Latest Conference Articles

Both political parties want to lower the price of drugs, but differ in how they think it should be done. Gail Wilensky, PhD, of Project HOPE, explained her opinion that spurring more competition would be a more successful approach than directly implementing price controls.

Data breaches and cyberattacks can have costly and damaging consequences for healthcare organizations, but there are some steps that can be taken to mitigate the risk and impact of these incidents, explained Lee Barrett, executive director of the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission.

Ideally, researchers determining the clinical and economic effects of a new treatment would have both short-term and long-term data, explained Steve Pearson, MD, MSc, president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review. If not all of this data is available, however, they may have to use surrogate outcomes or perform indirect comparisons.

The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) is forging ahead with its COA Patient Advocacy Network (CPAN), says Rose Gerber, director of patient advocacy for COA. The network’s major focuses include increasing its presence and making it easier for community practices to get involved.

According to Eda Cengiz, MD, MHS, FAAP, associate professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine, diabetes management technology is just beginning and can have a positive impact on the daily lives of diabetes patients.

By aligning payers to care about population health and social determinants of health, it will help improve the health of the community as a whole, said Michael Griffin, president and CEO of Daughters of Charity Services.

Though no country has a drug pricing system that would work perfectly in the United States, there are many components that could potentially be adapted for use here, like strengthened price negotiation abilities, said Clifford Goodman, PhD, moderator at the ACO Coalition spring live meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona, and senior vice president and director at the Center for Comparative Effectiveness Research at the Lewin Group.

Prescribers and pharmacies can encounter some unique challenges when specialty drugs are e-prescribed, but organizations like the National Council for Prescription Drug Programs are trying to make the process smoother, explained Laura Topor, president of Granada Health.

Informed consent is one of the principal values in healthcare, but it should include discussions about cost, said Jacqueline Glover, PhD, professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Denver. Glover also discussed the need to clarify the language surrounding end-of-life care.

CareMore has launched an integrated delivery model that provides primary care to patients while at the dentist’s office, with the idea of maximizing the value of each encounter with the healthcare system, explained Sachin H. Jain, MD, MBA, president and CEO.

As more practices adopt the COME HOME model, they are adapting it to fit their needs, explained Barbara McAneny, MD, chief medical officer of New Mexico Oncology Hematology Consultants. However, some practices may not have the resources to keep up with data collection requirements while ramping up clinical interventions.

Nina Brown-Ashford, MPH, CHES, deputy group director at the CMS Innovation Center, discusses how Medicare’s Diabetes Prevention Program will help improve population health and contain the high costs of diabetes care.

Value-based care strategies will continue to progress no matter who occupies the White House, according to Gail Wilensky, PhD, of Project HOPE. HHS Secretary Tom Price has indicated his support for limited demonstrations, but Wilensky predicts he will continue to push against large-scale mandatory demonstrations.

As practices adopt the Oncology Care Model, practices should consider how this change will influence the practice and make efforts to continue engaging with the staff during this process, said Basit Chaudhry, MD, PhD, founder of Tuple Health.

Material suppliers, manufacturers, pharmacies, and rebate programs all contribute to the rising prices of insulin, according to Alan Carter, PharmD, principal investigator and senior advisor at MRIGlobal, and adjunct faculty at University of Missouri—Kansas City School of Pharmacy.

According to Steve Pearson, MD, MSc, president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), patient perspectives are critical for determining meaningful outcomes and helping to guide the cost-effectiveness review process.

According to its CEO and president Michael Griffin, Daughters of Charity is undertaking a number of projects that use technology to improve care coordination and communication.

Differential pricing structures are necessary for products with surrogate endpoints and to account for revolutionizing treatments in order to have a more sustainable value equation, according to Scott Ramsey, MD, PhD, of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

As a cancer survivor, Rose Gerber, director of patient advocacy for the Community Oncology Alliance, is personally aware of the many long-term issues that can arise during survivorship. These can include physical effects like bone health and emotional issues like the fear of recurrence.

The shift to value-based payment models necessitates greater exchange of data and analytics, including the use of personal health information (PHI), said Lee Barrett, executive director of the Electronic Healthcare Network Accreditation Commission. This heightened amount of data being transferred makes it essential for organizations to have procedures in place that mitigate the risk of data breaches or attacks.

Diabetes patients will be more satisfied with treatment when they perceive benefits and will continue treatment when physicians keep in contact and point out the progress, says William Polonsky, PhD, CDE, president of the Behavioral Diabetes Institute and associate clinical professor at University of California, San Diego.

Real-time prescription benefit transactions are designed to give clinicians essential information on an individual patient’s benefits before writing a prescription, according to Laura Topor, president of Granada Health.

Eda Cengiz, MD, MHS, FAAP, associate professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine addresses the improvements that are needed in the future of closed-loop systems for diabetes treatment.

As Republicans work to reform Medicaid, they must contend with questions about the appropriate financial support level and the grant structure of the program, according to Gail Wilensky, PhD, of Project HOPE.

Clinicians have obligations of justice when treating patients, which can lead to difficult decisions on how to ethically allocate limited resources to patients as a whole, said Jacqueline Glover, PhD, professor in the Department of Pediatrics and the Center for Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Colorado Denver.

Oncologists envision a move towards using data to become a learning health system, which is aided by the changing landscape emphasizing quality and value, explained Bobby Green, MD, MSCE, senior vice president of clinical oncology at Flatiron Health.

Value-based price benchmarks can help payers determine whether a drug’s price aligns with its ability to help patients, which can then facilitate the innovation and uptake of new therapies, said Steve Pearson, MD, MSc, president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER).

Nearly 12 years after Hurricane Katrina caused devastating damage and flooding in New Orleans, the city has still not completely recovered, although there is now a stronger infrastructure for primary care, according to Michael Griffin, president and CEO of Daughters of Charity Services.