Thomas Marsland, MD, talks about financial toxicity and the effect it has on patients.
Thomas Marsland, MD, talks about financial toxicity and the effect it has on patients.
Transcript:
While new, innovative therapies are often being developed in cancer care, these treatments can be extremely expensive. How is financial toxicity affecting patients, and how can it be mitigated?
So, I think that is the biggest challenge we face. We have these great new therapies, but they come at a fairly significant cost. But I think, as one of the other speakers mentioned this morning, the cost of the drug is only one part of a spectrum of costs. You know, it’s the cost of the administration, the cost of managing the toxicities, the hospitalizations, the emergency room visits [etc]. So I think, if all you’re looking at is the cost of the drug, and that drug is ‘x’, versus a drug whose cost is less—but if you’re looking at it as a continuum or more of what they call an episode of care, it may be that although the drug costs more, when you look at the total spectrum of care over a period of time, it may be that the drug actually saves money when you look at other pieces of the thing. A couple of the medical directors from several of the big payer communities have made a point that clearly drug cost is a significant piece, but it’s not the largest piece; I mean end of life care, you know… so appropriate planning, using the drug at the right time and for the right patients I think is one way that we can help to manage that cost and allow patients to get the type of care that they need.
Oncology Onward: A Conversation With Penn Medicine's Dr Justin Bekelman
December 19th 2023Justin 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.
Listen
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
Need for Pharmacogenomic Testing in Mental Health Care Explored at AMCP 2024
April 17th 2024Presenters from Mayo Clinic discussed the benefits of implementing pharmacogenomic testing in mental health care for the betterment of patient outcomes, reducing medical costs, and more at the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy (AMCP) 2024 annual meeting.
Read More