Oncology

“Unfortunately, limited access to these therapies worldwide appears to be a major challenge,” the researchers wrote.

Justin Bekelman, MD, director of the Penn Center for Cancer Care Innovation, sat with our hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, for our final episode of 2023 to discuss the importance of collaboration between academic medicine and community oncology and testing innovative cancer care delivery in these settings.

Tiago Biachi de Castria, MD, PhD, associate member in the Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology at Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses how precision medicine tools have aided oncologists in treating patients with solid tumors, while reducing overall toxicity.

Our most-read coverage from the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) 2023 Annual Meeting and Cancer Center Business Summit highlighted ongoing issues in oncology policy and practice.

The approval of belzutifan, an oral hypoxia-inducible factor-2 alpha inhibitor, provides a new option for patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC) following treatment with a programmed death receptor-1 (PD-1) or programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) inhibitor and a vascular endothelial growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (VEGF-TKI).

Our top coverage from this year’s Community Oncology Conference, hosted by the Community Oncology Alliance, included discussions around alternative payment models, shifts in the community oncology landscape in recent decades, and the need for reform in several areas.

Authors highlight key aspects of the California Cancer Care Equity Act, including its focus on Medi-Cal beneficiaries, the requirement for managed care plans to contract with specialized cancer centers, and the definition of complex cancers.

Spanning 22 studies, the analysis illuminated housing disparities, occupational hazards, unequal health care access, economic inequality, and discriminatory industry practices and how they collectively contribute to heightened lung cancer risks.

Positive data from the phase 3 EV-302 trial of enfortumab vedotin with pembrolizumab in locally advanced or metastatic urothelial cancer have shifted the landscape.

Researchers found that core oncology services were less likely to be available at hospitals serving racial and ethnic minority groups compared with other hospitals in the United States.

A new report from IQVIA provides an overview of current US drug shortages, shedding light on major areas of concern, such as medications to address pain, cardiovascular conditions, obesity and diabetes, and multiple forms of cancer.

Alyson Moadel-Robblee, PhD, deputy director of community engagement and cancer health equity at Montefiore Einstein Comprehensive Cancer Center, discussed the center's evolving patient distress screening process and the Bronx Oncology Living Daily support program for patients with cancer.

The US Oncology Network now has more than 2400 providers who treat over 1.4 million patients annually at approximately 600 sites of care in 30 states.

The centers for research are named for Anthony Greco, MD, and John Hainsworth, MD, who founded Sarah Cannon in 1993 as Tennessee Oncology physician researchers.

“The silencing of Black cancer patient voices impacted patients’ health care utilization and had implications for their physical health,” the authors wrote.

In an interview with The American Journal of Managed Care®, Grant Andres, BSc, DC, BSN, MSN-RN, senior director of clinical operations at Arizona Oncology, discussed the nuances of successfully implementing value-based care initiatives across a large organization.

Coverage of the Institute for Value-Based Medicine session with Zangmeister Cancer Center, Columbus, Ohio.

Coverage from the Institute for Value-Based Medicine event with Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Coverage from the Institute for Value-Based Medicine session with Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute.

There is bipartisan support in the Congress for the Community Oncology Alliance's (COA) key agenda items, with hope that some will pass by year’s end.

Adding pembrolizumab to combination of trastuzumab and chemotherapy improved progression-free survival vs placebo plus trastuzumab and chemotherapy in the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic HER2-positive gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer.

A 2022 yearlong initiative at Summa Health Cancer Institute saw 100% of its patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiation treatment referred to an oncology dietician for nutritional support and/or speech and swallow therapy.

Knowledge of the different treatment options available and the eligibility criteria for each will help identify the right treatment for patients with hepatobiliary cancer.