Latest Conference Articles

The goal of medicine is function and health. Clinicians who marry technical skills with humanities can see their patients and themselves in the larger context of family, society, history, politics, and economics.

Presenters noted that this was an important but unusual trial, because it examined drugs not in isolation but how they are used in combination.

Patients who live with rheumatoid arthritis do not die from swollen joints but face twice the risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke.

Be careful what you wish for:  SGR and FFS will be models of the past; the success of the APM and MIPS will rely on compensation, collaboration and participation; and, to date, much remains to be done in the development of quality-based payment reform under MACRA. 

The results point to the need for more study on the effects of long-duration blood pressure treatment to prevent cognitive decline, especially in the highest risk patients.

The results from a wide-ranging public health effort in Howard County, Maryland, show a decline in sugary beverage consumption nearly on par with early results from Berkeley, California, which passed the nation's first soda tax.

A review of data of patients with cardiomyopathy found that those who had used marijuana were more likely to be younger males with fewer pre-existing cardiovascular risk factors.

Telehealth broadly is about creating care connections across boundaries, care that encourages patients’ independence, prevention and wellness; and care that can be leveraged for needed interventions. If we get telehealth right we can reduce impact of what we know is a growing health workforce shortage and concurrently create a healthier, more engaged patient base.

The 12-biomarker test is gaining acceptance among rheumatologists and was recently added to a clinical guideline.

At the Payer Exchange Summit V, sponsored by the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), 2 employer groups and a provider participated on a panel to provide practical insight into the extraordinary challenges and decisions faced by employers and employees with a cancer diagnosis.

When transitioning towards value-based oncology, large employers should look to value-based models that have worked for other conditions, said Karen van Caulil, PhD, president and CEO of the Florida Health Care Coalition. These successful payment models include patient-centered medical homes, bundled payments, and accountable care organizations.

Many oncology practices are still trying to understand the new Oncology Care Model (OCM) structure and focus on data reporting as they simultaneously prepare to adapt to the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), said Barry Russo, CEO of The Center for Cancer & Blood Disorders.

What are some of the challenges that clinical practices will face as they implement the Medicare Oncology Care Model (OCM)? What are some of the strategies that have worked for practices using similar payment models? These were some of the questions discussed at the Payer Exchange Summit V.

At the Payer Exchange Summit V, sponsored by the Community Oncology Alliance, held October 24-25, 2016, in Tyson’s Corner, Virginia, Bruce Gould, MD, presented an overview of how cancer care has improved over the years, what the challenges are, and how practices can adapt to payment reform.

Working under the assumption that the outcome of the presidential race is pretty set, Avik S. A. Roy and John E. McDonough, DrPH, MPA, pondered the potential health policy changes during a Hillary Clinton presidency with a Republican-controlled Congress.

Employers face tough decisions about rising costs, high-quality care, coordination of benefits, and workplace accommodations when employees are diagnosed with cancer, but they will always want to support those employees as best they can, according to Marianne Fazen, PhD, president and CEO of the Texas Business Group on Health.

Adopting the Oncology Care Model (OCM) is a challenging task for oncology practices that have to redesign their practices, but the shift from volume-based to value-based care is the way of the future, said Kashyap Patel, MD, of the Carolina Blood & Cancer Center.

Healthfirst's Medicare Advantage members are largely low income, and actually poorer than its Medicaid members. In order to reach these members and foster trust, Healthfirst makes itself a part of the fabric of the community.

The Affordable Care Act’s changes in payment and reduction in benchmarks in Medicare Advantage raised questions about the future of the program that ended up being unfounded, said Sean Cavanaugh, deputy administrator and director of the Center for Medicare at CMS, during the opening keynote at America’s Health Insurance Plans’ National Conference on Medicare, held October 24-25 in Washington, DC.

Panelists in the Healthcare 2020 series discuss the challenges with the exchanges that will be waiting for the next president, the future of Medicaid expansion, and how the complexity of so many models is burdening ACOs.

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) have been laying the groundwork for the requirements for the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), which will give physicians participating in ACOs an advantage during the implementation of the new Medicare payment system, said Katherine Schneider, MD, president of the Delaware Valley ACO.

The innovative strategy of hotspotting, implemented by the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, was the focus of a session and a panel discussion during the first day of the ACO & Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition.

Panel members discuss the level of physician awareness regarding changes that will follow the implementation of CMS’ recently released Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).

To create flexibility during the transition to the payment system under the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA), CMS has created something called “pick your pace,” explained Kate Goodrich, MD, director of the Quality Measurement and Value-Based Incentives Group in CMS.

In the keynote speech at the ACO & Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition, Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy, started out by providing a broad picture of Medicare reform before narrowing it down to what is happening on the ground.

Healthcare attorney James M. Daniel, Jr, JD, MBA, explained how healthcare providers will be impacted by CMS’ newly released final rule on the implementation of the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) in a session during the second day of the ACO & Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition.

Over the last 4 years, the ACO & Emerging Healthcare Delivery Coalition has continued to grow as a result of the opportunities to hear about innovations in accountable care organizations (ACOs) and to network with a diverse group of people, said Anthony Slonim, MD, DrPH, president and CEO of Renown Health and chair of the ACO Coalition.

The hotspotting technique that Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers uses to care for complex patients shifts away from breaking people into segments based on disease, and looks at the whole make up of a person, considering every disease or social complexity that may be in effect, explained Renee Murray, associate clinical director of Care Management Initiatives at Camden Coalition.