Latest Conference Articles

It is now known that early life stress may have an impact on adults later in life, and that men and women may respond to depression differently, but why that is so is not thoroughly understood. At the 73rd Annual Scientific Convention of the Society of Biological Psychiatry meeting in New York City, May 10 to 12, Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, gave an opening plenary called “Sex Differences in the Molecular Basis of Depression.”

There are ways to identify if a colleague is becoming burned out, but also ways people can identify burnout in themselves, explained Kathleen Blake, MD, MPH, vice president for Performance Improvement at the American Medical Association (AMA).

There are 3 legislative priorities for the Community Oncology Alliance (COA) that keep the focus on the patient and ensure better care, explained Ted Okon, executive director of COA, at the 2018 Community Oncology Conference.

The purpose of evidence-based guidelines is to reduce the level of variation, improve outcomes, and reduce costs, said Derek Raghavan, MD, PhD, FACP, FRACP, president, Carolinas HealthCare System's Levine Cancer Institute.

ALKS 5461 has already demonstrated efficacy versus placebo as an adjunctive major depressive disorder treatment in short-term randomized clinical trials. In a poster, researchers reported on the long-term efficacy, safety, and tolerability of the proposed therapy.

Community practices are crucial for helping to increase diversity in clinical trials, said James Hamrick, MD, MPH, Kaiser Permanente and Flatiron Health.

There are financial burdens related to cancer treatment other than the cost of medication, but patients don't always realize that when they are first diagnosed, explained Michele McCourt, senior director of the CancerCare Co-Payment Assistance Foundation.

Two posters presented at the American Psychiatric Association's 2018 Annual Meeting examined the factors patients with schizophrenia consider when deciding whether or not to take their medications and outcomes of a new medication to treat patients with schizophrenia and alcohol use disorder.

At the American Psychiatric Association 2018 Annual Meeting, held in New York, New York, a panel addressed the role of digital innovation in delivering mental health care.

The old ways that physicians used to coordinate care no longer work and the idea of just hiring 1 person to do it hasn’t been sufficient, said Barbara Tofani, RN, MSN, NEA-BC, administrative director of the Hunterdon Regional Cancer Center.

In a discussion during the American Psychiatric Association 2018 Annual Meeting, held in New York, New York, a panel of psychiatrists argued that private insurance is failing patients with mental health disorders, and that a single-payer system would provide better access and better care for the most seriously ill patients.

Practice reorganization can worsen clinician burnout, explained Mark Friedberg, MD, MPP, senior natural scientist and director of the Boston office at RAND Corporation, who also discussed his solutions for addressing burnout in the practice.

Since the Orphan Drug Designation program was passed in 1983, there have been over 600 orphan drug approvals, compared to less than 10 the decade before, said Stephen Jung, PharmD, BCPS, manager, drug information, MedImpact Healthcare Systems, during a session at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy’s Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting.

In a talk on integrative healthcare for transgender populations during the American Psychiatric Association’s 2018 Annual Meeting, held in New York, New York, Hansel Arroyo, MD, director of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at the Institute for Advanced Medicine at the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital, discussed the Institute’s approach to addressing mental health needs in the delivery of care.

During the American Psychiatric Association’s 2018 Annual Meeting, held in New York, New York, Patricia Newton, MD, MA, MPH, delivered the 2018 Solomon Carter Fuller Lecture, in which she discussed the challenges that face patients and psychiatrists of African descent.

During a workshop, panelists discussed outreach efforts, including Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes, known as Project ECHO, to deliver psychiatric care to underserved patients in the United States and Canada.

Calvin Knowlton, BScPharm, MDiv, PhD, chief executive officer and founder of Tabula Rasa HealthCare, discusses who benefits most from the Enhanced Medication Therapy Management Model, how advances in technology have enhanced these services, and what best practices have been identified.

As The Commonwealth Fund celebrates 100 years, David Blumenthal, MD, MPP, looks back at the work it has done.

Posters presented at the American Psychiatric Association 2018 Annual Meeting highlight methods of treating patients with substance use disorder.

Mental health disorders are both a cause and a consequence of social determinants of health, and providing integrated care that addresses issues outside of the health system will require work at multiple levels, including clinical, policy, and finance, explained Benjamin G. Druss, MD, of the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.

Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, a senior clinical consultant in Emerging Therapeutics for Express Scripts, discusses specialty drugs that have recently been approved, and which we will likely see approved in the remainder of the year.

Sean C. Dowdy, MD, chair, division of gynecologic surgery, department of obstetrics and gynecology, Mayo Clinic, discusses identified factors that cause prolonged delays between discovering an improved treatment or practice and the application of it.

Funding is the biggest challenge scientists and clinical investigators face when trying to find successful therapies to treat advanced bladder cancer, explained Donna Hansel, MD, PhD, of University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine.

Addressing health disparities and social determinants of health can be daunting, but there has been a lot of progress, said Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil, CEO and president of National Quality Forum.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and AI-enabled devices are already making their way into the market and should be able to help make meaning of data in order to improve care delivery, said speakers at the 15th Annual World Health Care Congress.

Practices increasingly need to use technology to deliver care in an increasingly value-based world, said Charles Saunders, MD, CEO of Integra Connect.

Vivor helps patients receive financial assistance by focusing on empowering the providers and making it easier for financial navigators to do their job, said Ian Manners, founder and CEO of Vivor.

Charitable organizations are seeing more and more patients who need financial assistance, said Dan Klein, President and CEO, Patient Access Network (PAN) Foundation.