AVBCC 2020 Summit

Healthcare and biopharmaceutical industry markets were trending positively during the immediate aftermath of the 2020 election, even before the promising news from Pfizer and Moderna regarding their COVID-19 vaccines. At the 10th Annual Summit of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) in 2020, 2 industry leaders advised that the industry reaction was likely in response to an expectation of less volatility and more predictability in healthcare in 2021 with what is likely to be divided government.

Total growth in the oncology pipeline in 2020 has been driven by targeted therapies, said Doug Long, Vice President, Industry Relations, IQVIA, at the 10th Annual Summit of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) in 2020.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed many of the cracks in our healthcare system. According to Maurie Markman, MD, MS, FACP, FASCO, President, Medicine and Science, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, COVID-19 disproportionately affects the elderly, those with comorbidities, and racial and ethnic minority populations, all of whom are more likely to have serious or fatal illness. At the 10th Annual Summit of the Association for Value-Based Cancer Care (AVBCC) in 2020, Dr Markman served as a co-moderator of a session about minority representation in clinical trials.

Greg Simon, JD, led the Cancer Moonshot program for the Obama administration, raising $1.8 billion in new funding for cancer research and the development of new cancer programs. In 2017, Joe Biden called on him to serve as President of the Biden Cancer Initiative. Mr Simon is also a survivor of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a consultant and public speaker at Simonovation, LLC, and one of the thought leaders in cancer care.

In an environment of increasing vertical and horizontal integration in healthcare, are new value-based care models in oncology—such as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ pilot payment project, the Oncology Care Model (OCM)—working? Five years from now, will we still be talking about efforts to go from volume to value using alternative payment models?

Utilization management tools and prior authorization are associated with delays in care for patients and high costs for physicians. In this session, panelists discuss the impact on cancer care, with an eye toward providing appropriate care while minimizing administrative burden.

With more than 1.8 million diagnoses of cancer per year in the United States, identifying malignancies at the earliest stage is priority among physicians. In this session, experts discuss the future of early-stage cancer diagnosis and how to improve cancer screenings.

Oncology nurse and patient navigators are playing an ever-increasing role in supporting patients with cancer and their caregivers. In this session, experts discuss the standardized measures and processes used by oncology nurse and patient navigators.

In this session, experts discuss the challenges faced at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, how they worked to overcome them, and what lessons they will take with them into the future.

Specialized oncology pharmacy programs are playing an ever-increasing role in the complex delivery of care. In this session, panelists discuss the obstacles and successes of specialized oncology pharmacy programs.