There is a lot of noise in the health care system, and oncologists need to collaborate and decide on common shared goals, said Lucy Langer, MD, MSHS, national medical director of oncology and genomics at UnitedHealthcare.
Lucy Langer, MD, MSHS, national medical director of oncology and genomics at UnitedHealthcare, shares her perspective on the current state of oncology clinical pathways and how they can lead to confusion and burnout among providers.
The topic was discussed further during the panel discussion, "Can Clinical Pathways Have Burnout, Too?" at Patient-Centered Oncology Care® (PCOC) 2023.
Transcript
Can you share your perspective on the current state of oncology clinical pathways?
As we all know, there's a multitude of clinical pathways that are available now. Many organizations have gotten into the pathways-building business, starting with providers, but also payers and private companies, as well. And while all pathways are built on the same principles—meaning outcomes first followed by toxicity, and then when there are equivalent regimens, then using real-world evidence or using cost or some other arbiter to determine what would be on pathways and what would not—even though we're all using basically the same principles, somehow we've come to slightly different variations of pathways.
I'd say right now there's a lot of noise in the system. And as a specialty, I think there's an opportunity for us to come together and collaborate on what we consider to be high quality care delivery in oncology and strive towards our common shared goals, which are to ensure that patients with cancer get the highest quality care that they can, but we also keep it affordable, accessible, and sustainable.
Based on your panel, how can clinical pathways lead to added stress and burnout?
We started out talking about the multiplicity of pathways that are available, and I think it's complicated and it's confusing for providers, and I think providers sometimes mistake pathways for what we will or will not cover. At least at UnitedHealthcare, our Pathways program is only additive, it's not a punitive program. Our coverage policies are very broad, so providers get rewarded for knowing our pathways and for prescribing on our pathways, but they're not penalized for not doing so.
I think it's also important to know that the pathways programs that are out there are all striving for high quality care. I think what we need to do to go forward to kind of find our way out of the confusion or maybe the burnout that providers are feeling is to really come to the table and collaborate about what we think is the indicator for high quality care and agree on that. If that's a certain pathways program, if it's the NCCN [National Comprehensive Cancer Network], if it's some other indicator, if we all agree as a specialty, then we can use that to move forward to reward high quality, high value care.
ATS 2024: Bridging the Past, Present, and Future of Respiratory Care
May 16th 2024The application of artificial intelligence in medicine is anticipated as a highlight of ATS 2024, with sessions exploring its applications in research, radiological interpretation, and pediatric pulmonology.
Read More
Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity: Urban Health Outreach
May 9th 2024In the series debut episode of "Frameworks for Advancing Health Equity," Mary Sligh, CRNP, and Chelsea Chappars, of Allegheny Health Network, explain how the Urban Health Outreach program aims to improve health equity for individuals experiencing homelessness.
Listen
Tackling Health Inequality: The Power of Education and Experience
April 30th 2024To help celebrate and recognize National Minority Health Month, we are bringing you a special month-long podcast series with our Strategic Alliance Partner, UPMC Health Plan. Welcome to our final episode of this limited series and our conversation with Janine Jelks-Seale, MSPPM, director of health equity at UPMC Health Plan.
Listen
Posters Characterize DMD Caregiver Experiences, Impact of Gene Therapy on Caregiving Demands
May 10th 2024Posters presented at the ISPOR—The Professional Society for Health Economics and Outcomes Research meeting explored Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) caregiver experiences and gene therapy’s impact on work opportunities for caregivers.
Read More