Latest Conference Articles

A study presented at the AcademyHealth 2019 National Health Policy Conference, held February 4-5 in Washington, DC, found that the adoption of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act has been linked to lower rates of maternal mortality.

During a session at AcademyHealth National Health Policy Conference held February 4-5 in Washington, DC, healthcare stakeholders discussed 3 innovations that are changing the way we think about healthcare: social determinants of health, digital health, and data.

Compared with other payment models, like bundled payments or the Comprehensive Primary Care Program, accountable care organizations (ACOs) have done a better job of saving money, said Rob Mechanic, MBA, senior fellow at the Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and executive director of the Institute for Accountable Care.

Rural communities continue to face health challenges and disparities, with higher percentages of preventable deaths, higher rates of Medicare and Medicaid populations, and much fewer providers, according to a panel discussion at AcademyHealth National Health Policy Conference, being held February 4-5 in Washington, DC.

HHS Secretary Alex Azar outlined efforts by Trump administration to tackle the drug rebate system during his keynote address at AcademyHealth National Health Policy Conference.

Medicare Advantage (MA) provides accountable care organizations (ACOs) with benefits that aren’t available in Medicare’s ACO program, explained Kim Kauffman, MPH, vice president of value-based care at Summit Medical Group.

There has been great engagement in accountable care organizations (ACOs) because ACOs offer a level of coordinated care that patients are looking for, explained Scott Hewitt, vice president, payment strategy and innovation, UnitedHealthcare.

The way accountable care organizations are set up makes them a perfect system of care for high-need, high-cost patients who might otherwise fall through the cracks of traditional delivery models, said Rob Mechanic, MBA, senior fellow at the Heller School of Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and executive director of the Institute for Accountable Care.

Despite their growing prevalence, there is still a lack of biosimilar education amongst stakeholders, said Robert Rifkin, MD, FACP, medical director, biosimilars and associate chair, hematology research, McKesson Specialty Health.

Jennifer R. Brown, MD, PhD, director, Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Center, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, discusses how genomic sequencing plays a role in determining prognosis and treatment for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Theresa Keegan, PhD, MS, associate professor, hematology and oncology, University of California at Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, outlines barriers and facilitators to clinical trial participation among adolescents and young adults (AYAs).

As treatment moves to pill-based regimens in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the cost for patients is increasing, explained Jeff Sharman, MD, medical oncologist, Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and Research Center; medical director, The US Oncology Network.

Dan Mendelson, MPP, founder, Avalere Health, discusses the impact that the shift to value-based care has had on prescribing patterns so far.

The easiest to treat patients are those who have not been ill too long, who don’t have a lot of complicating conditions, who have become depressed at a time in their life where there are clear cut, stressful factors, and who have ample social support, explained Michael Thase, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Mood and Anxiety Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

During the 60th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition held December 1-4 in San Diego, California, Norman Sharpless, MD, director, National Cancer Institute (NCI), brought attention to several advances made in hematologic malignancies over the past year and highlighted 4 areas of focus going forward.

W. Clay Jackson, MD, DipTh, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, department of family medicine, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, discusses factors leading to and telltale signs of clinician burnout, best practices for addressing burnout, and how well the United States health system addresses burnout.

There is a subset of patients who don't respond to monoamine modulating antidepressants, so there has been a focus on looking for other potential pathways for treatment, said Michael Thase, MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Mood and Anxiety Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

There is a lot of disagreement, even within the neuroendocrine tumor (NET) circles, that there are biomarkers that predict outcomes and some that may even predict responses to therapy, explained Thorvardur Halfdanarson, MD, associate professor of medicine and consultant in medical oncology, Mayo Clinic.

Although there haven't been as many new drug approvals for multiple myeloma as there were last year, there are many new agents entering the market and exciting new discoveries, said Robert Rifkin, MD, FACP, medical director, biosimilars and associate chair, hematology research, McKesson Specialty Health.

Patients with Down syndrome are at an increased risk for developing leukemia, but how much of an increased risk depends on age, explained Irene Roberts, MD, professor of pediatric hematology, MRC molecular hematology unit and pediatrics, MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine.

Ibrutinib combined with obinutuzumab had better progression-free survival (PFS) at 30 months than the standard chemoimmunotherapy regimen, chlorambucil plus obinutuzumab, regardless of high-risk genomic features in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic leukemia (SLL) who had never been treated.

While several associations between constitutional syndromes, such as Down syndrome, and predisposition to cancers have been recognized, recommendations for surveillance or clear association between the 2 are lacking.

According to the results of Alliance A041202, an international multicenter phase 3 trial, ibrutinib produces superior progression-free survival (PFS) compared with standard chemoimmunotherapy in older patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and adding rituximab does not improve the ibrutinib response.

It’s incredibly important that patients with Hodgkin lymphoma understand their diagnosis, their treatment options, and their prognosis, explained Alison J. Moskowitz, MD, medical oncologist, clinical director, lymphoma inpatient unit, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Jeff Sharman, MD, medical oncologist, Willamette Valley Cancer Institute and Research Center; medical director, The US Oncology Network, discusses the standard of care for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in the first-line setting and the relapsed setting during the American Society of Hematology 60th Annual Meeting & Exposition in San Diego, California.

Health resource utilization data gathered from the TRANSCEND-NHL trial have found that longer stays in the intensive care unit have a significant impact on the cost of care due to cytokine release syndrome (CRS) following treatment with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells.

W. Clay Jackson, MD, DipTh, clinical assistant professor of psychiatry, department of family medicine, University of Tennessee College of Medicine, discusses how clinician burnout impacts not only personal outcomes, but also patient outcomes.

We’re beginning to understand that mutational profiles can tell us something about the character of the leukemia, said Elizabeth Griffiths, MD, associate professor of oncology, department of medicine, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.