Latest Conference Articles

As the federal government faces another potential shutdown at the end of the week, a panel of former Congressional staffers shared their perspectives at AcademyHealth’s National Health Policy Conference about lessons learned on Capitol Hill.

We have been living in a groundhog world for the past several decades when it comes to healthcare spending, said Robert Dubois of the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC) during AcademyHealth’s National Health Policy Conference, in Washington, DC. The session called When Are We Going to Get Serious About Health Care Spending in the United States? came a few days after the NPC launched an effort to have a dialogue around this issue by issuing a call for research around the topic and partnering with Health Affairs on a campaign called Going Below the Surface.

Before undertaking something like implementing the Oncology Care Model, practices should understand the scope of the project and the overall importance it can have for patient care, said Terrill Jordan, CEO of Regional Cancer Care Associates.

Are Medicaid waivers meant to encourage able-bodied adults to work, or a return to poor laws of old? Or are they a means to get states that have not expanded Medicaid to expand? A diversity of viewpoints on these and other topics were on full display during Health Reform X.O: What Now, What Next?, the first session of AcademyHealth’s National Health Policy Conference.

When you have constant evolving contract, there are changes, and so some of the feedback I’m getting is that sometimes it’s hard to keep up with the changes, said Peter Aran, MD, medical director of Population Health Management at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma.

Providers should be involved in new reimbursement model development from day 1, said Roger Brito, DO, national director for oncology, Aetna.

When a drug becomes first-line, I would like to think that as a clinician I would have access to that, but most importantly that my patients would not have to have a bake sale or take out a second mortgage on their homes to get therapies that are designed specifically for them, said A. Mark Fendrick, MD, director of the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design at the University of Michigan.

Kathleen Lokay, president and CEO of Via Oncology, encourages physicians to educate patients on clinical pathways and discusses how the patient voice is heard.

Bo Gamble, director of Strategic Practice Initiatives at the Community Oncology Alliance (COA), explains how COA plays a role in supporting practices in preparing for Oncology Care Model.

Brenton Fargnoli, MD, medical director of value-based care and director of product marketing and strategy at Flatiron Health, predicts the future of the learning health system in the United States.

Over the next years, these spheres (ACOs, primary care, and oncology) that are going on in CMMI need to be coalesced together so that when we have learning collaboratives, not only do we have learning collaboratives within each of these spheres, but we learn from each other in these similar projects, said Peter Aran, MD, medical director of Population Health Management at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma.

Justin Bachmann, MD, MPH, FACC, instructor of Medicine and Health Policy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, discusses how cardiologists incorporate value-based care into their procedures.

Aetna is focusing on the healthcare triangle (patients, providers, and payers) and connecting those lines, said Roger Brito, DO, national director for oncology, Aetna.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a recognized disorder affecting both children and adults, but what is known about ADHD when it affects older adults, especially those nearing retirement age or those who are already retired? Kathleen G. Nadeau, PhD, is surveying this special population for research for an upcoming book. Nadeau, a psychologist in Maryland, spoke about this issue at the 2018 annual meeting of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders.

In order to adapt to the Oncology Care Model (OCM), Regional Cancer Care Associates had to undergo the process of adjusting and customizing its electronic medical records, explained CEO Terrill Jordan.

We should try to remove barriers that are not only in place, but getting higher for clinicians and patients to get evidence-based care, said A. Mark Fendrick, MD, director of the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design at the University of Michigan.

Digital utilization can generate data with supporting evidence for clinical pathways that benefits clinicians, explained Kathleen Lokay, president and CEO of Via Oncology.

Can improved research designs answer questions that come up between doctors and patients, like better understanding the risks and benefits of prescription medicine for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)? Brian M. D'Onofrio, PhD, presented about translational epidemiology in a talk called The Risks and Benefits of ADHD: A Pharmacoepidemiologic Perspecitive to answer those questions at the 2018 annual meeting of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD).

Psychologist J. Russell Ramsay, PhD, presented at the 2018 annual meeting of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders about his model for understanding and treating adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in his session, "Intentions into Actions: CBT for Adult ADHD."

The ability to have a plan that’s going to work and be large enough that it makes sense for those involved is a barrier for employers who want to pursue alternative payment models, said David Merrill, HR benefits manager, Volusia County, Florida, and John Robinson, CEBS, REBC, RHU, president and CEO, RobinsonBush.

During the welcome and opening plenary session of the annual meeting of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD), 3 speakers gave an overview of different models of cognitive and neural processes that underlie the symptoms, impairments, and medication treatment models of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Using a large database created by a center for actuarial studies, a psychologist and researcher is positing that people with the worst cases of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) will see a 25-year reduction in life expectancy, according to a presentation made Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders.

The challenges that adolescents and young adults face before and after treatment are all unique to an individual patient, according to Julie Wolfson, MD, of the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine.

A large proportion of caregivers with children and adolescents diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity-disorder (ADHD) perceived that the burden of illness remained high even if the children are on current prescription drug therapy, according to a poster presented at the 2018 Annual Meeting of The American Professional Society of ADHD and Related Disorders in Washington, DC.

Reimbursement structures and population demographics change the way hospitals approach heart failure, explained Amar Bhakta, MD, of Rush University Medical Center.

It’s very unusual to see significant cost savings in the first year of a program; that was true of all the pioneer ACO programs, said Jeff Patton, MD, CEO of Tennessee Oncology.

Involving providers in the development process of new reimbursement models increases the chance that the initiative will be successful and works against caregiver burnout, said Peter Aran, MD, medical director of Population Health Management at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Oklahoma.

Don’t underestimate the power that it takes to make sure a value-based program is working, said Sarah Cevallos, chief revenue cycle officer, Florida Cancer Specialists.

The healthcare triangle (patients, payers, and providers) begins with the patient, so we should include the patient in some of the decision-making, said Roger Brito, DO, national director for oncology, Aetna.

The fact that you have certain drugs that treat numerous cancers, and that they may treat 1 cancer different or better than another, would suggest that we should probably have differential pricing models, said A. Mark Fendrick, MD, director of the Center for Value-Based Insurance Design at the University of Michigan.