Latest Conference Articles

Hospitals that face penalties from CMS for failing to reduce readmission rates have looked to telehealth as a potential tool to keep track of patients after discharge. A study presented by a UCLA researcher did not meet its end point but offered some insights for future work.

Although there have been a number of new value calculators created recently, UnitedHealthcare does not plan to use any just now. Instead, it will continue covering regimens recommended by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network and in a few years the company will use data from its prior authorization tool to analyze performance of regimens, explained Lee Newcomer, MD, MHA, senior vice president, Oncology, Genetics and Women's Health, UnitedHealthcare.

The Community Oncology Alliance (COA) created its Payer Exchange Summit to get payers who are thinking about getting involved in oncology payment reform or want to know what to do exposed to successful pilots, explained Ted Okon, MBA, executive director of COA.

At the Payer Exchange Summit on Oncology Payment Reform, hosted by the Community Oncology Alliance, Daniel McKellar, MD, who chairs the Commission on Cancer, insisted on meaningful feedback from the community to ensure adequate transformation of practices into a medical home.

Payer—provider teams presented updates on their cost-saving pilot projects and looked to the future of these models in oncology care.

The limited number of FDA approved medications indicated for bipolar depression makes treatment challenging, said Terence A. Ketter, MD. Several drugs that have been tested could not meet standards to receive an indication.

Becoming familiar with the subtle signs that a hallucination is fake can allow psychiatrists to keep patients out of the hospital when they have no business being there.

Presenters who have implemented telehealth to treat PTSD through the VA in Charleston, South Carolina, say it will help address shortages of mental health providers and offer care that is just as good as in-person treatment.

Studies show medication adherence in bipolar disorder is only about 40% to 45%, but this dangerous, progressive disease has a high suicide rate. Adherence is complicated by the fact that patients may miss the mild "high" that many associate with periods of creativity, says Kay Redfield Jamison, PhD.

Promising tests in animal models for an immunotherapy to control methamphetamine addiction have paved the way for human trials that could start in May 2016, according to Thomas Kosten, MD.

A 30-day intervention that includes exercise, nutrition, mindfulness, social connectedness, and sleep resulted in improved scores across a series of wellbeing measures for a small group of patients.

Peter Weiden, MD, says that psychiatrists have greater ability to address side effects from antipsychotics than they did 10 years ago. It's essential that clinicians take patient concerns seriously, because when they don't patients may react by stopping their medication.

Ten years of following patients who had a period of strong social supports after a first psychotic episode shows that the effects of that care wane over time once the help is removed. Joseph P. McEvoy, MD, of Georgia Regents University said the studies show the support should continue.

Michael E. Thase, MD, said that current antidepressants are "good, not great" but that there is interest in research into ketamine, even though researchers are not completely sure how it works.

Results are the first from a cardiovascular safety trial in the GLP-1 agonist class. A commentator at the 75th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association asked whether the FDA-mandated studies are giving physicians the right information.

The long-awaited results, presented Monday at the 75th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association, are expected to strengthen sitagliptin's position against its competitors in the DPP-4 inhibitor class.

In a packed session at the 75th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association, the lead investigator told attendees how a matchstick-size device delivered exenatide, producing lower blood glucose levels.

An innovative education method asks an influential family member to take diabetes classes alongside the person with T2DM. The intervention produced positive health results for African Americans in a North Carolina study.

Patients who received canagliflozin from their health plan showed significant A1C improvement, even though the study group had poor glycemic control despite treatment with multiple therapies. The study period covered the months immediately following FDA approval.

A study of Medicare claims suggests that policies that ask seniors to pay more out of pocket for prescriptions may lead to lower adherence and result in higher healthcare costs.

Studies presented at the 2015 American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions take different approaches on what percentage of carbohydrates should be part of a diet for persons with type 2 diabetes.

Osama Hamdy, MD, PhD, and other researchers at Joslin Diabetes Center showed that patients with obesity and diabetes who lost at least 7% of their weight the first year stood a better chance of keeping it off.

Just as diabetes care started the movement toward population management, it is leading the way to new payment models, according to speakers who appeared at a symposium to open the 75th Scientific Sessions of the American Diabetes Association.

Luis A. Diaz, Jr, MD, associate professor of oncology, Johns Hopkins Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, discovered that patients with high mutational burden with mismatched repair responded well to checkpoint inhibition of PD1.

Much-anticipated trial results were presented on the third day of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, held in Chicago. These included phase 3 results from the CheckMate 067 trial and a phase 2 study with elotuzumab.

While the clinical data presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) created waves, a session on value had an equally significant impact as oncologists thronged to hear stakeholder voices define this, as yet abstract, concept of "value" in cancer care. The session brought together a patient representative, an oncologist, an ASCO representative, and a payer.

The Patient Advocate Program (PAF) serves patients with chronic, life threatening or debilitating diseases by providing direct financial support as well as case management support. Alan Balch, PhD, chief executive officer, PAF, explained that PAF guides their members through insurance systems when issues of access or affordability arise for the individual.

A late-breaking abstract session early on the second day of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology was reserved for the latest data from clinical trials evaluating the new immuno-oncology agents of the PD-1 inhibitor class.

Supporting shared decision making between cancer patients and oncologists starts with an understanding of what the physician's role is, explained Peter P. Yu, MD, FACP, FASCP, president of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and director of cancer research at Palo Alto Medical Foundation.

During the Health Services Research and Quality of Care session on the second day of the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, being held at the McCormick Convention Center, Chicago, oncologists discussed barriers to patient participation in cancer clinical trials, and discussed attributes of the high cost of care.