Mary Caffrey

The big news at the American College of Cardiology meeting always comes early Saturday right after the opening showcase, and this year March 28 will bring the VICTORIA trial—or, a Vericiguat Global Study in Subjects With Heart Failure With Reduced Ejection Fraction (HFrEF).

This week’s selection was one of our most-read articles of 2018.

How can community oncology practices keep up with changing federal regulations and the constant fl ow of new scientific evidence, while delivering quality care in the era of payment reform? The answer, said panelists at Patient-Centered Oncology Care®, is to stay independent by working together.

Implementing alternative payment models in oncology is a complicated process. The models are not perfect, especially the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Oncology Care Model (OCM), although several panelists saw improvements in the proposed successor model, Oncology Care First (OCF).

How well patients say they are faring, both during and after cancer treatment, is more important than ever to payers. But measuring that feedback isn’t easy, and ensuring that measurement is fair to both patients and providers is harder still.

Payers have a crucial role in the future of community oncology, said Jeffery Patton, MD, of OneOncology, because it’s in their interest to help this lower-cost option thrive.

A special issue takes a wide-ranging look at the cost of prescription drugs.

Rebecca Kaul, MBA, vice president and chief innovation officer at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, said the best technology improves the patient experience.

During a discussion at The American Journal of Managed Care®’s Patient- Centered Oncology Care® meeting in Philadelphia, panelists outlined the efficacy of the 2 FDA-approved therapies, Medicare reimbursement for CAR T-cell therapies, and the pace of innovation in healthcare.

Of the women in the 2017 study over age 75, 63% had a mammogram.

Barriers to better treatment start with the basic definitions of heart failure. Classifications in use for decades, such as the New York Heart Association system or the left ventricle ejection fraction measure, need an overhaul, and the field should take a precision medicine approach that brings analytics and biomarkers to the cause.

While there are similarities to the Oncology Care Model, the new model has features “that could have a substantial impact on practices that choose to participate,” the authors write.

With our current issue of Evidence-Based Oncology™ focusing on clinical pathways in cancer care, we look back at one of our most-read papers of 2016.

As today’s employers try to balance the need to provide healthcare for their workers while keeping an eye on cost, they are banding together to learn more about cancer care and how to gain value for the millions they are spending. Last fall during the Community Oncology Alliance Payer Exchange Summit, leaders from employer and purchasing groups shared experiences from their members in a roundtable discussion.

The 2007 paper examined the elevated risks for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes for patients who have schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Writing for the panel, Judge David Sentelle said HHS Secretary Alex Azar ignored predictions that thousands of people would lose their healthcare coverage.

Competing trials are under way that may show that the benefits of SGLT2 inhibitors in heart failure are a class effect.

The article identifies issues such as poor socioeconomic background and lack of family and social support as factors in poor medication adherence, which today are recognized as social determinants of health

The plan represents the latest element of the Trump administration’s comprehensive approach to renal care, which seeks to keep patients from advancing to dialysis. For those who do, the plan promotes transplants and home dialysis options.

The most detailed look ever at data for rosiglitazone, the diabetes drug marketed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) as Avandia, shows the one-time blockbuster significantly raises the overall risk of heart problems or cardiovascular death, calling attention to the need for more transparency in data collection.

This week's paper from our editors-in-chief presented the idea of tying a prescription drug's cost-sharing to its clinical value to the patient.

Results come at the decision point for practices: Will it be 1-sided or 2-sided risk?

CMS said it is expanding coverage of next generation sequencing (NGS) for use as a diagnostic for patients with germline breast and ovarian cancer, paving the way for Medicare beneficiaries to receive more personalized medicine. However, an advocate said the wording of CMS' decision could actually limit testing access for some women with breast or ovarian cancer.

The authors write that the drug's apparent cardioprotective effects in the angiotensin II stressed mice—the decreased fibrosis, reduced inflammation and oxidative stress—all merit further study.

Amid the disappointment that the Camden Coalition's "hot spotting" efforts did not reduce hospital readmissions, we note how a well-read 2007 paper in our archives showed that expenditures on disease management do not always produce a return on investment.

The abstract presented by Kwanza Price, MPH, of Jazz Pharmaceuticals, gathered data from August 1, 2017, and February 28, 2019, capturing the first 19 months of claims data after the biotech received FDA approval for its fixed-dose therapy for 2 types of poor-prognosis acute myeloid leukemia.

Reviews of apixaban in active cancer, Medicare costs after CAR T-cell therapy, and the need for financial assistance for novel therapies.

Results from clinical trials presented at the 2019 American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida.

A pair of interviews on investigational therapies whose sponsors reported updates at the 61st American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition: UCART19 from Servier and a revamped anti-BCMA therapy ide-cel from bluebird bio.

Coverage from the 61st American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition in Orlando, Florida, featured results for allogeneic or "off the shelf" CAR T-cell treatments and bispecific antibodies.