Oncology

Every week, The American Journal of Managed Care® recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

The US Preventive Services Task Force already has recommendations for screening and intervention for obesity, but they often are not followed.

This week, the top managed care stories included speculation regarding who would replace Tom Price, MD, as HHS secretary; a report on breast cancer mortality trends and racial disparities from 1989 to 2015; and the FDA announced new strategies to improve patient access to less expensive drugs.

A new study in the journal BMJ concludes that most oncology drugs approved by the European Medicines Agency between 2009 and 2013 failed to display a benefit on survival or quality of life, even at 3.3 years following market entry.

As the health system evolves it will become increasingly important that practices understand business, explained Tesh Khullar, senior vice president of provider solutions at Flatiron Health.

A research study conducted in a mouse mammary cancer model has found that optimal timing, based on sequencing of immunotherapy agents, is important for treatment efficacy.

A new survey conducted by The Health Management Academy has identified a rapid investment by leading healthcare systems in precision medicine programs, with significant expectations of the impact of real-world outcomes on physician decision making.

There are 2 categories of challenges facing oncology practices as they transition to value-based payment models, said Aaron Lyss, director of value-based care for Tennessee Oncology.

While death rates from breast cancer declined 39% from 1989 to 2015, there are clear racial differences with black women having higher breast cancer death rates than white women, according to a new report from the American Cancer Society.

Clinical trials researching cancer therapies should be more inclusive of a broader range of patients, according to the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Friends of Cancer Research.

October is breast cancer awareness month, and as September ended, a new treatment received the FDA’s approval for advanced breast cancer and another was granted priority review for the adjuvant treatment of early breast cancer.

Drug pricing is one area where there may be potential future policy changes that impact community oncologists, said Dan Todd, JD, principal at Todd Strategy.

Outreach interventions, including mail outreach invitations, may be effective in increasing the proportion of completed colorectal cancer screening, according to research.

Every week, The American Journal of Managed Care® recaps the top managed care news of the week, and you can now listen to it on our podcast, Managed Care Cast.

Key lessons learnt at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's policy meeting: Redefining Quality Measurement in Oncology.

Ensuring access to appropriate data and then using the information to improve healthcare outcomes remains an ongoing challenge-this was the conclusion drawn by panelists participating at the National Comprehensive Cancer Network’s Oncology Policy Summit on Redefining Quality Measurement in Oncology.

This week, the top managed care stories included the end of the latest attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act; a call to better include the patient's voice in cancer quality metrics; and an argument for caution regarding the newly approved CAR T-cell therapy, Kymriah.

Not only do patients with cancer incur higher costs when treated in the hospital outpatient setting compared with community oncology practices, they also have higher rates of emergency department visits, according to a recent study.

After examining over 1000 cases of high-grade gliomas in children and young adults, researchers have split these rare brain tumors into at least 10 different subtypes, which could help clinicians choose and deliver more effective treatments.

As clinical trials get more complex and fewer patients are available to participate in any particular trial, technology is going to be critical for improving patient access to trials and making the whole process of being on a trial easier for patients and physicians, explained Amy Abernethy, MD, PhD, the chief medical officer, chief scientific officer, and senior vice president of oncology at Flatiron Health.

Combining positron emission tomography and computed tomography early in the treatment plan for patients diagnosed with advanced melanoma can help identify the potential benefit of a specific immunotherapy and avoid the risk of non-beneficial intervention.

A new case study of 12 advanced primary care practices found that none provided comprehensive cancer survivorship care, which the authors attributed to insufficient information systems and difficulties identifying survivors.

Advancements in the cancer immunotherapy pipeline are leading to the production of immune checkpoint inhibitors, and a recent report from Global Business Intelligence (GBI) Research titled “Cancer Immunotherapies-First-in-Class Pipeline Dominated by Immunomodulators and PD-1 Like Targets” took a look at the pipeline.

While the healthcare industry moves more toward value-based payment models, oncology practices are at a disadvantage because few payers truly understand the nuances of cancer care to design good oncology payment models, explained Aaron Lyss, director of value-based care for Tennessee Oncology.

Among women treated at health centers receiving federal funding under Title X, the proportion receiving cervical cancer screening tests declined significantly from 2005 to 2015, according to new research.

At the National Comprehensive Cancer Network's Oncology Policy Summit, a physician administrator from the MD Anderson Cancer Center discussed weaving the patient focus into outcomes measurements.

While the FDA’s approval of the immunotherapy tisagenlecleucel represents a landmark in the oncology field, the treatment is far from being a cure and should be viewed in context of its $475,000 price tag, a group of oncologists wrote in a commentary published in JAMA.

Researchers at the London School of Economics and Political Science have developed a multiple criteria decision analysis model, The Advance Value Framework, that payers can utilize for evaluating new medicines that come to the market.

Flatiron Health focuses on helping community oncologists because they still care for the majority of patients with cancer and make it possible for patients to get care without traveling long distances, explained Nat Turner, co-founder and CEO of Flatiron Health.