Latest Conference Articles

At ISPOR 2019, the concept of real option value—paying for treatment that might keep a patient alive long enough to try a future improved therapy—was discussed.

Representatives from different parts of the healthcare system, as well as an outside observer, weighed in on whether the reports issued by the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) are taking away patient choice.

It is incredibly important for these assessments to consider the context of the therapy, rather than just the clinical benefit that it brings, explained Paul Melmeyer, director of Federal Policy, National Organization for Rare Disorders.

Studies presented in posters at the 175th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association demonstrated that the combination of olanzapine and samidorphan kept weight gain below levels typically seen in commonly used antipsychotics.

Efficacy is the primary factor in patients’ decisions to take antipsychotic medications, but weight gain is an important side effect that can also impact those decisions, explained Adam Simmons, director of clinical program management, Alkermes. Simmons was interviewed at the 175th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, where he presented on the investigational drug ALKS 3831.

The poll by the American Psychiatric Association found that young men were especially reluctant to seek mental health care from their employers, even though most workers, especially young ones, said they felt willing to discuss mental health in the workplace.

Panelists at a session of the ISPOR 2019 annual meeting discussed the good and the bad about the quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) metric from their various perspectives.

While there are consequences of a 6-month episode of care under the Oncology Care Model (OCM), there will be trade-offs with any time window, explained Basit Chaudhry, MD, PhD, founder of Tuple Health.

Jonathan Campbell, PhD, associate professor, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado, discusses the need for more creative methods for value assessment, as well as how one-time, high-cost therapies make it harder to determine value.

Daniel Mullins, PhD, discusses what trends he expects to see in coming years regarding value in healthcare.

The American Journal of Psychiatry published one of the studies that led to approval of one of the most anticipated therapies in years: esketamine for treatment-resistant depression.

A coordinated specialty care model can most effectively address early psychosis, but it’s also important to involve the patient and their family members when making treatment decisions, according to Jacob Ballon, MD, MPH, clinical associate professor, psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford University.

Medical futurist Daniel Kraft, MD, implored his audience of healthcare stakeholders attending the ISPOR 2019 annual conference to consider the different ways that technology disruption can improve care away from what he called “sick care,” while moderator Clifford Goodman, PhD, of The Lewin Group, moderated a panel that followed about the potential and pitfalls of disruption in healthcare.

Steven Adelsheim, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, explained how the stigma surrounding mental health issues can cause delays in treatment, but the increased discussion of mental health on social media may make young people become more comfortable with discussing their experiences and seeking help.

Lori Raney, MD, principal, Health Management Associates, explained that integrating mental health care into primary care settings can eliminate the need for a referral and potentially avoid stigmatization, but there still needs to be a better payment model for integrated care.

Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), have historically been a black box for those paying into them, partly because medications are confusing, explained Martin Makary, MD, MPH, a surgical oncologist and chief of the Johns Hopkins Islet Transplant Center.

A discussion with University of California at Berkeley sociologist Arlie Hochschild, PhD, author of the best-seller Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, addressed how social psychiatry can help bridge the current political divide.

The 175th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, meeting in San Francisco, California, featured research about loneliness among minority women at midlife.

Jonathan Avery, MD, director of addiction psychiatry, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, explained why it’s important to diagnose and treat concurrent substance use disorders and mental illnesses at the same time.

The use of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has expanded to patients experiencing psychosis, who can learn to cope with delusional beliefs or hearing voices, explained David Kingdon, MD, professor of mental health care delivery, University of Southampton.

Lee Schwartzberg, MD, FACP, executive director, West Cancer Center, explains how partnerships like OneOncology can help community practices adapt to the rapidly changing cancer care and diagnostic landscape.

Looking at readmissions for congestive heart failure, we realized that the majority of our patients were being readmitted because of care coordination and social determinants of health, explained Susan Mani, MD, vice president of Clinical Transformation and Ambulatory Quality at LifeBridge Health.

Sebastian Schneeweiss, MD, ScD, professor of medicine and epidemiology, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, and co-founder of Aetion, discusses current use of rapid-cycle analytics and what efforts are needed to improve understanding and uptake.

Encouraging clinical trial participation is the only way we’ll get the answers to the questions we need for future generations, explained Howard A. "Skip" Burris, III, MD, FACP, FASCO, president, clinical operations, and chief medical officer of Sarah Cannon Research Institute.

Rose Gerber, director of patient advocacy and education for the Community Oncology Alliance, discusses the importance of patient education in encouraging clinical trial participation, as well as the importance of trials being patient centered.

Crescent Moore, PharmD, PhD, BCPS, senior consultant, BluePeak Advisors, explains efforts by CMS to address the opioid epidemic put forward by their 2020 Call Letter.

Clinical trials should be a part of the conversation early and throughout the cancer journey, explained Katie Goodman, RN, BSN, CCRP, director of clinical research, Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute.

Programs that address chronic conditions have the potential to improve employee satisfaction, reduce costs, and improve employee health, said speakers at the Midwest Business Group on Health’s 39th Annual Conference, held May 8-9 in Chicago, Illinois.

Martin Makary, MD, MPH, a surgical oncologist and chief of the Johns Hopkins Islet Transplant Center, dicscusses how hospitals have responded to having to post standard charges of their services online by uploading their chargemasters.

Trust is crucial when employers are trying to have successful healthcare programs and engage employees to change behaviors, said panelists at the Midwest Business Group on Health’s 39th Annual Conference, held May 8-9 in Chicago, Illinois.