Interviews

Diabetes is a self-managed disease, which makes the role of diabetes education crucial in order for patients to succeed in managing their disease, said Kellie Rodriguez, RN, MSN, MBA, CDE, director, Global Diabetes Program, Parkland Health & Hospital System.

Diabetes educators can help patients with diabetes who face financial challenges make appropriate choices and receive assistance to afford medications, said Kellie Rodriguez, RN, MSN, MBA, CDE, director, Global Diabetes Program, Parkland Health & Hospital System.

The person-centered factors that drive outcomes in diabetes requires hospital systems that can actually address those needs, said Kellie Rodriguez, RN, MSN, MBA, CDE, director, Global Diabetes Program, Parkland Health & Hospital System.

In the last 2 decades, the cost of healthcare has risen, but the expectations of self-management for people with diabetes has stayed the same, which has made it more challenging to live with the disease, said Kellie Rodriguez, RN, MSN, MBA, CDE, director, Global Diabetes Program, Parkland Health & Hospital System.

Jason Mitchell, MD, chief medical and clinical transformation officer, Presbyterian Healthcare Services, discusses how freestanding emergency departments can be utilized in the move toward value-based care.

Devin Incerti, PhD, lead economist, Innovation and Value Initiative, discusses lessons learned and best practices that have emerged as a result of different approaches to value assessment.

Alliances are going to help community oncology participate in things that, as individual practices, they don‘t have the opportunity to do, said Barry Russo, chief executive officer of The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

Triage pathways can transform practices and save practices and CMS money by keeping people out of the emergency department and hospital, said Ray Page, DO, PhD, president and director of research at The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

An artificial intelligence system can digest what would take a person 29 hours to read in about 30 seconds, so everything is right in front of providers at the point of care, says Barry Russo, chief executive officer of The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

Blase Polite, MD, associate professor of medicine and the executive director for accountable care at the University of Chicago, discusses why he chose to focus on the state of the Oncology Care Model at the April 25 meeting of the Institute for Value-Based Medicine.

With all the regulatory changes that CMS and HHS are rolling out, community oncology practices are facing significant changes in how they take care of patients, said Barry Russo, chief executive officer of The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

Using oncology care pathways and treatment pathways has helped practices use evidence-based data to facilitate them to be sure they are using the right drug for the right patient at the right time, said Ray Page, DO, PhD, president and director of research at The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

Community oncology practices need to come together as much as possible in order to respond to changes in the market, have a common voice, and to share best practices and learn from each other, said Barry Russo, chief executive officer of The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

As clinicians learn how to manage patients most efficiently under a value-based care of delivery, they need to identify patients and risk-stratify those patients, said Ray Page, DO, PhD, president and director of research at The Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders.

All providers, regardless of where they work have a role in the shift to value-based care, but independent physicians need to have a voice in the transition, said Sibel Blau, MD, medical oncologist at Northwest Medical Specialties, PLLC.

As the first clinically integrated oncology network, the Quality Cancer Care Alliance (QCCA) brings together the best practices and shares knowledge on value-based care, said Sibel Blau, MD, medical oncologist at Northwest Medical Specialties, PLLC.

The electronic medical record (EMR) can be burdensome but having a good value-based care team collecting data can help, said Sibel Blau, MD, medical oncologist at Northwest Medical Specialties, PLLC.

Results from the first 2 performance periods of the Oncology Care Model (OCM) highlighted areas where Northwest Medical Specialties was doing well and areas it could improve, said Sibel Blau, MD, medical oncologist at Northwest Medical Specialties, PLLC.

Implementing the Oncology Care Model required educating physicians and staff on a new way to do the work and why the changes were necessary under the new model, explained Sibel Blau, MD, medical oncologist at Northwest Medical Specialties, PLLC.

Years before the Oncology Care Model (OCM) was implemented, Northwest Medical Specialties started preparing by making changes to the personnel in the practice, explained Sibel Blau, MD, medical oncologist at Northwest Medical Specialties, PLLC.

The practices in the Quality Cancer Care Alliance (QCCA) are able to share data to improve the quality of cancer care delivered to patients, explained Sibel Blau, MD, medical oncologist at Northwest Medical Specialties, PLLC.