Interviews

Brindley Brooks, who founded HS Connect (HSconnect.org), a patient advocacy group for those affected with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), discussed step edits and other barriers to treatment caused by insurance requirements in the management of HS.

Patrick Burnett, MD, PhD, FAAD, chief medical officer of Arcutis Biotherapeutics, discusses the need for increased research and awareness on intertriginous disease in psoriasis.

For vision-threatening diseases, such as diabetic macular edema (DME) understanding the economic value of treatments can help identify the direct and indirect benefits of different treatments, said Paul Hahn, MD, vitreoretinal surgeon at NJRetina.

To ensure patients will use digital health solutions, they need to be at the table when these tools are being designed, said Amila Patel, PharmD, chief clinical officer, Navigating Cancer.

The ruling by the Supreme Court on 340B reimbursements was narrow, but it sets up a future reimbursement reduction by HHS that is even greater based on survey data, said Ted Okon, MBA, executive director, Community Oncology Alliance.

Gary Owens, MD, president of Gary Owens Associates, addresses how payers can improve outcomes for persons who have pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

There are some similarities among various value-based payment programs for cancer care, but they are not identical, said Susan Escudier, MD, FACP, vice president, value-based care and quality programs, Texas Oncology.

An oncology expert explains how clinical and non-clinical evidence impact the clinical pathway decision-making for patients with NSCLC.

Edward Arrowsmith, MD, describes the value of using clinical pathways in NSCLC therapy and how they are used at his institution, including their multiple sites of care.

Anchalee Avihingsanon, MD, PhD, HIV-NAT, Thai Red Cross AIDS Research Centre, Bangkok, Thailand, is principal investigator of the ALLIANCE trial from Gilead.

Brindley Brooks, who founded HS Connect (HSconnect.org), a patient advocacy group for those affected with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), spoke on the need for awareness among physicians and patients on the clinical features of HS in regard to both physical and psychosocial burdens.

The involvement of pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) in 340B is the “colliding of 2 worlds,” said Ted Okon, MBA, executive director, Community Oncology Alliance.

Telemedicine visits can make physicians more efficient, but the ability to report symptoms can add to the workload burden as staff try to figure out which symptoms need to be addressed, said Susan Escudier, MD, FACP, vice president of value-based care and quality programs, Texas Oncology.

While therapies for type 1 diabetes (T1D) are becoming more advanced, the problem is patients can't access them, said Viral Shah, MD, an endocrinologist and scientist.

Getting a more diverse patient population in clinical trials may be as simple as including paperwork in more languages, but good training among investigators and study coordinators can help identify unconscious biases that may also have an impact, explained Vivienne Hau, MD, clinical assistant professor with the Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine.

Garo Owens, MD, is president of Gary Owens Associates, and here he discusses optimizing treatment goals for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) while reducing care costs.

Personalizing treatment for narcolepsy requires shared decision-making between patients and clinicians to understand the most important symptoms that need to be treated and the right therapy, said Michael Thorpy, MD, director of the Sleep-Wake Disorders Center at Montefiore Medical Center and professor of neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

The ALLIANCE trial is the first randomized blinded trial to investigate tenofovir alafenamide vs tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in treatment-naive individuals who have comorbid HIV/hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.

Viral Shah, MD, an endocrinologist and scientist, discusses ongoing research on preventing bone fractures in people with type 1 diabetes (T1D).

Data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting found non-White patients are less likely to receive immunotherapy for head and neck cancer, said Amila Patel, PharmD, chief clinical officer, Navigating Cancer.

Even though the Oncology Care Model (OCM) ended on June 30, 2022, there are some improvements that practices should continue implementing, said Susan Escudier, MD, FACP, vice president of value-based care and quality programs, Texas Oncology.

Elaine Goodman, MD, MBA, clinical lead for population health management at Mass General Brigham, explains how patient access and engagement with health technologies, and the ways these technologies are developed, has evolved.

Navigating Cancer has found patients, including those who are elderly, are adopting applications to stay connected with their care teams, said Amila Patel, PharmD, chief clinical officer, Navigating Cancer.

As part of the investigation into pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) should delve into how PBMs are impacting and fueling drug prices and set up guardrails to protect Americans, said Ted Okon, MBA, executive director, Community Oncology Alliance.

In retina surgery, obtaining prior authorization is an extra burden, and a delay in treatment for some of these patients could mean loss of vision, said Sabin Dang, MD, ophthalmologist with The Retina Institute.

Understanding that patients who are HER2-low are different from patients who are HER2-positive and -negative means having the right way to evaluate and identify these patients, explained Debra Patt, MD, PhD, MBA, executive vice president of Texas Oncology.

Viral Shah, MD, an endocrinologist and scientist, discusses his research on fracture risk assessment without bone mineral density as a predictor of major fractures in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D).