Dr Mark Socinski Discusses the Cost-effectiveness of Biomarker Testing in NSCLC

Mark A. Socinski, MD, executive director at AdventHealth Cancer Institute, shares insight on the cost-effectiveness and utility of biomarker testing in non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Transcript

Coverage of biomarker testing has often lagged behind research advances. What should managed care leaders know about the testing landscape overall?

I think managed care companies need to understand that our job and their job should really be focused on getting the right treatment to the right patient at the right time—and that's been demonstrated to be cost-effective. Again, if you get the right treatment, you're going to have the best outcome you could possibly have.

Managed care companies need to understand the heterogeneity of [NSCLC]. This is not one-size-fits-all anymore. There are a number of different subsets of the disease that we approach very differently that the outcomes are better if you get the right treatment at the right time. So that's the message. And I think that the cost of comprehensive genomic testing is less than it used to be, and as technology improves, it will continue to decline in cost. But in the big picture of things, cost of genomic testing is miniscule compared to simply having the diagnosis and everything that comes along with it; it certainly pales in comparison to the cost of treatment in this particular setting.

I don't know why we're so hung up on the cost issue of genomic testing. It's, again, been demonstrated to be cost-effective if you get the right treatment to the right patient at the right time. That's the message, and I'm hoping that that all third-party carriers, including the managed care organizations, want the best treatment for their patients that they're covering. So I think that's the take-home message.