In this segment, the panelists explain how coverage policies vary by payer, and explore the factors that affect the costs associated with different immunotherapy agents.
Michael Kolodziej, MD, discusses how Aetna reviews evidence and takes several factors into account when making payer decisions about supporting cancer research, and explains that different organizations have different processes. Jeffrey Weber, MD, PhD, continues the conversation with an explanation of how different immunotherapy agents have different dosage and administration requirements, which affect overall costs.
Addressing cost differentials and coverage policy inconsistencies is important because what is covered by payers directly impacts the types of treatments that are recommended to patients. As concluded by Daniel J. George, MD, providers want to be able to recommend a clinical trial or other treatment modality in situations where standard therapy is not likely to be effective for the patient.
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.
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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.
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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.
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Lawsuits target initiatives aimed at reducing racial disparities; less than 10% of trials for COVID-19 treatments included children in the first 3 years of the pandemic; the World Health Organization requests more information on increased respiratory illnesses in China.
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