- Center on Health Equity and Access
- Clinical
- Health Care Cost
- Health Care Delivery
- Insurance
- Policy
- Technology
- Value-Based Care
Dr Lee Schwartzberg Outlines Challenges With Accessing Multigene Testing in the Community Setting
Lee Schwartzberg, MD, FACP, executive director, West Cancer Center, explains reimbursement challenges that community settings face with access to multigene testing.
Lee Schwartzberg, MD, FACP, executive director, West Cancer Center, explains reimbursement challenges that community settings face with access to multigene testing.
Transcript
From a reimbursement standpoint, are there challenges with providing access to multigene testing in the community setting?
One of the problems with genetic testing is that many of the insurers have very rigorous policies about how they’ll allow testing, and that’s really restricted testing. In some cases even, large insurers have demanded that a genetic counselor do a consult. My own practice has been very fortunate to have genetic counselors for over 20 years, and they are wonderful, but they can be overwhelmed with the amount of patients. So, if we’re going to expand the criteria, then we have to have the insurance say we’re going to pay for this and we also have to have new delivery models of how people get tested and how they’re explained what the results of those testing are. One of the things about genetic testing that’s different than traditional taking care of patients is you’re not just talking about the person whose being tested because it has implications for the family. And so, you have to think more broadly of how are we going to get more people in to test, what is their decision making, how do we inform them on it, and there are issues there of expanded insurance.
POSITIVE Trial Update on Patients With Breast Cancer Attempting Pregnancy
December 8th 2023At last year’s San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, POSITIVE trial primary outcome data were presented on breast cancer–free interval, with women who paused endocrine therapy to attempt pregnancy having a similarly small rate of recurrence vs external controls from the SOFT and TEXT trials: 8.9% vs 9.2%.
Read More
The Importance of Examining and Preventing Atrial Fibrillation
August 29th 2023At this year’s American Society for Preventive Cardiology Congress on CVD Prevention, Emelia J. Benjamin, MD, ScM, delivered the Honorary Fellow Award Lecture, “The Imperative to Focus on the Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation,” as the recipient of this year’s Honorary Fellow of the American Society for Preventive Cardiology award.
Listen
Refining Precision Prevention for Benign Breast Disease
December 7th 2023Many questions remain surrounding accurately classifying the risk of developing invasive breast cancer associated with the benign breast disease diagnoses of nonproliferative lesions and proliferative changes without atypia.
Read More
Promoting Equity in Public Health: Policy, Investment, and Community Engagement Solutions
June 28th 2022On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with Georges C. Benjamin, MD, executive director of the American Public Health Association, on the core takeaways of his keynote session at AHIP 2022 on public health policy and other solutions to promote equitable health and well-being.
Listen
ASH 2023 to Highlight Options in Care for Blood Diseases—for Those Who Have Access
December 7th 2023The 65th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition, which runs Friday through Tuesday in the San Diego Convention Center, will showcase the growing number of treatment choices in blood cancers and disorders.
Read More
Race/Ethnicity May Influence Local Recurrence in DCIS, Adjuvant Treatment
December 6th 2023Disparities in 10-year local recurrence following breast-conserving surgery were seen among women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) treated over a nearly 4-decade span at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, with Black women having the highest rate.
Read More
