Interviews

Elements inspired by the principles of value-based insurance design (VBID) were incorporated into the recently signed Inflation Reduction Act, which could help reduce costs of care for patients, according to A. Mark Fendrick, MD, co–editor in chief of The American Journal of Managed Care® and director of the V-BID Center at the University of Michigan.

At the American Academy of Ophthalmology's annual conference, Rona Z. Silkiss, MD, FACS, an oculoplastic surgeon and owner of Silkiss Eye Surgery, dived into how biologic therapies can be used to treat thyroid eye disease and what can be done to ensure patients have access to these treatments.

Michael N. Cohen, MD, a retinal surgeon at Wills Eye Hospital and Mid Atlantic Retina, describes the differences between wet and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and how gene therapy could help treat the condition in the future.

It is an exciting time in the field of retina for emerging technologies, said Paul Hahn, MD, vitreoretinal surgeon at NJRetina.

Amresh Raina, MD, director of the Advanced Heart Failure and Pulmonary Hypertension Program at Allegheny General Hospital and the Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a board-certified advanced heart failure cardiologist, who is also certified in echocardiography and general cardiology.

Neil D. Gross, MD, FACS, is head and neck surgeon and director of clinical research in the Department of Head and Neck Surgery at MD Anderson.

Richard C. Allen, MD, PhD, FACS, an oculoplastic surgeon at Texas Children's Hospital and a professor at Baylor College of Medicine, spoke on how oculoplastic surgery in pediatric patients has changed at the American Academy of Ophthalmology's 2022 conference.

Advances in imaging and data science are changing the nature of retina practice, and retina specialists need to stay on top of these, said Michael F. Chiang, MD, director of the National Eye Institute (NEI), who also discussed some of the current research the agency is conducting into artificial intelligence (AI) and telemedicine.

Co-hosted by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, the most recent Institute for Value-Based Medicine® event took place on September 22, with a focus on improving cancer care delivery through innovation.

Gene therapy can be used to treat retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited eye disease, and there is likely to be an increase in approved gene therapies for ophthalmic conditions, explained Michel Michaelides, MD, FACP, a consultant ophthalmologist and a professor of ophthalmology at the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology's Genetics Department.

The ophthalmology practice of the future will need to manage patients more efficiently and that means incorporating more technology, said Ravi Goel, MD, spokesperson for the AAO and ophthalmologist at Regional Eye Associates in New Jersey.

Targeted therapies have improved outcomes for patients with lung cancer, but the goal needs to be tailoring the right therapy to the right patient, said Ticiana Leal, MD, associate professor, director of the Thoracic Medical Oncology Program, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine.

There has been a sea change in how retina specialists treat retinal diseases, with a progressive shift toward more utilization of anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), said Paul Hahn, MD, vitreoretinal surgeon at NJRetina.

Ophthalmology is image heavy, which has made the specialty amenable to telemedicine and the implementation of artificial intelligence, said Grayson Armstrong, MD, medical director, ophthalmic emergency services at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and instructor in ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School.

During the Parker Heath Lecture at the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) annual meeting, James Madara, MD, CEO of the American Medical Association (AMA), will discuss the 3 arcs of the AMA’s strategic framework and the innovation that needs to occur.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) annual meeting will present cutting-edge topics on retinal disease, as well as feature a presentation from historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, said Ravi Goel, MD, spokesperson for AAO and ophthalmologist at Regional Eye Associates in New Jersey.

When converting a patient to a biosimilar, having clear and consistent messaging will reduce confusion and prevent patients from having a lack of trust in the process, said Paul Forsberg, PharmD, director of pharmacy, Minnesota Oncology.

When mapping out treatment strategy, it is important to first establish dominant disease physiology in patients who have heart failure (HF) and pulmonary hypertension, explained Allegheny Health Network's Amresh Raina, MD.

Jason Ezra Hawkes, MD, MS, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist and associate professor of dermatology at the University of California Davis in Sacramento, spoke on the importance of shared decision-making in deciding which biologic would best alleviate disease burden in patients with moderate to severe atopic dermatitis.

During the Quality Cancer Care Alliance Summer 2022 National Leadership Summit, Hatim Husain, MD, discusses how HER2 exploration in lung cancer differs from that in breast cancer, as well as novel therapies being explored for HER2 and other disease targets.

Athena Gierbolini, president of Hope for HS, a nonprofit advocacy group for those affected by hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), spoke on the surgical and therapeutic interventions she’s had for the management of HS.

On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we speak with 2 authors of an article in the September issue of The American Journal of Managed Care®, which focused on the results of their evaluation of an intensive, community-based care management program for dual-eligible Medicaid ACO high-risk patients.

Teleophthalmology not only improves access to care and lowers the cost of care, but it can reduce rates of vision loss for patients with type 2 diabetes, said Parisa Emami-Naeni, MD, MPH, assistant professor of ophthalmology at University of California, Davis, and vitreoretinal surgeon and uveitis specialist at UC Davis Eye Center.

Patrick Burnett, MD, PhD, FAAD, chief medical officer of Arcutis Biotherapeutics, discusses clinical recommendations for patients with moderate to severe psoriasis, particularly the need for shared decision-making.

Being able to use minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity to make treatment decisions, such as stopping maintenance therapy, can have savings related to cost and quality of life (QOL) for patients, said Ajay Nooka, MD, MPH, FACP, associate professor, Winship Cancer Institute.

Athena Gierbolini, president of Hope for HS, a nonprofit advocacy group for those affected by hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), discussed the misconceptions she faced from clinicians regarding her clinical symptoms of HS prior to diagnosis.

Amresh Raina, MD, is director of the Advanced Heart Failure and Pulmonary Hypertension Program at Allegheny General Hospital and the Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Biomarker testing should be done on all patients with an initial diagnosis of advanced nonsquamous non–small cell lung cancer, but the testing rates in the real world are lower than they should be, particularly for underserved or minority populations, said Ticiana Leal, MD, associate professor, director of the Thoracic Medical Oncology Program, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine.

In this interview with The American Journal of Managed Care® (AJMC®), Igor Puzanov, MD, of Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center and Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University of Buffalo, discusses the state of treatment selection in the setting of resected advanced melanoma, why sequencing of therapies does not occur in the setting of adjuvant therapy, and best practices to keep in mind for patient education and managing their treatment-related toxicities.

While commercial payers have been engaged with the shift to biosimilars, they all have their own preferred biosimilar, which makes it challenging for practices, explained Lalan Wilfong, MD, vice president of payer relations & practice transformation at The US Oncology Network.