Articles

Baltimore, MD—According to Ernest Anderson, Jr, MS, RPh, System Vice President of Pharmacy, Steward Health Care System, Boston, MA, “If you’re not familiar with the drug shortage issue, you must be living under a rock.”

Baltimore, MD—Results from the latest survey of the Association of Community Cancer Centers (ACCC) membership suggest that although cancer centers have stepped up their efforts to introduce cost-reduction and revenue-enhancing initiatives, the rising tide of underinsured or uninsured patients with cancer is straining even the most optimistic of business plans.

An independent health information technology company, eviti, Inc, provides a suite of web-based decision-support services that connects and delivers value to all parties in the care process—patients receive quality care, physicians are assured payment, insurers pay for quality care only, and pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) or specialty pharmacy improve adherence.

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) introduced 3 new panels to its Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ at its 2012 annual conference.

Patients receiving a diagnosis of cancer are at increased risk for suicide and other adverse health effects that are triggered by the trauma associated with such a diagnosis, according to results of a recent study (Fang F, et al. N Engl J Med. 2012;366:1310-1318).

The 2012 updates to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology™ have elevated several drugs to category 1 recommendation and have changed the algorithm for work-up in some tumors. A synopsis of the key updates presented at the 2012 annual conference is reported here.

Houston, TX—In the past 2 decades, community oncologists have experienced an era of stability (1991-2003) and a time of adaptation (2004-2006), and are now practicing in an era that may best be described as feeling the “squeeze” (2007-present), said Thomas A. Marsland, MD, President of Cancer Specialists of North Florida, Jacksonville, who discussed the current crisis in the community oncology setting at the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care second annual conference.

At the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) second annual meeting, Winston Wong, PharmD, expressed concerns that the site of delivery of cancer care affects efforts to rein in costs and provide value in cancer care. Wong expanded on this issue in the following interview.

Houston, TX—Jennifer Malin, MD, PhD, Manager and Medical Director of Oncology at WellPoint, described new approaches that can help to align reimbursement in oncology to enhance value and patient outcomes by focusing on episode of care rather than on the drugs, by shifting physicians’ incentives to support patient-centered decision-making.

At the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) second annual meeting, Ira M. Klein, MD, MBA, maintained that establishing value in cancer care is not just up to healthcare strategists. AVBCC asked Dr Klein to elaborate on this idea in the following interview.