Interviews

Alma Habib, MD, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, talks about the fact that disparities are able to be recognized in leukemia/lymphoma care, but the questions of how to address these disparities remain.

Older patients often face financial challenges on fixed incomes with different payer systems like Medicare, Sarah Wall, MD, The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, says. Accessing treatment centers far away is difficult due to support system disruptions, leading to increased stress and financial strain.

David Adamson, MD, FRCSC, FACOG, FACS, reproductive endocrinologist, surgeon, founder and CEO of ARC Fertility, and past president of The American Society for Reproductive Medicine, discusses the importance of professional guidelines in reproductive medicine.

Positive results from STEP-HFpEF indicate that semaglutide can improve quality of life and functional capacity in patients with obesity-related heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), but large outcomes trials are needed to confirm this, said Javed Butler, MD, MPH, MBA.

Director Takiyah Durham, MBA, and Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew, MD, share how the program is improving maternal and infant care in Pittsburgh, PA, at Highmark Health.

Fabric Health is transforming laundry time into an opportunity for community well-being, engaging families in laundromats to address health needs and connecting them with health care experts and needed social services. Adaptable and problem-solving oriented, the social-impact startup helps to bridge pandemic-exacerbated disparities by meeting people where they are, fostering health equity.

Jennifer Vaughn, MD, discusses how value-based care in hematology should consider cost and financial toxicity, as well as valuable patient experience.

Jennifer Mathieu, MA, senior vice president of professional and government affairs of the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP), described what is in store for attendees during next week's AMCP Nexus meeting.

Ruben A. Mesa, MD, FACP, president and executive director of Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute (LCI) and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses how practices can improve access and affordability to treatments for rare cancers, such as myeloproliferative neoplasms.

Andrew Ho, MD, talks about the importance of searching for what can be modified, such as closer transition to skilled nursing facilities, when working with patients who had pulmonary embolism (PE) and experienced readmission who had nonmodifiable factors and comorbidities.

Aparna Balasubramanian, MD, discusses the importance of measurements such as heart rate variability, but also that there’s no such thing as just 1 biomarker that will give all information for high-risk patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Steven Deitelzweig, MD, system chairman of hospital medicine at Ochsner Clinical School, professor of medicine at the University of Queensland, discusses key findings from a recent study on the accuracy of atrial fibrillation detection devices.

Lower-sodium oxybate (LXB) and sodium oxybate (SXB) were proven equally effective for cataplexy and excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), despite LXB having 92% less sodium.

Sarah Wall, MD, talks about how it’s important to consider patient age when treating older patients with cancer because it will impact so many of them and blood cancers act differently and can be more aggressive in older adults.

A close, updated review of data used to determine how to improve lung cancer screening rates and see who is most at risk of pulmonary complications is necessary to make progress in this area, notes Ajay Sheshadri, MD, MSCI.

Jeffrey Velotta, MD, FACS, attendee and presenter of CHEST Annual Meeting 2023, talks about the phenomenon of an increase in female, Asian, nonsmokers developing lung cancer, and what is being done to address this rise.

Aparna Balasubramanian, MD, assistant professor of medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and attendee of the CHEST Annual Meeting 2023, talks about the necessity of challenging measurements like race-specific equations that can create harmful assumptions.

Rajini Katipamula-Malisetti, MD, executive vice president at Minnesota Oncology, discussed what her practice is doing to continue improving patient care.

Mike Koroscik, MBA, MHA, vice president of oncology, Allina Health and the Allina Health Cancer Institute, discusses the successes and challenges of a population health reimbursement model and gives advice for other health organizations considering a similar partnership within their practices.

Afreen Idris Shariff, MD, MBBS, director at Duke Endo-Oncology Program, Duke Endocrinology, Duke Cancer Institute, discusses how e-consults are addressing specific endocrine immune-related adverse events from immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), reducing time to appointment, and lowering the need for hospitalization.

Rajini Katipamula-Malisetti, MD, executive vice president of Minnesota Oncology, defined value-based cancer care and its importance.

Providers have to know how to manage patients who are hesitant to switch to a biosimilar and payers who have specific preferences about which biosimilar to use.

Margaret Liang, MD, MSHPM, gynecologic oncologist and program director for the gynecologic oncology fellowship program at Cedars-Sinai Cancer Center, discusses the Association of Community Cancer Centers' Financial Advocacy Services guidelines, which focus on providing financial support to patients with cancer.

Kathy Oubre, MS, CEO of Pontchartrain Cancer Center, speaks on the unique perspectives and challenges smaller health care practices may face when entering into alternative payment models and shares key insights for addressing these issues.

Sara Horst, MD, MPH, FACG, gave physicians tips on maintaining the personable aspects of in-person appointments during telehealth appointments and shared how digital health has helped her treat patients.

Ajay Sheshadri, MD, discusses the advantages of attending CHEST 2023 in person and how these benefits can inspire positive change even after the conference ends.

More ovarian cancer drug approvals and treatments have become available since 2014 than in the preceding 60 years combined, emphasized Rebecca Brooks, MD, UC Davis Health.

Madeleine McDowell, MD, hopes these data insights will help change providers' behavior in terms of adopting earlier and more regular screening for chronic kidney disease (CKD).