Latest Conference Articles

During a session on the first day of the 59th Annual Meeting and Exposition of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, Georgia, physicians shared current knowledge on cardiovascular toxicities of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) as well as the potential for treatment-free remission with these agents.

In a large population of patients who died from hematologic malignancies, the majority spent over 120 days at home in the last 6 months of life. Certain demographic features, such as age and gender, indicate which patients are more likely to die at home and suggest an important role for access to caregiver support, according to an abstract presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, Georgia.

A secondary analysis presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology found that all individual symptoms of myeloproliferative neoplasms correlate with quality of life (QoL), and having either 1 severe symptom or having multiple symptoms of moderate intensity was meaningfully correlated with QoL reduction.

As people get more empowered and more informed with data, such as their own electronic medical records, they will utilize the information to do better for themselves and improve their health, said Lucio Gordan, MD, of Florida Cancer Specialists.

Acute myeloid leukemia treatment episodes such as high-intensity chemotherapy, low-intensity chemotherapy, hematopoietic stem cell transplant, and relapsed-refractory patient episodes pose a significant substantial burden, according to an analysis presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Atlanta, Georgia.

Patients with AL amyloidosis from lower socioeconomic status groups, defined in terms of education or employment, conveyed lower health-related quality of life compared to patients with more years of education and/or professional/managerial positions, according to an abstract presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

Pharmaceutical companies would like to see value-based contracts that are multi-year and over large populations, said Ira Klein, MD, MBA, FACP, senior director of healthcare quality strategy for the Strategic Customer Group at Janssen Pharmaceuticals.

An analysis presented at the 59th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology showed that against a 3-year horizon, ibrutinib succeeds in overall survival (OS) and progression free suvrvival (PFS) over hematopoetic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) in the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia with 17p deletion. Against a lifetime horizon, ibrutinib still proved to be superior in OS and PFS over HSCT, but is no longer cost saving as treatment costs continue.

A demonstration of federally qualified health centers across the country found a decline in multiple measures of professional satisfaction, workplace environment, and workplace culture, said Dr Mark Friedberg, MD, MPP, Senior Natural Scientist, Director, Boston Office, RAND Corporation

A panel on the importance of clinical and non-clinical stakeholders in a patient’s care trajectory brought together a diverse group of stakeholders at The American Journal of Managed Care®’s Patient-Centered Oncology Care® meeting.

Barbara Balik, EdD, MS, RN, co-founder, Aefina Partners; senior faculty, Institute of Healthcare Improvement, explains the importance of addressing clinician burnout and the effects its if isn't addressed.

Vivor has a provider-facing technology platform that empowers providers to address financial toxicity by proactively identifying financial resources for their patients, said Ian Manner, MBA, co-founder, CEO, Vivor.

Clay Alspach, JD, principal, Leavitt Partners, explains how biosimilars will be affected by changes in the FDA under Scott Gottlieb's leadership.

As the American Heart Association (AHA) rolls out its new hypertension guidelines, it has developed a 2-pronged approach for how to get the message out and drive awareness about the new guidelines and recommended lifestyle changes, explained Mary Ann Bauman, MD, of AHA.

We need to educate both the public and providers on medication-assisted treatment and understand that it is not substituting one drug for another, said Frank James, MD, JD, of American Society of Addiction Medicine.

Documenting when a patient falls outside of a recommended pathway has the dual benefits of improving the algorithm and helping a provider get reimbursed faster, explained Torrie K. Fields, MPH, senior program manager of Palliative Care Program Design & Implementation for Blue Shield of California.

Workload, work-life integration, and flexibility in daily work are among the factors that can exacerbate or cause clinician burnout, said Barbara Balik, EdD, MS, RN, Co-Founder, Aefina Partners; Senior Faculty, Institute of Healthcare Improvement.

The evolution of the navigator role has been an important development in cancer care, according to panelists who offered various perspectives on helping patients along the cancer journey.

The biggest challenge of implementing behavioral interventions to improve care for patients with cardiovascular disease is reimbursement models, said Justin Bachmann, MD, MPH, FACC, Cardiologist and Clinical Investigator, Instructor of Medicine and Health Policy, Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

High chemotherapy costs are only one reason for the rising cost of cancer care. End-of-life care and hospitalizations are within an oncologist's control and must be better managed given new reimbursement structures.

When shifting to the value-based care model, organizations should do a few things at a time instead of trying to do too much as once, said Dr Mark Friedberg, MD, MPP, Senior Natural Scientist, Director, Boston Office, RAND Corporation.

The new hypertension guidelines made major changes to the classification of blood pressure, in general, and changed the name of one category to convey more importance, explained Robert Carey, MD, MACP, professor of medicine and dean emeritus at the University of Virginia.

New results on alirocumab (Praluent) show that it is safe and effective for patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), and yet these patients are faced with an unprecedented situation where some payers refuse to pay for the therapy, said Jay Edelberg, MD, PhD, vice president and head of Cardiovascular Development and Cardiovascular Affairs at Sanofi.

Reimbursement policy has been a driver of change in the way hospitals handle heart failure patients.

The findings, presented at the 2017 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions, suggest that a "precision medicine" approach to tailoring adherence strategies to individual patients may be needed, according to the study's lead author.

Recent results from a team-based, scalable intervention to promote medication adherence highlighted that the relationship between adherence and clinical outcomes is not always clear cut, said Niteesh Choudhry, MD, PhD, associate professor at Harvard Medical School.

The outcomes in the COMPASS trial of rivaroxaban to treat patients with peripheral artery disease have been very positive, and a new analysis has looked at the cost impact of bringing the drug to market, explained Andre Lamy, MD, MHSc, FRSC, a cardiac surgeon with the Population Health Research Institute in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

It is important to treat addiction as a chronic disease and to address the stigmatization of both the addiction and the treatments we have available to treat it, said Dr Frank James, MD, JD, of American Society of Addiction Medicine.

The analysis presented at the American Heart Association looks strictly at healthcare costs, but a broader cost-effectiveness study is planned that will consider drug costs as well as effect on patient quality of life.

Researchers presenting at the American Heart Association look at specific populations within 2 large diabetes drug trials, CANVAS and EMPA-REG OUTCOME.