COVID-19

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the importance of advance care planning. According to research presented at the virtual 2021 American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Care Symposium, pairing a highly trained nurse practitioner with a primary care team to engage patients in this process can lead to better healthcare utilization and higher quality end-of-life care. Read More ›

The process of clinical trials underwent a dramatic transformation amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Heidi D. Finnes, PharmD, BCOP, FHOPA, RPh, Senior Manager, Pharmacy Cancer Research, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN. Pharmacists must see this as an opportunity to evolve patient care in clinical trials long after the pandemic is over, Dr Finnes suggested at the 2021 Hematology/Oncology Pharmacy Association conference. Dr Finnes outlined efficiencies in pharmacy practice that should be enacted to accommodate changes in the way clinical trials are being conducted—such as remote patients and adverse events monitoring, mailing of the investigational drugs, and telehealth visits with study participants. Read More ›

The COVID-19 pandemic caused significant disruptions to virtually all aspects of oncology care. There has been a steep drop in cancer diagnoses and screenings—a result of shelter-in-place policies instituted early on, as well as ongoing patient fears about returning to healthcare facilities for new appointments or follow-up care. Experts predict that there will soon be a surge of patients with advanced cancer, which has the potential to overwhelm a healthcare infrastructure already stretched very thin. Read More ›

A survey of patients with lung cancer conducted as COVID-19 pandemic shelter-in-place lockdowns were first easing in June 2020 in the United States revealed substantial anxieties about vulnerability to severe illness and access to care. Read More ›

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on healthcare, especially in the management of patients with cancer, who are often not seeking healthcare in the same way as before the pandemic. At the 2021 International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) meeting, experts discussed the implications for patients with lung cancer, specifically. Read More ›

The urgent international push to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus represents an unprecedented effort, said experts at the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care’s final summer webinar on COVID-19 and cancer care, which was held August 27. Read More ›

Patients with cancer and cancer treatment dynamics continue to bounce back toward baseline as of late summer 2020, reported experts at the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care August 20 webcast, which focused on economic trends in cancer care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read More ›

Leading global drug manufacturers have been called on to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in myriad ways, and several of their top executives discussed those responses in an August 11 webcast sponsored by the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care. Read More ›

Employers are not likely to make major changes in their benefit designs for 2021, said experts in an August 12 webcast sponsored by the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care. Art Taft, MBA, MEng, Managing Director, MedWorks, moderated the session with F. Randy Vogenberg, PhD, RPh, FASHP, Board Chair, Employer-Provider Interface Council, Hospital Quality Foundation, and Principal, Institute for Integrated Healthcare; and James Startare, MS, Vice President of Benefits, Aramark, the food services, facilities, and uniform provider, which has more than 270,000 employees in 19 countries. Read More ›

What are the practical implications of a flurry of recent healthcare-related actions taken by Congress, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), and the White House? In summary, “Some can happen, some will take significant effort, but most are just political grandstanding as we get closer to the election,” said Jayson Slotnik, JD, MPH, Partner, Health Policy Strategies, Bethesda, MD, and the moderator of an August 13 public policy webcast from the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care. Read More ›