Latest Conference Articles

A session at the ongoing annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) provided an overview of ASCO's recently updated value framework and their quality program, the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative.

While several clinical trials have tried to identify a programmed death-1 or programmed death ligand-1 expression—dependent response, it’s been an uphill task. During one of the sessions at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, researchers were tasked with sharing their data on any breakthroughs or leads with biomarker-based treatment.

CancerCare provides oncology patients with many services that offer both educational and financial support as well as any help the patient may need with his or her family, such as child care and housekeeping needs. However, Patricia Goldsmith, CEO of CancerCare, explained that there are many financial challenges, including transportation and high out-of-pocket costs, that oncology patients continue to face.

The key to driving down costs, or at the very least making costs more predictable, is integrating pathways into the Oncology Care Model program, said John L. Fox, MD, MS, associate vice president of medical affairs at Priority Health.

Drug costs are a significant contributor to rising healthcare costs, along with the cost of healthcare services. How can providers and patients work together to find a solution to this problem?

During a session on the second day of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, experts discussed treating patients with chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T cells).

Though Cigna’s reimbursement medical home model is still in its very early stages, Bhuvana Sagar, MD, national medical director of Cigna Healthcare, explained that discussing value in healthcare and getting back to smarter spending as well as better outcomes for patients should be the focus of all industry stakeholders.

New immunotherapies and biologics that are changing the landscape when it comes to treating patients are the most exciting development in oncology in the last year, according to Lucio Gordan, MD, of Florida Cancer Specialists.

As immunotherapy continues to show promise in solid as well as liquid tumors, clinicians have been evaluating these agents in combination. During a session on the second day of the ongoing annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, in Chicago, IL, the results from some of these trials were shared.

On the first day of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, healthcare experts from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, compared and contrasted the care models that are widely adopted in each nation.

More than 400 comments were sent in regarding the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)'s Value Framework, and they will be incorporated as the framework evolves, explained Stephen Grubbs, MD, vice president for clinical affairs at ASCO.

One of the important findings from the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s report is that cancer mortality has gone down, said Debra Patt, MD, MPH, MBA, director of public policy at Texas Oncology.

Researchers set out to analyze the clinical outcomes in a real-world clinical setting of patients with T2D who switched to Toujeo from another basal insulin.

At the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting, Jenny Sung, PharmD, MS, MBA, associate vice president of evidence-based medicine research at Sanofi Pharmaceuticals, discussed a poster being presented on the safety, efficacy, and economic benefit of Toujeo.

Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant of emerging therapies at Express Scripts, outlined the 2 pipeline drugs she is keeping a close eye on in 2016: both are breakthrough therapies and one could have a significant impact on the market.

The current reactive healthcare system is driving digital health innovations, Yoona Kim, PharmD, PhD, head of clinical modeling and analytics with Proteus Digital Health, said at the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016.

Prescription drug abuse is an epidemic in the US and a chronic brain disease, but it is not treated the way other chronic conditions are, said Kelly J. Clark, MD, MBA, president elect of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.

The drug abuse epidemic in the US has placed attention on opioids and panelists during a session at the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016 discussed the current state of treatment for opioid addiction and future changes that may be on the way.

As healthcare moves to value-based arrangements and delivery models like accountable care organizations (ACOs), the benefit of incorporating a pharmacist can be overlooked. Tina Joseph, PharmD, BCACP, and Reena Jones, PharmD, CPh, both from Nova Southeastern University, outlined how pharmacists can be integrated into ACOs in order to improve care and patient satisfaction, while reducing cost.

AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016 kicked off by delving into the near-term specialty pharmaceutical pipeline with Aimee Tharaldson, PharmD, senior clinical consultant of emerging therapies at Express Scripts.

With the high cost of medications, pharmacoeconomic analysis to determine the additional benefit being derived from additional cost is important, explained Renee JG Arnold, PharmD, RPh, practice lead for health economics and outcomes research at Quorum Consulting, Inc.

Working closely with oncologists on value assessment frameworks can save money for the healthcare system while guaranteeing great outcomes for patients, Steve Miller, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Express Scripts, said during a pre-meeting session of AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016.

Steven D. Pearson, MD, president of the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review, discussed the specialty conditions that are having the biggest impact on overall healthcare expenditures and pharmaceutical spending.

The FDA recently approved the biosimilar infliximab and found that from an immunogenicity profile it was more or less similar, which is important for payers and providers, explained Jeremy Schafer, PharmD, MBA, vice president and director of specialty solutions at Precision For Value.

With patients increasingly demanding more of anyone involved in their healthcare, technology is playing an important role, explained panelists at a session of Specialty Pharmacy Connect, a pre-meeting program held ahead of the AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016.

The specialty pharmacy industry is unique in many ways, but the price growth for these drugs is no longer sustainable, Steve Miller, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of Express Scripts, said during a pre-meeting session of AMCP Managed Care & Specialty Pharmacy Annual Meeting 2016.

The biggest challenge facing oncologists in 2016 is the Medicare Part B demonstration that CMS announced, Lucio Gordan, MD, of Florida Cancer Specialists, said at the Community Oncology Alliance's 2016 Community Oncology Conference.

Pharmaceutical industry experts provide an overview of the highly complex biosimilar development process at The Community Oncology Conference: Innovation in Cancer Care, held in Orlando, Florida.

Everyone in healthcare is currently grappling with what payment reform will look like in the coming years, and oncology is no exception. Payers, providers, and health policy experts reviewed ongoing changes in the healthcare system and shared their vision on what the future would look like.

Patients and providers often have very different views of goals and values when it comes to treatment, so healthcare could benefit from figuring out how to systematize the shared decision making experience, Alan Balch, PhD, chief executive officer of the National Patient Advocate Foundation, said at the Community Oncology Alliance's 2016 Community Oncology Conference.