Latest Conference Articles

It’s very unusual to see significant cost savings in the first year of a program; that was true of all the pioneer ACO programs, said Jeff Patton, MD, CEO of Tennessee Oncology.

Involving providers in the development process of new reimbursement models increases the chance that the initiative will be successful and works against caregiver burnout, said Peter Aran, MD, medical director of Population Health Management at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma.

Don’t underestimate the power that it takes to make sure a value-based program is working, said Sarah Cevallos, chief revenue cycle officer, Florida Cancer Specialists.

The healthcare triangle (patients, payers, and providers) begins with the patient, so we should include the patient in some of the decision-making, said Roger Brito, DO, national director for oncology, Aetna.

The fact that you have certain drugs that treat numerous cancers, and that they may treat 1 cancer different or better than another, would suggest that we should probably have differential pricing models, said A. Mark Fendrick, MD, director of the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design at the University of Michigan.

Insufficient risk adjustment is a dangerous consequence of incorrectly implemented value-based care models, explained Justin Bachmann, MD, MPH, FACC, instructor of Medicine and Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Bo Gamble, director of Strategic Practice Initiatives at the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), believes that broadening communication and education is COA’s main goal in 2018.

Southwest Airlines has set up a split fill program, pharmacy benefit manager, health advocacy program, and a cancer resource guide for employees, said Judy Berger, senior manager, benefits planning, Southwest Airlines.

Year 2 of the Oncology Care Model is about learning from the lessons of year 1 and extending implementation that has already been started, said Terrill Jordan, CEO of Regional Cancer Care Associates.

Quality measures are 1 tool that can help clinicians uncover health inequities and address social risk factors, explained Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil, CEO and president of National Quality Forum.

Julie A. Wolfson, MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine, discusses what clinicians need to be conscious about regarding the outcomes disparities between adolescents and young adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and children with ALL.

The last 5 years have seen a host of new drugs approved for multiple myeloma, improving survival times for patients, explained Nina Shah, MD, associate professor, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine.

Deciding to administer CAR T-cell therapies is an institutional commitment that requires educating all clinicians who will be involved and partnerships with other organizations, said Stephen Schuster, MD, of the Perelman School of Medicine.

Until more data is available, it’s difficult for a practice or physician group to make an accurate assessment of whether or not 2-sided risk is appropriate, said Sarah Cevallos, chief revenue cycle officer, Florida Cancer Specialists. Physicians would need to see clear metrics in order to know if they will be achievable.

Most primary side effects of CAR T therapies occur early on after treatment and resolve quickly, but there are some that require long-term monitoring, explained Shannon L. Maude, MD, PhD, of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Clinical pathways can help providers avoid delays with prior authorization by ensuring that all the necessary information is there, explained Kathleen Lokay, president and CEO of Via Oncology.

Physicians caring for patients with severe congenital neutropenia should be ready to detect issues with multiple systems in the body, explained Seth Corey, MD, of the Virginia Commonwealth University and the Massey Cancer Center & Children's Hospital of Richmond, during a session at the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia.

Electronic health records can be used to measure and record how guidelines are being implemented and followed, but more government intervention is needed to regulate electronic health records and set standards, Derek Raghavan, MD, PhD, FACP, FRACP, president, Carolinas HealthCare System's Levine Cancer Institute.

Based on CMMI's year 1 feedback on OCM, it is clear that a lot of planning is needed and education is crucial, said Terrill Jordan, CEO, of Regional Cancer Care Associates.

Trial results have shown that alirocumab (Praluent) is safe and effective across patient populations, said Jay Edelberg, MD, PhD, vice president and head of Cardiovascular Development and Cardiovascular Affairs at Sanofi.

The FDA was busy in 2017, with a number of notable approvals, including the first chimeric antigen receptor T-cell treatment. In a session at the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, employees from the FDA presented data on 5 new drug approvals in leukemia and lymphoma in 2017.

Opioids are commonly precribed for the treatment of both acute and chronic pain.

A new pathway uses a multidisciplinary team to help reduce 30-day heart failure readmissions, explained Amar Bhakta, MD, of Rush University Medical Center.

In a session at the 59th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Atlanta, Georgia, Brian Curtis, PhD, of the BloodCenter of Wisconsin Blood Research Institute, highlighted drugs other than chemotherapy that may cause neutropenia in patients.

As the healthcare system moves more towards a value-based system, practices are running into challenges with the operational complexities of new payment models. Brenton Fargnoli, MD, medical director of value-based care and director of product marketing and strategy at Flatiron Health, outlined a few ways practices can ensure they’re ready to take on downside risk.

There is some controversy in healthcare about whether or not healthcare performance measures should be adjusted for social risk factors, and Shantanu Agrawal, MD, MPhil, CEO and president of (NQF), outlined both sides of the debate.

Stephen Schuster, MD, of the Perelman School of Medicine, provides a summary of results seen with CAR T treatments in leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma.

Including the modified brentuximab antibody in the treatment regimen improved modified progression-free survival by 5%, although the rates of neutropenia and infections were higher in patients administered the brentuximab-containing regimen.