Value in Oncology

Chicago, IL—The oncology community has taken a leadership role in payment reform and must retain that position as the pressure mounts for fee-for-service (FFS) alternatives, according to Mark B. McClellan, MD, PhD, Director, Health Care Innovation and Value Initiative, Brookings In­stitution, Washington, DC, and former Commissioner of the FDA.

Chicago, IL—Comparative effectiveness research (CER) and cost-effectiveness analyses have helped to define value as it relates to gynecologic oncology, said speakers during an education session on maximizing value and quality in gynecologic cancer care, at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting.

Chicago, IL—With finite healthcare resources, do physicians have a duty to serve society broadly by being responsible stewards of those shared resources, or is their obligation to the patients before them incompatible with any rationing?

Chicago, IL—Oncologists should become value-based providers by eliminating unnecessary tests, prescribing cheaper alternatives when therapeutic equivalents exist, and keep calling for payment reform, said Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD, Chair, Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, at the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, during a session on defining value from different stakeholder perspectives.

Phoenix, AZ—The staff at the Mayo Clinic are working to “bend the cost curve” and optimize resource utilization efficiency while continuing to provide high-quality care to their large population of patients, said Kari Bunkers, MD, Chief Medical Information Officer, Mayo Clinic Health System, and Medical Director, Mayo Clinic Office of Population Health Management (OPHM) at the American Medical Group Association 2013 Institute for Quality Leadership conference.

Hollywood, FL—“How do different stakeholders define value in oncology? This is a complex question, and definitely a mainstream, though at times controversial, issue,” according to Pamela Morris, Director, Syndicated Research, Zitter Health Insights. Ms Morris discussed the search for value in oncology care, informed by results from the Zitter Group’s research, at the 3rd Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care.

The AVBCC Annual Meeting experiences exponential growth in attendance and participation as oncologists, payers, employers, managed care executives, patient advocates, and drug manufacturers convened in Hollywood, FL, on May 2-5, 2013, for the Third Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC).

Hollywood, FL—At the Third Annual Conference of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care, Sandra M. Swain, MD, FACP, President of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and Medical Director of Washington Cancer Institute in Washington, DC, described efforts by ASCO to enhance the quality and cost-effectiveness of the cancer care its members provide.

Philadelphia, PA—The “one-size-fitsall” approach to current benefit designs does not recognize that health services have different levels of value; such an approach, therefore, lacks incentives for patients to adhere to diagnostic tests and treatments with proven effectiveness that may help to contain costs to various healthcare stakeholders.