Gail Thompson
Authored Items
Using Cancer Drugs Wisely to Control Costs: Targeted Therapies May Hold the Key
May 2018, Vol 8, No 5 - 2018 Cancer Center Business Summit Highlights
How we use, label, study, and think about cancer drugs could make seismic changes in the pricing and access of cancer treatments for patients, but we need to rethink what we are doing first. Thought leaders from the provider, distribution, payer, and pharmaceutical arenas addressed these challenges at the 2018 combined meeting of the Association of Community Cancer Centers and the Cancer Center Business Summit. The meeting included a panel discussion about the costs of drugs, and the significant rise in the costs of cancer drugs after the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. [ Read More ]What Will It Take for Oncology Practices to Survive?
May 2018, Vol 8, No 5 - 2018 Cancer Center Business Summit Highlights
At the 2018 combined Association of Community Cancer Centers and Cancer Center Business Summit, a robust panel discussion focused on 4 key challenges currently facing oncology practices. These include the “big data” explosion, workforce shortages, clinical advancements, and payment reform. [ Read More ]Switching on the Light: A Model Immunotherapy Program for Oncology Practices
February 2018, Vol 8, No 2 - Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is one of the hottest concepts in oncology care. Also called biologic therapy, this type of cancer treatment boosts the body’s own natural defenses to fight cancers. Ann M. McGreal, RN, OCN, Oncology Nurse Clinician, and Sigrun Hallmeyer, MD, Senior Executive Director, Advocate Medical Group, Park Ridge, IL, shared their experience with immunotherapy at the ACCC National Oncology Conference in October 2017 in Nashville. [ Read More ]The Butterfly Effect: Improving the Chemotherapy Visit Experience
February 2018, Vol 8, No 2 - Practice Operations
The “butterfly effect” in chaos theory refers to a phenomenon in which a small, localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. Cody Boyd, BSHA, RT (R)(T), University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler Cancer Treatment and Prevention Center, shared the experience of such a change at the ACCC National Oncology Conference in October 2017 in Nashville. [ Read More ]Beyond Patient Navigation: Expanding Nurses’ Role in Care Coordination
January 2018, Vol 8, No 1 - Practice Operations
Patient navigation is a valuable tool for cancer centers, and the Lipson Cancer Institute of the Rochester Regional Health System, NY, has modified its patient navigation to Registered Nurse (RN) Clinical Care Coordination, with significant results. [ Read More ]Improving Your Cancer Center Operations
January 2018, Vol 8, No 1 - Practice Operations
How do you move your cancer center operations forward? Who are your real detail-oriented people? Who is good at moving things from point A to point B? Who are your visionaries? Hint—it is not always those with leadership or executive titles. [ Read More ]Humanizing Cancer Care: The Patient Perspective
December 2017, Vol 7, No 12 - ACCC Conference Highlights
The buzzword of this decade has been “patient-centered care.” It is the driving force behind oncology practice reform and any performance payment goals. But what does patient-centered care mean for patients? [ Read More ]Preparing to Implement MACRA: Implications for Oncology Practices
June 2017, Vol 7, No 6 - 2017 Cancer Center Business Summit Highlights
Las Vegas, NV—Death and taxes are inevitable, and so are the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) changes for all medical practices across the country, (not just for oncology). Practices may choose how far to dip their toes into MACRA or into the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) waters, but they will be penalized, rewarded, or not affected in 2019 based on their decisions in 2017. Strategic planning for practices often spans 3 to 5 years; there is a very real financial component that affects oncology practices’ billing and revenues 2 years out and beyond. [ Read More ]Best Practices in Oncology an Evolving Process
May 2017, Vol 7, No 5 - Cancer Center Business Summit
The Oncology Care Model (OCM) has been a topic for discussion at oncology conferences since June 2016. Ronald Barkley, MS, JD, President, Cancer Center Business Development Group, moderated a packed panel discussion titled “OCM Evolving Best Practices” at the 2017 Cancer Center Business Summit. [ Read More ]Operational and Cultural Changes in Oncology: Are You Paying Attention to Your Teams?
April 2017, Vol 7, No 4 - Cancer Center Business Summit
“Change creates angst: it creates pressures, it creates employee dissatisfaction, it creates environments that most medical practices aren’t used to participating in,” said Erich Mounce, MSHS, Chief Executive Officer, West Cancer Center, Memphis, TN, in his introduction to an intriguing panel discussion titled “Operational & Cultural Change” at the 2017 Cancer Center Business Summit (CCBS). [ Read More ]Tools to Improve Patient Engagement in Value-Based Care
March 2017, Vol 7, No 3 - Cancer Center Business Summit
With the advent of a shift to value-based care and increasing accountability for effective care, patient engagement is emerging as the primary mechanism to effect change. However, the sheer volume of patients means that physicians and nurses cannot hope to touch them every day in the meaningful ways needed to fully engage each patient. Technology solutions must rise to the occasion. [ Read More ]Shifting Targets for Providers, Payers, and Patients with Cancer: Perspectives in Healthcare Reform
March 2017, Vol 7, No 3 - Cancer Center Business Summit
A panel discussion at the 2017 Cancer Center Business Summit revealed continuing gaps in the evolution of healthcare reform among providers, payers, and patients with cancer. Michael Kolodziej, MD, National Medical Director, Managed Care Strategy, Flatiron Health, New York, NY—an oncologist with experience on the provider and the payer sides—moderated the panel discussion, which offered perspectives from the trenches on healthcare reform. [ Read More ]How Washington Is Shaping a New Healthcare Reform
March 2017, Vol 7, No 3 - Cancer Center Business Summit
Former Senator Bill Frist, MD, opened the 2017 Cancer Center Business Summit in Las Vegas, NV, in early February, with a smile and a warning that we are in unfamiliar territory as the new Congress and the new administration move into 2017, territory that may occur only 2 or 3 times in a century. He said that, “For the first time since 1929, the GOP [the Republican Party] controls Congress, the White House, most governorships and state houses, as well as the Supreme Court.” [ Read More ]Can Society Afford Not to Personalize Medicine in Oncology?
October 2015, Vol 5, No 7 - Personalized Medicine
Personalized medicine gained a national platform with the January 2015 proposal by President Barack Obama to analyze genetic information from more than 1 million American volunteers, as part of a new initiative to understand human disease and develop medicines targeted [ Read More ]
How to Measure Quality in Cancer Care?
September 2015, Vol 5, No 6 - Quality Measures
Public and private payers, policy advisors, and oncologists and nurses from the audience debated how to measure quality in cancer care during a panel discussion at the 2015 Association for Value-Based Cancer Care conference. John Fox, MD, MHA, Senior Medical [ Read More ]
Adding Value to Oncology Practice Accreditation: Community Oncology Alliance Works with the Commission on Cancer
September 2015, Vol 5, No 6 - Practice Accreditation
Attendees at the 2015 Association for Value-Based Cancer Care conference heard Robert “Bo” Gamble, Director of Strategic Practice Initiatives, Community Oncology Alliance (COA), describe recent accreditation initiatives for the oncology medical home (OMH) model. The movement toward formalization of the [ Read More ]
Pathways versus Personalized Medicine
June 2015, Vol 5, No 5 - AVBCC Conference Highlights
Participants at the 2015 Association for Value-Based Cancer Care annual meeting were challenged to consider the concept of value in oncology, and whether providers are truly delivering oncology care that serves society and patients with cancer. After hinting that pathways [ Read More ]
SGR Repealed, But the Work Is Just Beginning
May 2015, Vol 5, No 4 - Payment Reform
The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA) was signed into law on April 16, making history not just by repealing the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for Medicare physician payment, but for the resounding bipartisan support of [ Read More ]
Congress Acts to Repeal SGR Formula
April 2015, Vol 5, No 3 - Payment Reform
The verdict is in: Congress has passed legislation to permanently repeal Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula. The bill was approved by the US House of Representatives on March 26, and the 92-8 vote in the US Senate on April [ Read More ]
Personalized Medicine and Future Delivery Systems
March 2015, Vol 5, No 2 - Cancer Center Business Summit
A panel of experts gathered recently to explore changes that are expected for oncology in the field of personalized medicine as well as their impact on future delivery systems. The panel discussion, held in November at the Cancer Center Business [ Read More ]
The Future of Oncology Reimbursement
February 2015, Vol 5, No 1 - Cancer Center Business Summit
Changes in oncology payment and reimbursement as well as delivery models were reviewed recently by an expert panel at the Cancer Center Business Summit (CCBS). Providers, payers, industry representatives, and thought leaders were on hand to share their thoughts and [ Read More ]
Building the Oncology System of the Future
February 2015, Vol 5, No 1 - Cancer Center Business Summit
Practice managers, physicians, and members of industry gathered recently at the Cancer Center Business Summit (CCBS) to consider the state of cancer care delivery and its future. A panel discussion among key thought leaders featured perspectives from the oncology community [ Read More ]
New Federal Reporting Profiles Physicians and Hospitals
April 2013, Vol 3, No 3 - Community Oncology
Orlando, FL—At the Community Oncology Alliance (COA)’s 2013 annual conference on March 22, 2013, David Eagle, MD, from Lake Norman Hematology Oncology Specialists in North Carolina, presented an illuminating program on the rapid growth of federal reporting on physicians and [ Read More ]
How Does Oncology Fit in an ACO World?
February 2013, Vol 3, No 1 - Cancer Center Business Summit
Dallas, TX—On a regular basis, news headlines across the country announce the opening of another accountable care organization (ACO)—a phrase that was rarely, if ever, heard before the passage of the Affordable Care Act. This game-changing healthcare reform element created [ Read More ]
The Nuts and Bolts of Physician and Hospital Practice Arrangements from the Oncology Front Line
November 2012, Vol 2, No 6 - Partnering with Hospitals
Dallas, TX—Many hospitals and physician groups are courting now, exploring the possible option of physicians going hospital-based. There are many drivers leading to the dance: financial pressures, an excess of administrative burden on doctors who just want to practice medicine, [ Read More ]
Cost-Effective Cancer Care: Thoughts from Leading Physicians
November 2012, Vol 2, No 6 - Oncology
Dallas, TX—Can we create a system of care that will demonstrate cost-effectiveness and change the way oncology is being practiced? This was the focus of several provider-driven innovative solutions discussed at the 2012 Cancer Center Business Summit. We have learned [ Read More ]
The Oncology Medical Home: Embodiment of the American Pioneering Spirit
November 2012, Vol 2, No 6 - Oncology
Dallas, TX—The American Pioneer Spirit is still alive today. At the 2012 Cancer Center Business Summit, attendees enjoyed the chance to walk through the challenges and possibilities of an emerging model in cancer care that is quickly becoming a buzzword [ Read More ]