As the last issue of this first year of publication of Value-Based Cancer Care (VBCC) reaches you, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on where VBCC has been so far and where it will be headed in 2011 and beyond. The publication is inescapably a reflection of the times, and as we all know, the times are turbulent.
For example, barely 2 weeks after starting at VBCC, I attended the 36th Annual National Meeting of the Association of Community Cancer Centers in March, where speakers considered a host of topics that might not have been on the agenda just several years be fore. Healthcare reform, multidisciplinary cancer care, episodebased payment, Medicare reimbursement, business tools to drive quality, and comparative effectiveness were all considered.
In June, research presented at the annual ASCO meeting also covered contentious ground, including survival benefits associated with combination therapies, genomic profiling and personalized care, and the cost-effectiveness of various treatments. And of course, the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of a $93,000 therapy (Provenge) and a subsequent coverage decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has generated much discussion all year.
This publication has covered these meetings and these essential topics, and others, our first 6 issues. And we hope that this coverage—in the form of reporting, surveys of the literature, and analysis of new research and current events by the experts of our editorial board—is providing information you need and cannot obtain through any other single source. Several small surveys indicate this is so. Medical and pharmacy director attendees at the Xcenda Managed Care Network Oncology Management Summit were questioned about the publication; 40% indicated a primary interest in original articles on cost and access to cancer care, with news and highlights from major meetings a close second (38%). Even more, 69% indicated that VBCC was a publication they anticipated reading. A separate web survey of hematologists/oncologists demonstrated similar results.
We intend to continue to serve our readers in 2011 with our print and online publications (www.valuebasedcancer.com), as well as with the establishment of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care, which will hold its first meeting March 29-30, 2011, in Philadelphia. This association will serve to further inform the value considerations surrounding cancer care today. As I noted in the first issue of this publication, providers, payers, and policymakers all face new challenges as the world of cancer care is roiled by cost considerations, access issues, new scientific discoveries, and sweeping legislative changes. We remain certain of the need for such an organization and such a publication to bring together the individuals from these customarily discreet worlds. We look forward to you participating with both. Thank you for reading!
