Oncology

Although the Affordable Care Act (ACA) was signed into law more than 4 years ago, many aspects of it are fairly new, which makes it difficult to analyze the impact the law has had on the United States healthcare system.

After Steven Miller, CMO at Express Scripts, announced last week that his company would like to influence the oncology market, Pharma seems to have paid heed.

Targeted biopsy using new fusion technology that combines magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with ultrasound is more effective than standard biopsy in detecting high-risk prostate cancer, according to a large-scale study.

There are currently 2 ways diagnostic tests can make it to market in the US: either through the FDA or laboratory-developed tests. This dual-pathway situation has led to a "buyer beware" market, according to Daniel F. Hayes, MD.

Although there have been some accusations of "cookbook medicine" with regards to measurement guidelines, panelists Dennis Scanlon, PhD, Jess DeMartino, PhD, Phyllis Torda, and Laura Long, MD, do see progress to remedy the situation and make guidelines more effective.

Although the healthcare industry values what it tends to measure, what is measured is not necessarily what should have the most value, according to John Fox, MD, senior medical director and associate vice president of medical affairs at Priority Health.

Education of both patients and providers will be necessary to temper expectations of cancer care treatment outcomes, according to panelists Ted Okon, BS, MBA, executive director of the Community Oncology Alliance, Debra Patt, MD, MPH, partner at Texas Oncology, and Stacie Dusetzina, PhD, assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

One of the early findings from various oncology medical homes throughout the country was that they work, claimed Ted Okon, BS, MBA, executive director of the Coalition Oncology Alliance.

The drug targets multiple proteins that are overexpressed in head and neck cancer, the study published in Clinical Cancer Research says.

The findings, published in the journal Cancer found that women diagnosed with breast cancer were not very aware of the disease characteristics such as tumor grade or stage. The researchers also found a bias based on the patient's race.

Wile several big and small pharmaceutical companies have invested research efforts in developing these complex, and expensive, treatment regimens, early results from trials indicate safety issues.

Daniel F. Hayes, MD, FASCO, has been elected president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

A one-minute look back at the week of January 19, 2015, in managed care, including Marilyn Tavenner's departure from CMS and oncology drug pricing.

Bayer is collaborating with MD Anderson in Texas to develop a questionnaire that will query a patient's disease-related symptoms, a step to include PROs in early drug development which could help reduce adverse effects in the final product.

Amy Berman, BS, RN, Bruce Feinberg, DO, and Patti Forest, MD, MBA, sit on the first panel discussion at Patient-Centered Oncology Care 2015 and discuss advanced directives and end-of-life care.

As cancer care becomes more powerful and people survivor longer, cancer is becoming a chronic disease that patients need to learn how to live with and remain productive. Although the role of payers in survivorship isn't fully baked yet, there is more focus in the area, according to Ira Klein, MD, MBA, FACP, chief medical officer at Aetna.

The Patient-Centered Oncology Care 2014 meeting started off with a talk by Marian Grant, DNP, RN, CRNP, of the University of Maryland School of Nursing, on the topic of palliative care. Although palliative care is appropriate for patients of all ages and in any stage of a serious illness and can be provided alongside curative or disease-modifying treatments, she says she often gets called in very late to offer palliative care to patients.

In 2 interviews with Physicians' Education Resource, LLC, award-winning journalist Joan Lunden and Patrick I. Borgen, MD, of Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, discuss breast cancer in advance of the 32nd Annual Miami Breast Cancer Conference.