Latest Conference Articles

Frederick Masoudi, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Colorado, says there has been an increase in focus on outcomes. They allow for systems accountability and focus on patient care.

One of the more popular sessions at this year's American College of Cardiology 62nd Annual Scientific Session and Expo featured a discussion on regulatory oversight and the need for better protection of patients' interests.

Peter Berger, MD, Chairman of Cardiology and Co-Director of the Geisinger Heart & Vascular Institute, Director, Cardiovascular Center for Clinical Research at Geisinger Clinic, thinks the biggest challenges that physicians face when treating patients with acute coronary syndrome is individualizing treatment for patients.

Jeffrey Berger, MD, Assistant Professor, NYU Langone Medical Center, says that improving adherence of therapies in patients with acute coronary syndrome is a major goal.

Childhood obesity is an epidemic in the United States, and one that not only endangers the health of children, but also costs our healthcare system a great deal of time, money, and resources when considering the comorbid conditions that often present as a result.

Michael Farkouh, MD, Director of Clinical Trials and Associate Professor of Medicine, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, says that there are many strategies to both prevent and control diabetes mellitus, but he notes that obesity prevention is key.

The American College of Cardiology 62nd Annual Scientific Session & Expo featured a daylong program on advances in pharmacology. One session in particular, "Pharmacologic Considerations with the New Oral Anticoagulants," focused on the importance of individualized therapy when it comes to selecting antithrombotic therapy for atrial fibrillation.

Readmissions are one of the many Achilles' heels of healthcare. Whether it is a failure in communication, problems with medication adherence, or an overall lack of quality healthcare delivery, readmissions cause many headaches within the system. Saturday at the American College of Cardiology 62nd Annual Scientific Session and Expo featured a discussion on successful transitions of care to help prevent readmissions.

Paul Hauptman, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, Health Management & Policy, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, says that clinicians tend to focus on non-patient focused outcomes.

"There is often a disconnect between research and policy," said Harlan Krumholz, MD, Department of Internal Medicine/Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.

To act as a catalyst for ideas, partnerships, and collaboration among all stakeholders to provoke thought, innovation, and action to address the cost, productivity, and quality-of-life impact of diabetes, obesity, and related conditions and comorbidities on our society, Joslin Diabetes Center convened Diabetes Innovation for the first time in 2012. Highlights from Diabetes Innovation, which took place on September 23-25 2012, in Arlington, Virginia, are available in a special report published by The American Journal of Managed Care.

At the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology, John Radford, MD, reported the results of the United Kingdom RAPID trial, in which PET-directed therapy provided an opportunity to avoid involved field radiotherapy, the current standard of care following abbreviated chemotherapy in early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Ralph M. Meyer, MD, Director of Clinical Trials Group, National Cancer Institute of Canada, Queen's University, offers a counterpoint to the thoughts of Richard T. Hoppe, MD, on the role and utility of radiation therapy in patients with early stage Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Vorinostat added to standard chemotherapy before, during, and after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation reduced the cumulative incidence of graft-versus-host disease in a phase I/II trial reported at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

Adrian Wiestner, MD, PhD, Investigator, Laboratory of Lymphoid Malignancies, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, discusses the patient outcomes that clinical trials have demonstrated regarding the use of targeted kinase inhibitors for the management of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

A unique targeted therapy, quizartinib, was able to clear leukemia cells from the bone marrow in more than 33% of patients with an aggressive form of acute myeloid leukemia marked by a mutation in the FLT3 gene.

Elisabeth M. Paietta, PhD, Professor, Department of Medicine (Oncology), Albert Einstein College of Medicine, defines minimum residual disease (MRD) and discusses its clinical significance. She then describes the methodological and therapeutic challenges that face clinical MRD implementation.

An investigational, weekly, oral proteosome inhibitor called MLN9708 achieved excellent response rates when combined with lenalidomide and dexamethasone as up-front treatment of newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma, according to results of a phase II trial presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

Thomas P. Loughran, Jr, MD, Professor of Medicine, Penn State University, Director, Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, describes the clinical sequelae of large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia, particularly noting neutropenia and anemia, and discusses the pharmacotherapeutic approach.

Ibrutinib, an investigational Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor, achieved excellent results in clinical trials of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) presented at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

Richard T. Hoppe, MD, Professor of Radiation Oncology - Radiation Therapy, Stanford School of Medicine, discussed the current role and utility of radiation therapy in patients with early stage Hodgkins Lymphoma when compared to conventional chemotherapy.

Extended anticoagulation with fixed doses of the oral Factor Xa inhibitor apixaban significantly reduced the incidence of symptomatic recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE) or death without increasing the risk of major bleeding in patients with VTE who had already completed up to 12 months of anticoagulation.

Claire E. Dearden, MD, Consultant Hematologist, Head of CLL Clinic, Royal Marsden Hospital, London, UK, highlights the pharmacotherapeutic strategies for the management of B- and T-cell PLL, noting the clinical outcomes associated with the diseases, and briefly touches on the future of PLL therapy.

"Health insurance exchanges are the first step in the consumerization of the healthcare marketplace," said David Brailer, MD, PhD, chairman, Health Evolution Partners.

An expanding retail marketplace means that there are more opportunities for health plans to develop innovative strategies to reach consumers that are entering the market space for the first time. It is essential for health plans to not only engage these consumers but also to assist them in making good healthcare decisions.

Ashish Jha, MD, MPH, associate professor of Health Policy and Management, Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard School of Public Health, says that there are many challenges facing the quality of data used to transform healthcare delivery systems.

Gail Wilensky, PhD, senior fellow, Project Hope, says that larger payers are introducing plans that reward consumers for choosing high-quality healthcare clinicians with lower co-payments and premiums.

Incomprehensible amounts of data are collected by all sectors of the healthcare industry on a daily basis. It is important for organizations to not only understand how to handle and collect this data, but also to translate it into actionable information that can help transform healthcare delivery. Unfortunately, many pitfalls still exist, and there is a need for better processes to collect clinically relevant and more complete data.