Interviews

Melissa O'Connor, PhD, MBA, RN, FGSA, FAAN, endowed professor in community and home health nursing, M. Louise Fitzpatrick School of Nursing, Villanova University, and director, Gerontology Interest Group, addressed the impact of food/housing insecurity and other social determinants of health (SDOH) on care outcomes in home health.

Patients have to always come first, and technology can enhance their care experience, stated Anne Marie F. Rainey, MSN, RN, CHC, director of quality and value-based care at Clearview Cancer Institute.

On day 1 of this year’s Association of Community Cancer Centers’ (ACCC) National Oncology Conference, The American Journal of Managed Care® sat down for a conversation with David Penberthy, MD, MBA, ACCC’s president for the 2022-2023 term, and his brother Scott Penberthy, PhD, MS, director, Applied AI, Office of the CTO, at Google.

There have been many silver linings of the pandemic, including improvements in financial, operational, and clinical advancement efficiencies, as well as addressing the total cost of care in population health management, said Mike Koroscik, MBA, MHA, vice president of oncology, Allina Health and the Allina Health Cancer Institute.

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) contains provisions allowing Medicare to negotiate net prices for prescription drugs, but it remains to be seen whether this will translate into savings for beneficiaries, explained A. Mark Fendrick, MD, co–editor in chief of The American Journal of Managed Care® and director of the V-BID Center at the University of Michigan.

It’s important that patients are the healthiest they can be when going into treatment for cancer, emphasized Debra Delaney, MSN, FNP-BC, primary care nurse practitioner at ChristianaCare’s Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute.

Much of artificial intelligence (AI) is now being used in the more mundane areas of health care, figuring out where to be most helpful, so doctors can do what they do best, which is diagnostic care, noted Scott Penberthy, PhD, MS, director, Applied AI, Office of the CTO, at Google.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Matthew D. Eisenberg, PhD, lead author of a study published in the October issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® that investigated the use of high-deductible health plans and their impact on substance use disorder care and spending.

Athena Gierbolini, president of Hope for HS, a nonprofit advocacy group for those affected with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), discusses current knowledge on the impact of diet and other holistic care strategies in the management of HS.

Leana Cabrera Chien, MSN, RN, GCNS-BC, GNP-BC, is a geriatric nurse practitioner at City of Hope, working in its Aging Wellness Clinic.

Different factors have contributed to the lack of racial diversity in ophthalmology residency programs, and these programs build the future of the workforce, said Parisa Emami-Naeni, MD, MPH, assistant professor of ophthalmology at University of California, Davis, and vitreoretinal surgeon and uveitis specialist at UC Davis Eye Center.

Carmen Guerra, MD, MSCE, FACP, is a general internist and professor of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine.

Bhavesh Shah, RPh, BCOP, chief pharmacy officer and director of specialty and hematology/oncology pharmacy at Boston Medical Center, goes over his session to be presented at the fall meeting of AMCP Nexus 2022.

Congress should build on the value-based insurance design (VBID) elements included in the Inflation Reduction Act to further alleviate the burden of health care costs on Americans, said A. Mark Fendrick, MD, co–editor in chief of The American Journal of Managed Care® and director of the V-BID Center at the University of Michigan.

With more and more biosimilars reaching market, there are considerations around whether to keep patients on their current biosimilar or switch them to another biosimilar as the market dictates, said Paul Forsberg, PharmD, director of pharmacy, Minnesota Oncology.

Michael Thorpy, MD, director of the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Medical Center and professor of neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses the findings and implications of his study on the efficacy of JZP-258 in patients with narcolepsy and cataplexy.

Melissa O'Connor, PhD, MBA, RN, FGSA, FAAN, endowed professor in Community and Home Health Nursing, M. Louise Fitzpatrick School of Nursing, Villanova University, and director, Gerontology Interest Group, addressed gaps in research for home health care and progress toward the development of a discharge decision support tool for clinicians.

Athena Gierbolini, president of Hope for HS, a nonprofit advocacy group for those affected by hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), discussed several pressing issues that warrant consideration to improve the care management of HS.

Tom Robinson, vice president of global access at JDRF, explains how to navigate the Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Index and what data can be pulled from it.

Lung cancer screening rates remain low nationwide, and there is a need to better educate patients and clinicians about the importance of screening, said Ticiana Leal, MD, associate professor, director of the Thoracic Medical Oncology Program, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine.

Jason Ezra Hawkes, MD, MS, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist and associate professor of dermatology at the University of California Davis in Sacramento, discussed recent advancements in immunotherapy for atopic dermatitis and what unmet needs persist to address uptake issues and patient-specific care needs.

With multiple pathways and stakeholders involved, there needs to be an arbiter who decides what is the highest quality and highest value care in oncology, said Lucy Langer, MD, MSHS, national medical director, oncology and genomics, UnitedHealthcare.

Elements inspired by the principles of value-based insurance design (VBID) were incorporated into the recently signed Inflation Reduction Act, which could help reduce costs of care for patients, according to A. Mark Fendrick, MD, co–editor in chief of The American Journal of Managed Care® and director of the V-BID Center at the University of Michigan.

At the American Academy of Ophthalmology's annual conference, Rona Z. Silkiss, MD, FACS, an oculoplastic surgeon and owner of Silkiss Eye Surgery, dived into how biologic therapies can be used to treat thyroid eye disease and what can be done to ensure patients have access to these treatments.

Michael N. Cohen, MD, a retinal surgeon at Wills Eye Hospital and Mid Atlantic Retina, describes the differences between wet and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and how gene therapy could help treat the condition in the future.

It is an exciting time in the field of retina for emerging technologies, said Paul Hahn, MD, vitreoretinal surgeon at NJRetina.

Amresh Raina, MD, director of the Advanced Heart Failure and Pulmonary Hypertension Program at Allegheny General Hospital and the Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a board-certified advanced heart failure cardiologist, who is also certified in echocardiography and general cardiology.

Neil D. Gross, MD, FACS, is head and neck surgeon and director of clinical research in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at MD Anderson.