- Center on Health Equity and Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Dr Hossein Kazemi: What Patients With MM Consider When Stopping Therapy
M. Hossein Kazemi, MD, medical oncologist and hematologist, Astera Cancer Care, discusses the benefits of de-escalating treatment for patients with multiple myeloma.
It is important the patient with multiple myeloma has a clear and comphrensive understanding of de-escalating treatment, said M. Hossein Kazemi, medical oncologist and hematologist, Astera Cancer Care.
What are the benefits of de-escalating patients?
Right now, in absence of the prospective trials of deciding length of maintenance, based on [minimal residual disease] MRD, right now, one really important factor that I look at is basically, how much of a burden the maintenance is or pressure is on patients’ lives. And especially for elderly patients, even just single agent [lenalidomide] Revlimid, even at lower doses, a lot of times, it's not a completely trivial thing for a patient to take.
Patients still clearly say in terms of energy, how well they are able to digest food. The off week from Revlimid is clearly different from the 3 weeks that they are on. So that's certainly a factor, the quality of life. That’s the main factor for concern.
Also very importantly, that question at some point becomes, if the patient really needs it or not. For example, I had a patient a few months back that has been that had been on maintenance for over 8 years. And we did a bone marrow biopsy, MRD negative, and the patient has come off maintenance and he’s his last clinic visit, he has been very, very happy that he's not taking Revlimid any longer.
Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Thyme Care CEO and Cofounder Robin Shah
October 2nd 2023Robin Shah, CEO of Thyme Care, which he founded in 2020 with Bobby Green, MD, president and chief medical officer, joins hosts Emeline Aviki, MD, MBA, and Stephen Schleicher, MD, MBA, to discuss his evolution as an entrepreneur in oncology care innovation and his goal of positively changing how patients experience the cancer system.
Listen
Research Points to Potential MCIDs in Diabetes Distress Scale–17
November 29th 2023Researchers identified a value of at least 0.25 to be a minimal clinically important difference (MCID) in diabetes distress, and MCID values of 0.38 and 0.39 for emotional and interpersonal distress subscales and physician and regimen distress subscales, respectively.
Read More
Insufficient Data, Disparities Plague Lung Cancer Risk Factor Documentation
September 24th 2023On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with the senior author of a study published in the September 2023 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® on the importance of adequate and effective lung cancer risk factor documentation to determine a patient's eligibility for screening.
Listen
Study Validates Smartphone Analysis for Predicting Obstructive Sleep Apnea
November 29th 2023Findings show breathing sounds recorded by smartphones during sleep at home can reliably identify obstructive sleep apnea, presenting an innovative and accessible alternative to traditional in-laboratory polysomnography.
Read More
