patient that is coming up for approval in a few months, explained Jeffrey Casberg, senior director of pharmacy at IPD Analytics.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Virginia Wang, PhD, and Matthew L. Maciejewski, PhD, who talk about their recent study on racial disparities in home dialysis, and what more needs to be done to increase uptake and reduce disparities in home dialysis for non-White patients.

Amy Valley, vice president for Clinical Strategy and Technology Solutions at Cardinal Health, discusses challenges presented within the oncology community, and how Cardinal Health is addressing these issues.

Ben Jones, vice president of Government Relations and Public Policy at the US Oncology Network, discussed the Enhancing Oncology Model (EOM), and why it's such an important topic at this year's conference.

Advantages to using surrogate vs clinical end points in drug approvals include earlier access, but there can be concerns about the efficacy and end result of the drug, said Yuqian Liu, PharmD, senior director of specialty clinical solutions at Magellan Rx Management.

Pharmacy benefit manager reform is a major trend in state managed care policy, said Adam Colborn, director of government relations at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP).

Scott Soefje, PharmD, director of pharmacy cancer care at Mayo Clinic, explains the various ways drug dose rounding can reduce waste, reduce costs, and make drug administration more efficient.

Some challenges linking medication adherence to medical cost offsets include the potential of reverse causality, omitted variable bias, how adherence is measured between studies, and the outdated nature of some of the most-cited literature, said Ben Urick, PharmD, PhD, principal health outcomes researcher at Prime Therapeutics.

Manmeet Ahluwalia, MD, MBA, chief, Solid Tumor Medical Oncology; deputy director; and chief scientific officer at Miami Cancer Institute, spoke on the short- and long-term goals for Miami Cancer Institute’s Center for Equity in Cancer Care & Research in improving minority patient enrollment in clinical trials.

Growing bipartisan awareness of issues with the 340B drug pricing program will hopefully lead to reform, says Nicolas Ferreyros, BA, managing director of policy, advocacy, and communications at the Community Oncology Alliance.

Kashyap Patel, MD, immediate past president of Community Oncology Alliance (COA) and CEO of Carolina Blood and Cancer Care Associates, talks about bringing together different stakeholders in the oncology space in order to benefit patients and providers.

Many people believe health equity is such a big issue that there is not much an individual practice can do to address it, explained Susan Sabo-Wagner, MSN, RN, OCN, executive director of clinical strategy, Oncology Consultants of Houston.