April 2020

Editor's Note: A book by Kashyap Patel, MD, reviewed in the April issue of Evidence-Based Oncology™, was previously titled, Dying Without Fear. Due to a change by the publisher, Penguin Random House India, the book is now titled Between Life and Death: From Despair to Hope. The book is available August 1, 2020 This review has been updated to reflect the change in the book's title.

Policy, clinical, and targeted therapy updates in oncology.

Excerpts from interviews with faculty from Florida Cancer Specialists, The Villages Health, and the National Patient Advocate Foundation.

The Association of Community Cancer Centers held its 46th Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit March 4 to 6 in Washington, DC.

From the editor-in-chief of Evidence-Based Oncology™.

“Quest for Value: Advancing Oncology Value-based Care,” this year’s first installment in the Institute for Value-Based Medicine (IVBM) from The American Journal of Managed Care®, zeroed in seniors, a population that’s growing not just in Florida but across the United States. Older Americans are more likely to develop cancer, but thanks to better detection and treatment, they are more likely to survive cancer, too.

Benefits newly available under Medicare Advantage are not well-known to consumers and uptake has been limited. At the same time, CMS has propsed funding the hospice benefit differently, which would allow MA plans to “carve in” to this benefit, creating additional uncertainty.

Whether it is through enlisting primary providers, building a champion workforce, or hiring more specialist consultants, there is no question that palliative programming must be at the heart of our healthcare system’s quality transformation.

Palliative and hospice care services produce well-known benefits for patients living with serious illness and for their families. Benefits include improved quality of life and reduced symptom burden, spiritual and emotional distress, and caregiver distress.